In the process of selecting a new president for the University of Hawai'i, the school has not only disclosed the names of two finalists but set up a series of meetings and interviews on several islands for them.

In choosing a vice president and Manoa chancellor in the past, UH has similarly trotted out the finalists for question and answer sessions with the faculty and others.

But in picking coaches and athletic directors, the school often retreats into darkness and bureaucratic confusion.

When asked earlier this week how many applicants there were for the women's basketball head coaching job, a UH spokesman refused to disclose even a number saying it was "confidential information."

Yesterday athletic director Jim Donovan broke though that bureaucratic fog announcing the number — 85 — and finally bringing a sliver of overdue transparency to the process.

When UH filled the AD position that went to Donovan last year, it furtively met with the finalists at a Waikiki hotel in a scenario that seemed straight out of a spy novel. It also video taped the sessions but then maintained it destroyed the tapes.

Then, with the AD search, as now, with the search for a women's basketball coach and, next a men's volleyball coach, clarity is the best policy. Both for UH and the people it serves.

It would have been nice to be able to hear the various AD finalists give their vision for UH and present solutions for its problems. It would be appropriate to hear the women's basketball hopefuls outline their ideas and plans.

Search committees can be useful in whittling down the field of applicants. But you also have to wonder if the players and public had an opportunity to question the candidates last time around if Jim Bolla would have been picked.

Might, for example, allegations that have surfaced about his deportment at his last stop, Nevada-Las Vegas, been raised or answered then?

In the past UH has sometimes not only named but opened up its finalists for basketball and AD jobs for meetings and interviews. It should find ways to do so in the future.

UH made a $750,000 investment in choosing an AD. It is likely to invest more than $300,000 in its new women's basketball coach. Serious money and time.

The kind that deserves more transparency than UH is grudgingly providing.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.