Ken Olynyk, athletic director for the TRU WolfPack, says the recruiting season has barely started, so he isn’t worried about having vacant head-coaching positions in two of his four Canada West programs.

Olynyk has two full-time positions to fill — the head coach of the women’s volleyball team and the head coach of the men’s basketball team. The volleyball job has been posted since January, while the basketball gig was posted earlier this month.

The women’s volleyball team has some work to do after going 1-19 under interim head coach Cal Wohlford, but Olynyk doesn’t feel any pressure to fill the position soon just for recruiting purposes.

“I wouldn’t want to put someone in place just to put someone in place, just because we’re worried we might lose a recruit,” said Olynyk, who plans to do interviews over the next two weeks.

Wohlford has moved back to Vancouver.

The high school volleyball season runs into December, and the club season is running now. Olynyk says the heavy recruiting will start as the club season ends in May, but, since TRU is eligible to return all but two players off last season’s roster, he doesn’t think many changes will be necessary.

“We have a nucleus — almost everyone is going to be back,” said Olynyk, who is part of a five-person hiring committee. “We have to go forward and . . . move ahead over the next three to five years.

“By May, we will have someone in place, and they can talk to these recruits.”

The men’s basketball team also needs some work after going 3-15 in 2009-10. Like the women’s volleyball team, it has yet to make the playoffs in five seasons of CIS action.

Thom Gillespie has been the interim head coach the last two seasons, and is still in Kamloops.

Again, Olynyk is in no hurry to get someone in place.

“We’re in the same situation (as volleyball),” he said. “We’ve identified a number of kids — I’ve talked to some of them, and we just want to be in touch with these kids.

“Most kids don’t make a decision until April or late April.”

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As for the CIS men’s volleyball championship, to which the Tournament Capital Centre and the WolfPack played host on the weekend, Olynyk couldn’t be any happier.

He said the work of the volunteers and the local committee did wonders to run a smooth tournament. The event was a hit in terms of attendance — each of the three days drew more than 1,000 fans for matches.

“We have an incredible group of people in this city and at Thompson Rivers University that helps run these kind of events,” Olynyk said. “We had an outstanding committee. . . . I’m really pleased.”

Olynyk said 8,500 people tuned in to watch a webcast of Sunday’s final. The Calgary Dinos beat the Trinity Western Spartans to take the championship.

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The WolfPack men’s volleyball team, which finished sixth at the CIS championship, has signed outside hitter Jesse Bazergui of Earl Marriott Secondary in White Rock. He will begin training with the WolfPack in the fall.

Bazergui becomes the fifth player from the White Rock area to join the TRU program, after Kyle Donen, Joel Caschetto, Alex Davis and Steve Richter.

The 6-foot-4 Bazergui was considering the University of Toronto, UBC and McGill but decided on TRU where he will enrol in the Bachelor of Business Administration with a major in marketing.

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Two members of the TRU WolfPack have been named to the B.C. Intercollegiate Hockey League all-star teams.

Defenceman David Boychuk of Edmonton was named to the first team, while Kamloops native Jassi Sangha was named to the second team.

The WolfPack is scheduled to take on Fraser Valley in the BCIHL tournament opener on Thursday.

mhunter@kamloopsnews.ca