Anchorage Daily News

One of the best kept coaching secrets in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference is out of the bag.

UAA men's basketball team associate head coach Shane Rinner -- who has been instrumental in the Seawolves' success during his five seasons -- is among the final 12 candidates for the head coaching job at Montana State-Billings, another GNAC school.

More than 140 people applied for the job, athletic director Gary Gray said. That number dwindled to 21 after the first cut and then down to a dozen after the second cut.

"He's a good candidate. He's got great experience," Gray said by telephone Wednesday. "We have a lot of respect for the UAA program."

The university released the names of 10 candidates aiming to rebuild the Yellowjackets, who finished 1-28 last season.

Two are former Billings players -- Colorado School of Mines coach Pryor Orser and Central Wyoming coach Jamie Stevens. Other notables include Henry Clark, who used to coach at Cal State Bakersfield, and George Pfeiffer, a former coach at Idaho.

Of the final 12 candidates, Rinner is the only assistant coach in the mix.

"I think it says a lot about Shane. It says a lot about his experience," Gray said. "He's been associated with some good programs. Where he is now is significant to us.

"It's extremely important to us that we hire somebody who buys in very well to the NCAA Division II philosophy. That's very important to us. The fact that he's at a good Division II program, which happens to be in our conference, I think it says a lot about his ability."

Rinner has previous coaching experience at the NCAA Division I, NAIA, junior college and professional levels.

From 1994-96 he coached at his alma mater, NAIA Biola (Calif.), and returned there for a second stint from 2000-02. From 1996-98, he coached at Liberty University in Virginia, before moving on to Marshalltown (Iowa) JC in 1998-99.

In 1999-2000, he was the head coach for the Glostrup Giants in Denmark.

The Seawolves' chief recruiter, Rinner came here as an assistant in 2003-04 and has been pivotal in helping the Seawolves to 98 victories and four NCAA Tournament berths (2004, '06, '07, '08).

"For him to be mentioned as a finalist just shows you the respect people have for our program and the respect for the things he's done over his coaching life," said UAA head coach Rusty Osborne.

"We never like to replace people, but we're encouraging him to go for that as much as he can, and we'll do anything we can to help him. He can be a very good head coach."

The university expects to slice the current list down to four or five today, Gray said. Those remaining finalists will be flown to the campus for interviews.

Find assistant sports editor Van Williams online at adn.com/contact/vwilliams or call 257-4335.

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