Sidelines
GOOD morning. Get the coffee. It's early. Early to be playing a UH football game, still too early to know if BYU has a legitimate complaint at being left out of the Bowl Championship Series. We'll find that out in a few hours, when we see today's final score. But one thing we do know for sure right now on this December morn: At 8-3, Hawaii has complaints of its own. UH needs to get the
most out of JonesWhat a great, great Christmas present this game turned out to be. What a break. This is Hawaii's bowl game, better than a bowl game, arguably the biggest game in almost a decade. The return of the BYU rivalry is all you could ever ask for; it takes the sting out of the end of the season. For now. But that will be little comfort in late December, when the glow of today's game fades and UH sits back with the rest of us to watch the big boys on TV.
An 8-3 team should be in a bowl, and especially if it wins another game to knock off an unbeaten rival, a bowl is a no-brainer. But there will be no bowl for UH. This was it. Turn in the equipment. Bust out the sashimi. Grab the remote.
Don't blame the WAC. Sure, it should have another bowl tie-in (and those "ACC No. 5," "Conference USA No. 4" tie-ins are tough to look at). But the WAC is what it is, and only in the WAC could UH afford to so gradually work its way into form. It eventually turned into a team good enough to win eight games.
But you didn't bring June Jones in just to win eight or nine games. A lot of guys can do that. (Dave Holmes, Dick Tomey, Bob Wagner all did it.) What you hire Jones for is credibility, for name recognition, as a guy who gets you the benefit of the doubt on the national stage to take the next step. June Jones is the guy with the clout to get All-Americans, to get Top 25 rankings, to get, yes, bowl bids.
That's what all that money is for.
The on-field product is fine -- it's good -- but Tomey and Wagner had seasons like this, too. They found out the hard way that good isn't good enough if you play in the middle of the night, off the radar screen, in a questionable conference, thousands of miles away. Everything's a sales job in modern sport. It's all perception. That's why Jones was supposed to be the one to make Hawaii big-time. That's why he makes more money than any UH coach had ever dreamed.
He's a coach, yes, and it turns out he's a good one. But he's also a commodity. A former NFL head coach is something to sell to the image makers and the mainland's movers and shakers, a sign that UH has finally made it in the football world.
Jones knows the score. He's been around, he knows the game, knows he has to do more than just coach. All the big boys talk to Jones, and he got a full spread, "The Warrior" national magazine piece in ESPN that was so flattering that, add a couple concussion stories, and it sounded like Jones could have written it himself. It's publicity you just can't buy, and that makes Jones a good buy, at any price.
Hawaii's stock rises nationally just because he shows up. If it's close, UH should go to a bowl just because June Jones is its coach. Right? That's why you hire June Jones.
It's happened a little, but not enough. Not as much as we thought. He needs to do more. Obviously, with Hawaii staying home, UH needs to do more.
UH needs to seek out national telecasts instead of insisting that KFVE coverage is just as good. It needs to lock ESPN broadcasters in a room with Mike Cavanaugh until they believe that Vince Manuwai is 10-feet tall. Make them watch highlights until their eyes bug out and Ashley Lelie is on the Heisman hot list. If Jones needs to make a few more phone calls to his national contacts, he needs to make a few more phone calls. Maybe the superagent does, too.
Marketing isn't just selling off everything in sight. It's not just ads and non-stop announcements and sponsorships. It's also selling yourself. It's building a bankable brand. That's why the superagent was given free rein, that's why Jones was allowed to rip the rainbow out of the name and off the helmets. They were going to take UH's football recognition to the next level. "The Notre Dame of the Pacific."
It's been a great ride of a season, but the end result looks oddly familiar (except for the helmets). Eight wins. No bowl. It was supposed to be different now.
It's still early, I guess. A win today turns everything around for future seasons. Maybe the superagent's plan takes time. Drink your coffee. Savor your early Christmas present, this gift of a big game. Try not to think about it. The real Notre Dame isn't going to a bowl either.
Kalani Simpson's column runs Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays.
He can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com