THE University of Hawaii went to the triple-option to survive in football. Now UH will need to exercise an option of a different kind simply to survive. Staying in WAC
shouldn’t be an
option for UHThe defection of eight schools that broke up the Western Athletic Conference as we know it has left the Rainbows in limbo.
University president Kenneth Mortimer and athletic director Hugh Yoshida are studying different options on where to go next.
If they had their way, the best option is accepting -- if it's forthcoming -- an invitation to join the eight renegades in a new conference. That would make it a "Divine Nine." For now, let's use a working title for the eight rebels and call it the WAD -- Western Alliance Defectors.
Of course, UH undoubtedly will have to pay travel subsidy as a membership fee. Mortimer says it's negotiable.
Still, if it comes to that, some kind of a compromise can be worked out. Perhaps Hawaii can pay for travel expenses in revenue-generating sports. It's blackmail, but when you've got a gun to your head, what can you do?
The worst option is for the Rainbows to remain in the leftover WAC, especially if it expands with schools such as New Mexico State, Utah State and Boise State.
THAT wouldn't solve anything. Besides, if you think it's arduous and expensive traveling to Texas-El Paso, Tulsa and Laramie, imagine what it would be like going to Boise, Las Cruces and Logan?
Clearly, the leftover-WAC-plus-whoever holds no future for the Rainbows. And UH should announce its intention of leaving it ASAP. I don't know about you, but I hate leftovers. Except beef stew. But no more than a day old.
Which brings me to some of the other options UH can explore if no invitation from the WAD arrives in the mail.
One is for the Rainbows to go independent in football. Division I, of course. And apply to join not the Big West Conference, but the West Coast Conference, which does not have football, but competes in eight other sports.
It's a better basketball conference than the Big West and Hawaii fans can identify more with its member schools -- St. Mary's, Loyola-Marymount, Pepperdine, University of San Francisco, Santa Clara, Gonzaga, Portland and UC-San Diego. If there's to be any travel subsidy involved, it's sure to be less expensive.
Going independent in football will be difficult, especially scheduling games in mid-season. That was one of the main reasons Hawaii joined the WAC in the first place. But it can be done.
HAWAII still is an appealing place to play. Michigan or Notre Dame would never go to Fresno State. But they sure love coming here. UH's 12th-game exemption remains a good selling point, especially since it means an added big-money game back home for the visiting team. And the trip to Hawaii remains a strong recruiting incentive.
Those are items UH can bring to the negotiating table.
That reminds me. With BYU, Utah and Air Force leaving Hawaii in the lurch with their departure from the WAC, there should be no reason why Hawaii should schedule them in nonconference games in the future.
Why schedule nonconference opponents who use a trip to Hawaii as a recruiting tool, especially as a coming-home treat for local prepsters?
The only exception, of course, is UNLV. After all, Honolulu and Las Vegas are sister cities when it comes to the love of gambling.
In explaining their defection, the breakaway eight said it was done for the best interests of their schools.
Count on Mortimer and Yoshida to do likewise for the University of Hawaii.