Coaches Privacy

Alex Silva here from the Honolulu Star-bulletin in Hawaii.
I'm trying to get a list with names of people who applied for the Hawaii football head coaching post left vacant by June Jone's departure. The U. of Hawaii hired a new head coach this week, but as far as we know, only two people were interviewed, and both were already coaches with the program. I'm wondering if it's common practice for public universities to withhold names of head coach applicants. I filed a FOIA request with the school, arguing that, under a state open records law, public interest in the hiring outweigh the applicants' privacy rights (Jones left the school after complaining about poor athletic facilities and school administrators accepted blame for failing to secure Jones). UH says at least 30 people applied for the job, but there's no way to check that without getting a list of applicants.
Any feedback woul be appreciated.
Thanks.

 

If you FOI the job applications, you should be able to get them. I have before.

Not that anyone/everyone who was a serious candidate actually filled out an application or sent in a resume.

 

FOI is a way to start, yeah.

Did Hawaii employ a search firm?

 

They had a search committe that went over the applications...

 

Went to the SMU-Houston basketball game last night...the standing O for Jones was comical. At least I got some entertainment out of that debacle.

There is more excitement around campus about Jones' hiring than I have seen in a long time with regard to anything football. Stopped in and had a burger at a local joint close to campus and talked to some old man who played for SMU in 50-something. I guess they let him out of the nursing home long enough...anyhow, he drove in from west side of Fort Worth so he could see how they handled introducing the new coach...first basketball game he had been to in several years he said.

 

I don't know if it's the same with coaches, but often education bureaucracies finagle things so that only one finalist, or maybe two, are in a position where they have to release info on them. I guess the search firm is the go-between that shields other applicants from being exposed.