WAC hoops tourneys locked up
When Herman Frazier attends next week's Western Athletic Conference meetings in Dallas, the Hawaii athletic director won't be among those making pitches from schools hoping to host the conference's basketball tournaments.
He is, however, looking into UH making a bid the next time the process rolls around.
New Mexico State will host the upcoming tournament in March, and the site for 2009 and 2010 will be decided at next week's meetings. Frazier said the financial commitment, which he put in the range of $1.5 million to $2 million, precluded UH from bidding for the next two tournaments, but the school could organize a push for 2011 and 2012.
"(Associate AD) John McNamara and I looked at the bid and while we're not prepared for it now, we are prepared to set up a meeting to talk about Hawaii putting a bid in the future," Frazier said.
Given the requirements, Frazier said it would take a coordinated effort between UH, the city and state to bring the event to the Stan Sheriff Center. He said he planned to meet with Rex Johnson of the Hawaii Tourism Authority and Mayor Mufi Hannemann -- who recently announced the formation of a Honolulu County Sports Commission -- on the possibility of hosting the tournaments.
"It's a big undertaking from a financial standpoint and we're not going to do anything that's not going to be a win-win situation," Frazier said.
The host school is responsible for transportation and hotels for the visiting men's and women's teams as well as a financial guarantee. A report in the Las Cruces Sun-News put NMSU's guarantee at $40,000 per school for last season's tournament on top of covering expenses.
UH will host the WAC softball tournament in May, the volleyball tournament in 2008 and baseball tournament in 2009.
In other matters:
» The committee formed to review allegations raised in deleted chapters of a book by former UH football player Ian Sample has completed the interview process and Frazier expects a report to soon be submitted to him and UH-Manoa chancellor Virginia Hinshaw.
The committee of Bill Bryant (assistant athletic director for compliance and eligibility), Ron Cambra (assistant vice chancellor for undergraduate education) and Dr. Peter Nicholson (faculty athletic representative) was formed to look into the claims which included academic cheating.
"I can't speculate," Frazier said of what might arise in light of the report. "They give us their report and once we get the report we will review and announce our next steps, whatever they may be."
» Frazier said the university has yet to be served with a lawsuit filed by track-and-field coach Carmyn James alleging that the school failed to meet gender-equity laws.
"To date, no one at the university has received any lawsuit or pending lawsuit, so we are not allowed to speak about it until we see something," he said.
» He said the department is in "silent mode" regarding the negotiations for football coach June Jones' contract, saying it is being handled internally.
» The lower campus is being set up to host a convention of Toyota dealers, with proceeds from the event going to the athletic department. Toyota is renting out the Stan Sheriff Center, Cooke Field and Les Murakami Stadium for the event, representing another revenue stream for the department.
The department will also cash in when the Los Angeles Lakers hold training camp and two exhibition games against the Golden State Warriors at the Sheriff Center next month. The athletic department keeps a percentage of the ticket and concession revenues from the games.