NOW'S a good time for a dose of reality. All UH sports
need a healthy
football programWe're all excited about the success of the Wahine volleyball team and its drive to the NCAA Final Four -- the first step of which begins tonight against Ivy League champion Brown.
A near sellout crowd of 10,000 is expected at Stan Sheriff Center, which should blow the minds of the Brownies. After all, no other collegiate volleyball program draws the kind of attendance or attention that the University of Hawaii does.
Hawaii fans love their volleyball.
There are a number of reasons, of course.
We know the game. It's a sport we grew up playing, even if badly.
Some physical fitness instructor might have invented volleyball at a YMCA in Holyoke, Mass., more than a 100 years ago. But it was done to a fine turn on the beaches of California and Hawaii.
Mainly, the fans love volleyball because UH does well at it. And everybody loves a winner.
The decline of Rainbow football in the last five years created a vacuum that was quickly filled by winning Rainbow volleyball and basketball teams.
The UH baseball program hasn't carried its weight of late, either. But that hasn't impacted the UH athletic budget as much as the sharp drop in football revenue.
Football, after all, is the engine that pulls the rest of the sports.
Right now, UH is looking for a new conductor to run the train. May he be a highly qualified one, for this is serious business.
Without a successful Division I football program, the other 17 Rainbow sports will suffer, especially women's sports.
Even Wahine volleyball.
THAT'S the dose of reality, I'm talking about.
Sure, the Wahine are winning and drawing record crowds that are the envy of every other program where volleyball is a loss leader. But let's not get too excited, folks.
In checking out the Wahine volleyball budget over a two-year period, including this season, the program has had an annual gross of roughly $800,000 and expenses of $450,000.
Net profit to be sure. And no other school that can make that statement, financially or otherwise. But the income is hardly one that can subsidize other sports as football does or can do.
So no matter how successful -- and it can't get any better, having reached it limits -- volleyball can never be the locomotive or the money train.
Of course, listing figures side-by-side sometimes can be comparing apples and oranges. I hate to fool around with figures because someone once told me, "Figures never lie, but liars figure."
You see my point. But don't just take my word for it.
IM Donovan, UH associate athletic director, puts it more bluntly.
"If we didn't have football, we wouldn't have the kind of women's volleyball program we have now," he said.
Sure the Wahine are winning. And they're playing the best doing it. But without football, the Wahine might not be able to afford to play the best, according to Donovan.
"If we didn't have football, they wouldn't be playing the kind of schedule they're playing now. We'd be playing schools like UC-Irvine, Fullerton and San Diego."
If that's so, Donovan asks rhetorically, "Will they (the fans) pay to see those schools? I don't think so."
Especially at ticket prices that range from $5 to $8 for a sport that doesn't even charge admission at most schools in the country.
We're lucky in Hawaii in a lot of ways, especially for a great women's volleyball program. But just remember that football is the real money train. Everything else is gravy.