Coach June Jones said it appears likely the Hawaii football team will cap spring practice on Maui on April 14. UH eyes Maui
for spring tripBy Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.comJones said he is working through Maui County Mayor Kimo Apana's office to have the annual "Spring Challenge" at King Kekaulike High School in Kula, Lahaina Recreation Center or Keopualani Field in Wailuku, since War Memorial Stadium is undergoing drainage repairs and re-sodding.
"We won't be able to sell as many tickets, and we want it to be a break-even situation. We have to fly 150 people over and spend the night," Jones said. "But at this point I would say it will happen."
Apana said he is trying to get sponsorship from hotels, airlines and restaurants.
"We're asking some of our local industries to help out to reduce the cost," Apana said. "We're going to try to pencil something out in the next couple days and get back to UH."
Because of an NCAA rule, the Warriors normally would not be allowed to hold a spring football event off-island. But they can do so on Maui because they played a home game there last season.
Spring practice begins Thursday, 7 a.m., at the UH practice field.
These are the tentative practice dates: March 14, 15, 18, 19, 21 and 22, and April 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 11 and 12.
Brewster rewarded: Junior running back Michael Brewster, who transferred to UH from Tennessee last year, was put on scholarship in January, Jones said.
"We think he's a good player. We try to reward guys who do a good job in practice," Jones said of Brewster, who was the team's top scout-team player last fall. "We'd offered him a scholarship out of high school, but he chose to go to Tennessee."
Brewster (5 feet 7 inches, 172 pounds) adds depth to UH's one-back offense, which returns the top-two ground-gainers of a year ago in sophomore Mike Bass and senior Thero Mitchell.
Picking up the ball: Former Coast Guard Academy athletic director and coach Chuck Mills met with UH senior vice president Joyce Tsunoda recently to discuss development of junior college football in the UH system.
Mills envisions a privately funded program with volunteer coaches.
"My ultimate hope is that it would encourage some kids to go to college and eventually graduate," said Mills, who recently moved to Hawaii after a long pro and college coaching career.
UH president Evan Dobelle has said on several occasions he wants to implement a junior college athletics program.