NOT being blessed with a standard five-year contract has left University of Hawaii head coach Fred vonAppen racing across a tightrope with no safety net. UH practicing
‘breakdown management’Instead of trying to rebuild the football program at a slow but steady pace that promises bigger dividends in the distant future, the Rainbows' management team has forced vonAppen to mortgage the farm on a bevy of junior college players who won't be around long enough for anyone to remember their names.
In only eight days, Hawaii begins its second season under vonAppen, something that should be just another brick in the wall, not some last-ditch effort to complete the building three years ahead of schedule.
In reality, vonAppen only has 496 days remaining on his contract. He basically has been told to win with what he has, or start looking for another job.
As you would expect, vonAppen has taken the quick-fix approach in order to speed up the process. It's one where redshirts aren't allowed and freshmen are asked to play two years ahead of schedule.
EVEN if the Rainbows pull off a miracle and manage a winning season, they lose 34 seniors to graduation in December, and will have another senior class just as large in 1998.
That means about 70 of the current 105 players on the roster will be gone in 16 months with only 50 scholarships available to replace them. Fresno State found itself in a similar situation after Jim Sweeney went the predominantly junior college route the last few years he was head coach.
The Bulldogs' athletic department was wise enough to see this was a problem. New head coach Pat Hill was promised enough time to get the program turned around, so he went out and signed almost nothing but freshmen in the spring to build a stable future.
More than likely, the Bulldogs will struggle for a couple of years, but there should be a payoff down the road that allows only minimal, not wholesale, changes.
"We don't have that luxury because for us, the clock is ticking," vonAppen said. "We need to have as good a year as we can, because next season we have a very difficult schedule without the benefit of this senior class to help us."
THIS approach also has an effect on the players. Take junior college transfer Dan Robinson as an example. He has three years left to play two. Last spring, it was discovered he had shinsplints. But instead of allowing him time to heal, the coaching staff was forced to keep him in the top half of the rotation. No need for long-term planning if you aren't here for the long term.
This breakneck pace also puts the players' health in jeopardy. All fall camp, Robinson has been pressed into duty in case Carey is injured or falters.
Robinson's shins hurt so badly after practice he has them wrapped in ice for 30 minutes to keep down the swelling. Unfortunately, the pain doesn't go away.
"I'm tired of talking about them," Robinson said. "I just have to live with it."
This is no way to run a railroad. But isn't it just typical of how things are so often done in this state? One longtime observer of the football program called it breakdown management. Nobody fixes anything until it's broken.
Well, it's broke. And many of the methods being used to fix it are so shortsighted, you wonder if it's all a planned failure by some unseen power in the UH ranks.
President Kenneth Mortimer recently said the revolving door of coaches that has recently plagued the UH football program must be stopped. That's sound logic. Now back it up by reaffirming vonAppen's hiring with a rollover and take the rebuilding process one day -- not one year -- at a time.
Paul Arnett has been covering sports
for the Star-Bulletin since 1990.
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