ONE coach was called downtown for an informal chat with the governor. Another coach called out the University of Hawaii administration on national television. And another hasn't made the right call from the dugout in five years. At Hawaii, the coaches
run the showAt most schools, those things would be grounds for dismissal. But here in the 50th state, they give you contract extensions and victory cigars. What a country.
The Board of Regents met yesterday to review UH athletic director Hugh Yoshida's recommendations to extend the contracts of football coach Fred vonAppen and baseball coach Les Murakami to three years, and give men's basketball coach Riley Wallace a new five-year package.
Yoshida must be hoping the old parable "what you give comes back tenfold" is true. That's what happens when the university president recommends your contract be extended one year at a time. You get religion.
The athletic director hasn't always felt so magnanimous toward his coaches. A few months ago, vonAppen wasn't recommended for a rollover, mainly because of his public protests about the sad shape of the football program.
He sang so loud and so long, Gov. Ben Cayetano finally stepped in three days before the season opener and tried to pull the plug on vonAppen's karaoke machine. At that point, the football coach's career didn't appear on the radar screen. But two months later, he's got two more years.
TWO years ago, Wallace was at a similar crossroad. How can anyone forget his challenge to Yoshida and UH president Kenneth Mortimer during the public hanging of former head football coach Bob Wagner.
He angrily denounced the press conference that was called to announce Wagner's firing. In a matter of seconds, he and associate athletic director Jim Donovan were as hot as two hockey players after a 10-minute brawl. Donovan even asked Wallace if he wanted to make it a two-for-one deal.
A half-hour after the press conference, which was broadcast on CNN and ESPN, Yoshida could be heard outside his office yelling "He thinks he's the man? He thinks he's the man? I'm the man."
Well, perhaps not. Thanks to the signing of point guard Anthony Carter -- the basketball coach should send him a thank-you card every day for the rest of his life -- Wallace weathered the storm and has a fresh five-year package to prove it.
And what of Murakami?
Compared to vonAppen and Wallace, he was the safest, even after Yoshida said last summer that no rollover was forthcoming for the man responsible for getting the finest college baseball facility in America.
UNFORTUNATELY for Murakami, the house he built has become his worst enemy. With a recruiting tool like that, you won't survive long when you keep finishing last in a league that barely earns an automatic NCAA postseason bid.
But Murakami got the Board of Regents' rubber stamp of approval yesterday anyway. There was talk that the contracts would contain language saying that public protests by the coaches would be viewed as insubordination and possible grounds for firing. It was supposedly an "out" for the Regents, who might be wondering why these three coaches deserve contract extensions.
But don't believe it. Not for a second. None of the coaches will willingly give up his right to free speech. And if you think this administration is going to stand up to anyone who challenges that possible clause, then you haven't been paying attention.
Here in Hawaii, the coaches call the shots. And they'll call them like they see them -- their way.
Paul Arnett has been covering sports
for the Star-Bulletin since 1990.
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