University of Hawai’i men’s basketball head coach Eran Ganot announced the second addition to his coaching staff with the hiring of Norm Parrish as assistant coach for the Rainbow Warriors. Parrish comes to Hawai’i after four seasons as the Director of Operations at the University of Utah and brings 20 years of experience as the head coach at Salt Lake Community College.
“I couldn’t be more excited to welcome Norm to the Rainbow Warrior basketball program,” said Ganot on Parrish. “He is nationally respected in the coaching fraternity for his proven track record of success both on and off the court. His time as a highly successful head coach speaks for itself and, most recently, he was a major part of one of the great stories at the Division I level in the growth of the University of Utah basketball program. His experience in building and maintaining highly successful programs will be a true asset moving forward.”
“As an added bonus, Norm has moved many of his successful junior college prospects at Salt Lake to the Division I level, including several who have had great experiences at UH,” added Ganot of former players Troy Ostler (2000, ’01), Jeff Blackett (2004, ’05), Ahmet Gueye (2006, ’07) and P.J. Owsley (2007, ’08) who all played for Parrish at SLCC before impactful careers at the University of Hawai’i. In 2001, Ostler guided the ‘Bows to the first of back-to-back trips to the NCAA Tournament, Gueye finished his UH career ranked fourth all-time in blocks (131) and Blackett was a member of UH’s season-opening upset win of then No. 2 Michigan State in 2005. Both Gueye and Owsley played for Ganot during his time as UH assistant coach. “He has a great feel for the islands and for what it takes to succeed here. Please join me in welcoming Norm, his wife, Kaye, and his three children, Travis, Matt, and Collin to our Ohana!”
“I am unbelievably excited to be a part of University of Hawai’i basketball,” said Parrish. “I have had the good fortune of sending several players to the University of Hawai’i while I was the head coach at Salt Lake Community College. Every one of them loved their time at Hawai’i. I am very familiar with the great tradition of men’s basketball at UH and look forward to continue building a championship program. Eran Ganot is one of the outstanding young coaches in the country and it is an honor to be a member of his staff. I am also well aware of the great community support the basketball program receives and am anxious to be a member of such an outstanding community and university.”
Since Parrish joined Utah’s staff in 2011, his second stint with the program after serving as graduate assistant in 1988-89, the Utes steadily returned to prominence. This past season, they returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2009 and secured the program’s first NCAA tourney win since 2005. The Utes entered this year’s tournament as the No. 5 seed, beating Stephen F. Austin and Georgetown before narrowly falling to eventual national champion Duke in the Sweet 16. One season earlier, Utah earned a bid to the NIT, its first postseason appearance in five years.
Prior to entering the Division I ranks, Parrish guided Salt Lake City to unprecedented success, including a 25-7 season in 2011 and a trip to the Region 18 championship game. In 2009, the team won the NJCAA national championship, the first in school history, along with its second consecutive Region 18 championship. Parrish received the 2009 NJCAA National Coach of the Year award for his efforts. In 2008, he coached the Bruins to a first-place finish in the Region 18 tournament and a runner-up finish at the NJCAA national championships.
A five-time Region 18 Coach of the Year, Parrish also led the Bruins to the 2000 SWAC regular-season championship. In 1994, just his third season as head coach, Parrish steered SLCC to the Region 18 Tournament title and a fifth-place finish at the NJCAA national championships. Parrish finished with a career record of 447-198 (.693), eclipsing the 20-win mark 14 times.
Under Parrish’s stewardship, SLCC had 20 NJCAA All-Americans and 24 NJCAA Academic All-Americans. Nearly 50% of his players have moved on to compete at the NCAA Div. I level, with several now playing professionally in the NBA and overseas.
In his time at SLCC, Parrish recruited and coached players from all over the United States and many foreign countries, including Greece, England, Turkey, Australia, Switzerland, Brazil, Russia, Serbia, and the West African countries of Senegal, Cameroon, and Ivory Coast. Returned LDS missionaries were also an integral part of his recruiting process.
Before coming to Utah as a grad assistant under the late Lynn Archibald, Parrish was an assistant at Nampa High School in Idaho, coaching football and basketball. Parrish played his collegiate ball at Ricks College (now BYU-Idaho) in Rexburg, and then at Northwest Nazarene College in Nampa. He received all-region honors at both institutions. Parrish attended Viewmont High School in Bountiful, Utah, where he received all-state honors in football and basketball.
Parrish earned his Bachelor’s degree from Northwest Nazarene in 1987 and received a Master’s from Utah State in 1993.
http://www.hawaiiathletics.com/news/2015/5/16/MBB_0516153150.aspx?path=mbball
Photo Courtesy Hawaii Athletics
