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Monday
Evening QB
WITH the Fourth of July right around the corner and all the good recent financial news about the University of Hawaii athletic department, one word comes to mind: Does UH need
WACky conference?Independence.
You hear it more and more these days in reference to UH football.
The future of the Western Athletic Conference is about as clear as that of the Star-Bulletin.
Someday, the Rainbows could find themselves out of WAC. And that could be a good thing.
Anything might happen. The crazy conference could cease to exist, or having already reached Louisiana, continue on its reverse manifest destiny and sign up the College of Charleston.
Hawaii could be part of the first coast-to-coast conference.
Could independence be a bad alternative?
Breaking away on its own would have been a wild desperation move for UH when it was among the uninvited to the Mountain West Conference.
But now -- after a 9-4 season, co-championship of the conference, a bowl victory, money rolling in and, most importantly, the strong possibility of even better things down the road -- striking out on a solitary path doesn't seem like such a crazy idea.
Despite all the uncertainty and being left out of the WAC national TV mix this fall, football coach June Jones remains a good conference soldier, talking up not only Hawaii, but also TCU as teams he'd "put up against anyone in the country."
Of course, though, Jones realizes the importance of a Plan B, in case the WAC gets whacked, whether that plan means hooking up with another conference or going it alone.
Also, if Hawaii is to indeed become the Notre Dame of the Pacific, independence might be a necessity.
Television remains a huge key to the future, and being independent would allow Hawaii to work its own national TV deals.
Leigh Steinberg, who in a few weeks has helped bring in more than half-a-million dollars to UH sports for next year, can help in that area, too.
In the past, the complaint was that Hawaii played too late on Saturday to get any exposure on the Mainland.
STEINBERG wants to turn that into a positive. He hopes to market the fact that the Rainbows play the last game of Saturday night and sell the games nationally.
"We have programming available in a unique time niche," he said. "Granted, the viewing audience isn't as large, but a lot of people are up. Not everyone goes to bed at 10 p.m."
UH is also serious about playing a game in Japan, possibly as early as 2001. Who knows? Maybe Australia down the line.
Speaking of the road, Hawaii needs to hit it more often.
Sure, it's expensive and risky, but if the Rainbows are serious about getting more respect nationwide, they need to schedule home-and-home games with some heavy hitters.
Would Texas have backed out of its game with Hawaii if it was scheduled to host the Rainbows the following fall? Doubt it.
At any rate, if UH is to ever contend for a national championship, it's obvious it can't do it as a member of the WAC, at least in its current incarnation. Does the Bowl Championship Series even acknowledge the league's existence?
If the Rainbows continue to perform on the football field and Steinberg lets the world know about it, the time to trash that ratty, old security blanket will come sooner than later.
Dave Reardon, who covered sports in Hawaii from 1977 to 1998,
moved to the the Gainesville Sun, then returned to
the Star-Bulletin in Jan. 2000.
E-mail dreardon@starbulletin.com