Alika Smith and Gavin Petersen are among the candidates with Hawai'i ties who will apply to replace Jim Bolla as head coach of the University of Hawai'i women's basketball team.

Smith, a former star player and assistant coach for the Hawai'i men's team, said he is "very much interested" in coaching the Rainbow Wahine.

"Even if it's the women's team, I still consider UH my alma mater," Smith said. "And I'm looking for the opportunity to coach college basketball again."

Hawai'i athletic director Jim Donovan announced yesterday that Bolla was no longer the women's coach, effective since Monday afternoon.

A national search will be conducted to fill the position, Donovan said in a conference call yesterday afternoon. The position has been posted on the UH employment Web site.

Donovan said Pat Charity is still considered the interim head coach of the Rainbow Wahine, and can apply for the position.

Charity, who was named the interim head coach in February, declined to comment yesterday.

Hawai'i's other two assistant coaches are Matthew Paton and Dallas Bolla — Jim Bolla's wife. Donovan said they can also apply for the position, and it would be the new head coach's decision to retain any or all of the current assistants.

Donovan said Charity, Paton and Bolla were given 90 days' notice on April 1 that their current contracts as assistant coaches would not be renewed.

Donovan said the head coach position will be posted until "approximately April 26 or 27."

The signing period for basketball recruits starts on April 15. Donovan said he told Charity that the staff can continue to pursue recruits.

Smith is currently the head coach of the Academy of the Pacific boys varsity team.

He was an assistant coach for the UH men's team under Riley Wallace from 2005-07. He was also an assistant coach at UH-Hilo from 2001-04.

Prior to coaching, Smith was a standout guard for the Rainbow Warriors from 1994-98. He was a three-time all-state player at Kalaheo High.

"When I was playing at UH there was great pride and interest in the (women's) program under Vince Goo, with players like Nani Cockett and BJ Itoman and Hedy Liu," Smith said. "I'd certainly like a chance to restore that."

Petersen, a former assistant coach for the UH women's team, is currently an associate coach for the Idaho women's team. He said he would take "the necessary steps" to apply for the UH position.

Petersen, an assistant under Goo from 2002-04, has spent the past five seasons at Idaho State and Idaho, all under former Rainbow Wahine associate coach Jon Newlee.

"I would definitely be interested in the UH head coaching position," Petersen said. "I was born and raised in Hawai'i, got my first coaching job under Vince Goo there. Being away for the last five years has given me time to develop, grow, make connections."

Petersen, 32, is a graduate of University High and Hawai'i Pacific University. He was the Rainbow Wahine manager from 1999-2001 before he was promoted to assistant coach.

Goo retired at the end of the 2003-04 season, and his assistants were not retained by the university.

Petersen recently finished his first year as associate coach at Idaho. The Vandals were 13-15 overall and 10-6 in the Western Athletic Conference, a turnaround from a 4-25 season in 2008. Freshman Shaena-Lyn Kuehu, a Punahou graduate, was named to the All-WAC freshman team and Newlee was named Coach of the Year. Petersen recruited Kuehu, along with incoming freshmen Kanisha Bello (Waiakea High) and Natasha Helsham ('Aiea High).

"The University of Idaho, I am happy here," said Petersen, noting the support from all levels of the Idaho athletic program. "No way am I looking for another job. This is the one job that I look to go out on my own."

Petersen was at Idaho State from 2004-08, serving his initial two years as an assistant and the last two as associate coach. The Bengals had three postseason berths during that time, including a Big Sky Tournament title and NCAA tourney berth in 2007.

Newlee was hired by Idaho last April, and along went Petersen and assistant Christa (Brossman) Sanford. Sanford, who started her collegiate career at UH before finishing her eligibility under Newlee at Idaho State, served as a graduate assistant and assistant at Idaho State.

Another potential candidate is Punahou School's highly successful girls coach Mike Taylor.

Taylor declined comment yesterday on whether he'd apply for the UH position. Taylor led the Buffanblu to state titles in 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2008, and lost in double overtime in this year's state final. Taylor was Advertiser State Coach of the Year last year and is heavily involved in Dennis Agena's Kalakaua Foundation Clinic, a training ground for many of the state's top girls basketball players.

"At this very moment in time, I decline comment about whether I will or will not submit an application," Taylor said.

Two other former UH assistants under Goo — Da Houl and Serenda Valdez — are still employed by UH. Houl is an assistant girls basketball coach at Mid-Pacific Institute. She applied for the UH women's head coach position in 2004 that eventually went to Bolla.

Another former UH assistant, Dana Takahara-Dias, told The Advertiser last night she has no interest in applying. Takahara-Dias, a former Rainbow Wahine guard and girls head coach at Moanalua High School, is director of the City and County of Honolulu's Department of Customer Services.

She also is head coach of Team Aloha, a squad of Hawai'i high school all-stars that will compete in an elite girls basketball tournament next week in Arizona.

Goo said yesterday he would not be interested in applying. Goo was 334-166 in 17 seasons at UH.

He is a member of the search committee, which is chaired by UH senior woman administrator Marilyn Moniz-Kaho'ohanohano. Other members include attorney and gender equity advocate Jill Nunokawa, businessman and UH supporter Don Murphy, and Hawai'i Tourism Authority member David Uchiyama.