I am very thankful for the opportunity to come here and play for one of the best programs there are. But now that the men's volleyball season is over and I am planning on leaving the islands soon I think it is necessary to inform the public about some deplorable facts concerning the last season and the situation in the men's volleyball program. Coming back here for my second season I was hoping for another good season without the mistakes that had been made in 1998. It wouldn't turn out that way.

Let me start off with the low point of my Rainbow career: the day when I quit the team. It was the week when we were going to play UOP on the road. Things weren't going as well as we had all hoped for and everybody was really frustrated. Two recent losses on the road were seriously putting our play-off hopes in jeopardy. On Monday and Tuesday there were a couple of situations when players were called "chicken", "stupid" and degraded in other ways. On Tuesday I got into a (verbal) fight with assistant coach Reyes about one of these incidents with some other player.

The next day, Mike Wilton asked to talk to me. That was only a few minutes before practice was going to start. He told me in a very serious manner that he decided to "relieve" me from captain's duties so I could focus on only playing for the rest of the season. I was surprised by this decision and stunned by the way he was telling me about it. I would at least have expected him to call me to his office and to explain me his true intentions. I did not have to be relieved from captain's duties in order to play well. Apparently he had other reasons to do what he did. With a disgusted look in his face Wilton then went on telling me that he was very disappointed with me this season. He reproached me for not giving my best. He also told me that I had quit inside and were not committed to the program. I was shocked. First of all, I knew it wasn't true. Second, if this was his opinion he should communicate it in some other way. Soon later I learned that he had the same kind of conversation with Mason Kuo just before he talked to me. Until then we both served as team co-captains. When warm-up started he hadn't told anyone else about his decision so I expected him to call a team meeting since changing captains is not something you just do uncommented. When he started warm-up without a meeting I became very angry and asked him why he wouldn't tell anyone else what he had just told me. I wanted to talk to the team. He replied that he would wait for players who were late because of classes. Still devastated I didn't feel like I could practice so I told him I would wait till then. I sat down in total disbelief about what was going on. Then assistant coach Reyes started yelling at me. He told me to either join warm-up now or to leave. I told him that I would wait until I could talk to the team. He then continued yelling at me, accusing me of having "quit a long time ago". Reyes kept asking me to leave. There would be no "hard feelings". After I asked him directly if he meant what he was saying I saw no other way out of this humiliating situation than to leave the gym.

For me, my Rainbow career was over. I felt terrible when I was thinking of my teammates and how I was leaving them. But did I have a choice? 'Wow', I thought when I was at home. 'Who would have expected that it would end like this?' Coming back here in fall of last year I would have predicted anything but this.

After a call from a teammate and another one from Reyes in which he said everything was just a matter of "miscommunication" I decided that I would finish the season in the only possible manner: I would have to avoid any but the absolutely necessary contact with the coaching staff. And let me point out one thing: Mr. Wilton did not bother to call me. Until today he hasn't apologized for what happened. As a matter of fact he said in a team meeting after my leave that he doesn't regret it at all. He had also appointed three other players as team captains. Three! If you've never heard of anything like that: neither have I.

The following weeks were very hard for me as I had to put up with a coaching staff that I had lost all respect for. I also decided that I would not talk about the incidence until the end of the season because I did not want to cause more trouble than there was already. As a result I had to witness Wilton humiliate me even more by leading the public to the belief that he had acted correctly. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin read like this: "The junior middle had walked out of practice Wednesday after being told by Wilton to 'either give it all you got or leave,' said the coach; Breuer made the flight with the team that night.' Telling only parts of the truth is not the truth.

After reading about this incidence one could think: 'Seems it was ugly, so what?' A coach cannot always make everyone happy. I agree. Unfortunately my personal encounter with Wilton was only one of many that led to problems throughout the whole season. Days before this Wednesday Mike Wilton stopped practice and yelled at Dejan Mildinovic to either jump every single time for a quick attack or he would send him "back to Serbia to fight".

Many people don't see it but ask any former player and he will confirm it: Mike Wilton is not a good volleyball coach. It is true that he was the coach when UH men's volleyball got extremely popular after the Special Events Arena opened. But it was Yuval Katz who was the reason for it, not Mike Wilton

After a two-year experience of Mike Wilton and his assistant coaches and knowing many different coaches I cannot say many good things about his coaching.

• The coaching staff does not treat players in a manner that could be expected. Does anyone ever wonder why there are so many players that he either made leave or that decided to leave. How can it be explained that during this season alone Noam Katz, Ole Kaven, and Elijah Neverdon quit the team? How can it be explained that several (!) others almost left including me? How can it be explained that almost everybody on the team has his personal problems with Wilton and deeply dislikes him? Wilton's explanation for all of that is that these players "weren't up to the occasion" and were "no warriors" but "chickens". Since he said things like that about me I wonder what happened since last year when he referred to me as "a lion of a kid"? Figure it out.

• Wilton is not loyal to the team in the media. Only in good times does he say good things about players. In bad times he prefers to degrade and insult them. How about calling a bad game against UCLA "a pathetic effort for a team fighting for a playoff spot"? How about: "The difference between this year an last year are Naveh (Milo), Jason (Salmeri) and Sivan (Leoni). They were warriors." I don't doubt they were but what is he trying to say?

• Wilton cannot develop players. I don't know of any player who would say that Wilton made him a better player. Players here can only learn by watching others. That works for some, not for all. He didn't teach me a thing. Ever wondered why players don't make the progress you could expect? How come someone like Clayton Stanley is still playing well below his potential only sometimes showing off how he could be like in the UCLA game. Wilton's only way to survive as a coach is to get players from foreign countries. These players usually have already developed the skills to compete on the NCAA level when they come here. Since Hawaii is a very attractive place to play he doesn't have any problems to get new players whenever he needs them. They are also more dependant on him and are unlikely to question his coaching and how he treats people.

• Wilton cannot prepare a team for the season. May be I'm wrong with this one but I do think I have a pretty good idea of what should be done during off-season. The coaches should develop an idea of what each player can contribute to the team and what the best system might be. Players should work on developing their skills and the coaches should help them. Later everything should be put together and more and more team drills of various kinds should prepare the team for the season. What happened last fall was that we started scrimmaging in the first (!) week of practice. There is nothing bad about scrimmaging but we would be doing the exact same drill until the end of fall camp. The same thing every day. How was that supposed to make us better? How was that supposed to keep us motivated?

• Wilton cannot deal with problems during the season. During this season as well as during last year the same thing happened during the first part of the season: we would play with different line-ups almost every week. We wouldn't change anything in practice but we would change the line-up. Over and over again. Few players were ever given the chance to settle in on one position. Everybody was uncertain about his position in the team. Players would be in the starting line-up one week and not even allowed to practice with the second team the next week. No one could comprehend it and the coaches wouldn't explain.

• Wilton coaches badly during a match. Have you ever watched Wilton during a time-out? Often he doesn't know what to say, especially in important situations. Usually the coaches don't know in which rotation the team is. Substitutions often seem to be arbitrary. When we were down, Wilton's approach of coaching was to call us "chickens" and that we should start playing "like men". Even during the match against UCLA in the MPSF play-offs, which we won 3:1, he would do that. Sometimes he would refuse to talk at all during a time-out. Tactical advice? Rarely.

These are some of the things that I think Mike Wilton should be questioned about. I do not think it is right that he gets away with blaming bad times on the players only. It is especially frustrating to see how he uses his presence in the media to make the impression that there is something wrong with the personalities of the players. Blaming it on lacking volleyball skills is one thing, taking it to a personal level is another. The Athletics Department has a responsibility for its programs and its athletes. I will leave soon, but others will stay and new players will come in. I believe that they should not have to endure the same again.

Andre Breuer