Sidelines
UH’s attitude is
asking for troubleHIS bunker mentality is going to come back and bite UH.
This "us against the world" business is what you want in a street fight, and perhaps even in a football team. But for a university it is unbecoming, and it is going to get Hawaii in trouble.
It already has.
Let's be clear: Hawaii is being publicly reprimanded and fined by the WAC not because UH did not academically certify its players in time for the Hawaii Bowl -- it was an impossible rule to implement and everybody knows it -- but for the way UH chose to handle the situation.
This isn't about rules; rather, this is about deciding to disregard them.
In yesterday's paper, June Jones said, "We had two choices. Either not comply with the rule or not play the game."
The rule was that bad, yes. The timing between the end of the semester and Christmas Day was unworkable. Nobody argues that, not even the WAC itself. But UH had a third choice. It could have taken steps sooner to address the problem it knew was coming.
Instead there was defiance, and now, publicly at least, defensiveness.
This problem, much like the stance we saw UH take after the brawl with Cincinnati, is apparently Somebody Else's Fault.
One of the things Herman Frazier said was this: "Naturally, we are deeply disappointed that the conference did not see the merits of our case."
That's the point UH still seems to be missing. The WAC did see the merits of Hawaii's case, which is why the rule is sure to be amended, perhaps as soon as this spring.
No, that's not why other conference schools voted to punish Hawaii, and to do it publicly.
"Certainly, the WAC understands the difficulty that the University of Hawaii had in administering the rule as a result of the timing of the end of the institution's final exams and the date of the bowl game," WAC commissioner Karl Benson said in a statement announcing the reprimand. No, this was why it happened, here is the kicker: "However, all conference institutions must be held to the same standards regarding rules compliance."
That was the problem. It seemed as if Hawaii thought it could call its own audibles if rules proved too difficult to follow.
And if you are going to ask for forgiveness instead of permission then you should at least pretend to be sorry. Instead, at least in our local media, UH is playing the defiant victim, refusing to back down.
But this is a situation where Hawaii should back down. This is a time for introspection, not bunker bluster. UH-Manoa chancellor Peter Englert called the penalties a "simple reprimand and relatively small fine." But conference reprimands should be a serious concern, and this athletic department can't afford to donate even a few dollars in order to make a point.
A conference is a cooperative venture. And if UH doesn't take a long look at how, why, its sister schools came to this decision, more trouble is sure to come. If UH wants to act as if the world is against it, it will be, soon enough.
Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com