Tuesday, December 1, 1998
By David Swann, Star-Bulletin
The firing of coach
Fred vonAppen
puts the UH football
team in transition againWhat now for UH football?
By Paul Arnett
Star-BulletinDon Lindsey took pictures off the walls and from the shelves of his home away from home with practiced certainty.
Just how many times over the last 30-something years the former Hawaii offensive coordinator has packed his office stuff into boxes, he isn't sure.
But this is one time when he wished he were the only assistant coach forced to load up his gear and leave town.
"After the San Diego State game, I asked our athletic director for my resignation," Lindsey said. "I didn't want (former Hawaii head coach) Fred (vonAppen) to take the fall for my poor coaching.
"He never got back to me, which told me right then that maybe Fred couldn't be saved. He shouldn't have been fired or held accountable for what has happened here because there is plenty of blame to go around."
Predictably, most of it fell squarely on the shoulders of vonAppen, who was officially fired during a press conference held yesterday afternoon at Bachman Hall.
After UH athletic director Hugh Yoshida read a short statement and answered a variety of questions with deft ambiguity, Hawaii president Ken Mortimer met the media horde head-on.
He accepted the responsibility for the athletic department having to buy out its second football coaching contract in his tenure.
"That's not a situation anybody is happy about," Mortimer said of having to spend roughly $200,000 to buy out Bob Wagner in 1995 and about $260,000 for the remaining two years of vonAppen's contract. "But if it falls on anybody, it falls on me because I'm the president. I've been more hands-on in athletics for about the last two or three years."When we met this morning, Coach vonAppen knew what the decision was. Fred's a friend of mine. These are not easy times for me or for him for that matter. I felt he needed the opportunity to look at me and I needed the opportunity to look at him.
"This was not a decision that should be conveyed by writing letters. I think we're in general agreement that there needs to be a change in the program and it needs to happen now."
Many of the players, who were told by vonAppen about the firing during a team meeting that took place at the same time as the press conference, disagreed with the decision and said so in blunt fashion.
By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
UH football players leave a meeting where they
were told of coach Fred vonAppen's firing.
"I don't think Coach vonAppen should have been fired," junior wide receiver Dwight Carter said. "It was a bad decision because he's a great coach who wasn't given an opportunity to get this thing turned around. Three years just isn't long enough."In one way, Mortimer agreed. He said the new coach would probably be given a five-year contract, something that made fifth-year senior Kamuela Cobb-Adams smile sadly and shake his head.
"Why didn't they give Coach vonAppen a five-year contract from the start?" he asked.
Fellow senior Eleu Kane said, "A new coach is going to come in here and in three years, it's going to be the same thing all over again. How long is it going to take before these guys figure it out?"
VonAppen appreciated the support he got from the players and coaches. In some ways, he seemed relieved to be relieved of his duties, but when he started to think about it, the anger and hurt weren't far below the surface.
"I don't want to go out of here bitter and angry like Bob did because that doesn't accomplish anything," vonAppen said. "This was a business decision. And in this business, that's how the mop flops.
"But figure this one out for me, will you? They can find $500,000 to buy me out and pay for my staff, and pay for a new coach and his staff, but they can't build a fence around the practice field."
Several coaches recommended to players seriously injured on the hard and slick grass fields to file law suits for negligence. In all, 15 major surgeries will be performed on players this season.
"That field is a symptom to the problems here," Lindsey said. "They have to decide whether they are going to compete at the Division I level or drop football.
"I'm not blaming that field for an 0-12 season. But ask yourself this simple question. What does Hawaii have to offer to a kid when you don't even have your own practice field?"
Lindsey said he will not seek a job with the next coaching staff or apply for the top position. UH defensive coordinator Tom Williams said the same thing.
"I'm not sure I want to work here any longer after what they did to Fred," said Williams, who is considered one of the promising young coaches in the business. "At this time, I'm too upset to say anything more."
UH assistant Doug Semones was a bit more diplomatic. He said he wants to live in Hawaii for the rest of his life, even if it means coaching at the junior varsity level.
"I'd be interested in applying for a job with the new staff," Semones said. "I'll definitely look into it."
VonAppen said he would stay around for a few weeks to make sure all the loose ends were tied. Last spring, he was asked by Oakland Raiders head coach Jon Gruden to join the staff at about $150,000 a year. But he turned it down after his UH contract was extended by two years.
"I'd like to get back into the NFL if anyone would have me," vonAppen said, then smiled. "This has been a long day, so it's hard to talk about another job.
"I feel confident that Dr. Mortimer is going to honor my contract. I've had contact with the union and they said they'll be there for me if I need them.
"Obviously, this is difficult for everyone. But you always know going in that the minute they hire you, eventually you will be fired. Do we deserved to be fired? Yes. But should we have been fired? No. It's as simple as that."
"They probably thought they have no choice with all the rumors that were going around. It was rampant. One way or another, a decision had to be made quickly. It wasn't fair for Fred to be left hanging" What they're saying
--Baseball coach Les Murakami"I've really become fond of Fred and all his staff. I feel for them as fellow coaches. I don't know much about football, but I felt next year they would turn the corner. They have a lot of young players, so I just hoped they would be allowed to finish out his contract. I'll just say this. I don't think we provided enough resources for him to have a winning program in three years. I don't think we did enough to allow him to start winning games."
--Women's volleyball coach Dave Shoji"I don't know a lot about football, but I've been here for 15 years and, as a person, Fred is the nicest guy that I've known in that office. He has always been concerned about our program and the players. He always inquired about how they were progressing and how they were doing."
--Women's basketball coach Vince Goo.
Local recruits can only
wait to see who the
new coach will bePrep coaches say the Rainbows' 0-12 season
By Pat Bigold
turned off many of the top players
Star-BulletinSome Oahu prep coaches said last night that it would have been next to impossible to get top local players to stay home, even if there was no coaching change at the University of Hawaii.
"The whole 0-12 season affected recruiting in Hawaii," said Leo Taaca, head coach of Oahu Interscholastic Association runner-up Waianae.
Taaca said that for the first time in memory, nobody from UH came out to watch the Seariders in practice this season.
"UH was the kids' last choice anyway," said Kahuku head coach Siuaki Livai, whose team lost to St. Louis in the Prep Bowl last week.
"Nobody is going to think about anything until a coach is named."
Farrington head coach Skippa Diaz said UH sent someone to look at a couple of his linemen.
"There was one on offense and one on defense," said Diaz. "But they weren't really thinking of going there. That's because of this (UH) season and the team's previous season. You can't recruit well when your record on the win-loss side is dubious."
Waipahu head coach Sam Delos Reyes said it's pretty difficult to recruit after a winless season.
"But when they got rid of the Prop 48, it limited their selection of our public school kids anyway. And our kids are having opportunities to go elsewhere."
Most coaches said that a native of the islands should be the successor to former UH head coach Fred vonAppen.
"We need someone who understands our local lifestyle and our kids," said Taaca.
"They need to fill it locally," said Livai. "Someone has to come who cares and knows about the islands. A local guy would take a more serious look at the local kids."
Livai said he was disappointed that UH did not show a lot of interest in his players during the past three years.
"We need a guy who has the ability to bring in quality material," said Diaz. "But you know, however long it took to get into the hole, it will take just that long to get out of it."
Diaz said he would recommend former UH assistant Paul Johnson, head coach of Division II Georgia Southern.
"He's the guy who stands out by performance. He's done a helluva job over there," said Diaz.
"They can not limit themselves to the candidates who might be interested," said Delos Reyes. "If Terry Bowden (former Auburn coach) is available, then bring him in. They have to bring in a quality person -- somebody the fans know about. Our fans know who is a winning coach."
Kailua head coach Darren Johnson said he will miss the vonAppen staff because they put on clinics for his coaches.
But now that von Appen has been dismissed, Johnson said he, too, would like to see a local man get the job.
"I know there's a high school coach (Cal Lee) who a lot of people think could do the job. He's a heck of a coach."
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
