Saying Sayonara To UH Football ’13
His third season will determine Norm Chow’s future at UH. Randy Dela Cruz photo
Hawaii’s football season finale against Army represents a chance to end the year on a positive note. All indications are that the current staff will be retained for 2014, which means that the business of recruiting takes center stage for the next six weeks. Hawaii had a good class last year, and must follow that up with an even better group this year. UH already has a number of commitments for next season and there are plenty of needs.
UH is still trying to find the depth necessary to be successful in the Mountain West. It is very clear that the athletic department suffers when the football programs struggles; turning that around has to be the No.1 priority going forward.
Season Three will make or break Norm Chow’s tenure as head coach. As he said recently on Call the Coach, “We can’t dwell on what has already happened. We have to get to the hard work in front of us.”
Quite right. In this modern day, many staffs don’t survive such a difficult second year. For the UH coaches, it appears they will get a shot at redemption. Let’s hope they can capitalize on the opportunity. * Early indications are that the UH men’s basketball team will play at a faster tempo than any group of Rainbow Warriors in recent memory. History tells us that big crowds don’t come out until the Diamond Head Classic, but the advice here is don’t wait. They will play at Stan Sheriff Center on the Wednesday before and the Friday after Thanksgiving. The opponents will be New Orleans and Montana.
If you haven’t caught the new-look ‘Bows, treat yourself to a holiday outing. Returnees Isaac Fotu and Christian Standhardinger are terrifically agile frontcourt players and are joined by a slew of guards with quickness and scoring ability. Senior Brandon Spearman heads that group with Garrett Nevels, Keith Shamburger and Quincy Smith – all poised to make significant contributions. This group will be fabulously entertaining to watch. * Last week’s melee at the conclusion of the Rainbow Wahine basketball game versus West Virginia was a particularly disturbing incident, as UH athletics director Ben Jay was left with some fairly serious injuries incurred while trying to separate the combatants. While Jay’s involvement was an instant reaction by someone who cares deeply and wanted to help, the situation presents an opportunity to create contingency plans in case of future incidents.
There had never been any kind of incident at a Wahine basketball game, and with smallish crowds (that game reported 771 in attendance), the games have been lightly staffed with security. In addition to reviewing future security staffing needs, this will allow the athletic department to carve out roles if an incident develops.
Although one has to admire Jay’s impulse, it probably would be best to have athletic administrators in a supervisory role rather than directly involved.
It was terrible that Jay was injured, and we all hope for a quick recovery, but if he had inadvertently injured someone while trying to break up the fight, you can only imagine the liability to the University of Hawaii. Now those eventualities can be planned for and prevented in the future.
Bobbycurran1@gmail.com
