Warrior Insider

The new face on the staff for the University of Hawai’i basketball team this season is Marlon Stewart.

Some observers of practices have noted that Stewart has the youthful appearance of a player; but for the record, he is in his early 30s and entering his first season as an assistant coach under Eran Ganot. He was previously an assistant coach at Montana, and was on the staffs at Cal and Virginia before that.

“The culture was already really good when I got here, so that really helped me assimilate to the group,” Stewart said. “I had relationships with everybody on the staff before so getting to know the guys over the last couple of weeks has been phenomenal.”

Stewart’s primary duties this season will be coordinating the team defense and working with the post players. He said the Warriors will play a mix of defenses, with the emphasis on help and togetherness.

“Philosophically, it’s going to stay the same (as last year),” Stewart said. “Maybe some minor tweaks here and there from what I got from Virginia and Montana and Cal … but for the most part, keep it the same.”

He added that defensive assignments and schemes may change from game to game, but the teamwork and tenacity needs to remain.

“We’ll tweak things for individual opponents, but we have rules and we’ll stick to them,” Stewart said. “At the end of the day, it’s about contesting the shot, getting the stop, getting them to miss it, then getting the ball. It’s not that complicated.”

Stewart will also play a role in recruiting. He is originally from Washington, and has ties in the Pacific Northwest. He also has experience recruiting players from Europe. “Those are the two primary areas, but I’m willing to help everywhere,” he said.

Stewart is from Mercer Island, Wash., and graduated from Washington State. He was a student manager/video coordinator at Washington State during the years when ‘Iolani School graduate Derrick Low was the point guard for the Cougars.

“I’m from an island in Washington and we always used to argue who got the best island,” Stewart said. “Now that I’m here, I can finally admit to him that he won that argument. It’s phenomenal. The people, the food … it doesn’t get any better.”