[UH FOOTBALL]
Hawaii quarterback Tim Chang is 2,218 yards from breaking the NCAA's career record for passing yards.
Warriors’ Chang
invited to play
in 2005 Hula BowlThe owner of the college all-star
game on Maui says he hopes
the UH quarterback will play
Tim Chang won't get the official invitation until September, but the owner of the Hula Bowl Maui said yesterday the Hawaii quarterback is at the top of his list to play in the Jan. 22 college all-star football game.
"We're going to invite him, and we hope he can make it," Dick Schaller said. "He would be a big draw, especially since he's a Heisman Trophy candidate."
UH quarterbacks coach Dan Morrison recently relayed an invitation to Chang from the East-West Shrine Game, which is played a week before the Hula Bowl.
A third major all-star game, the Senior Bowl, is played the Saturday after the Hula Bowl.
"All-star games are positives for the player and the school," Warriors coach June Jones said. "But we're more worried about getting ready to play Florida Atlantic (in the Sept. 4 season opener)."
Chang, a fifth-year senior, has passed for 12,814 yards. If he maintains his current pace, he'll get the 2,218 yards he needs to break the NCAA career record around the middle of the season.
He passed for 435 yards as Hawaii beat Montana 30-12 in the 2001 season opener. It was on Maui and remains UH's only football game played on a neighbor island.
"War Memorial Stadium was good to him," Schaller said. "So hopefully he'll come back for an encore."
Chang has already agreed to be a guest demonstrator, along with UH soccer standout Natasha Kai, at the Hawaii Speed and Quickness Camp on Maui on July 7, a day before the Hula Bowl's camp for high school players starts.
Oceanic gets JJ Show again: Oceanic Time Warner Cable will telecast 14 episodes of June Jones' television show this fall. Oceanic, which also did the show last year, was awarded the contract yesterday by UH after bids by it and KFVE were submitted.
"Oceanic is looking forward to renewing its partnership with the university on OC16," Oceanic president Nate Smith said.
Russell Shimooka will host the show with Jones once again.
"We're ecstatic," Shimooka said. "Having Coach on our network and the (UH basketball and volleyball) postseason games shows we can support and broadcast UH athletics, and that UH has confidence in us."
Appearing in a coach's show is part of Jones' contract. He receives no additional pay for it.
"I was following the bidding process and it looks like the athletic department did what it had to do and got a good deal," he said.
Still pending: Jones said yesterday there is nothing new regarding the status of running backs West Keli'ikipi and Michael Bass and offensive lineman Brandon Eaton, who all could miss the upcoming season due to suspensions.
Keli'ikipi faces allegations of theft as part of a scam to defraud Kaiser Health Foundation. His trial is scheduled to begin in July, and his attorney, Michael Green, is trying to arrange a no-contest plea in the hope Keli'ikipi can be reinstated to the team. Green said last week he had met with UH athletic director Herman Frazier, but neither would comment further.
A UH discipline committee recommended that Bass and Eaton be suspended for the fall semester because of their alleged involvement in an on-campus fight in February. An appeal is pending.
"All that stuff is out of my hands. We'll know soon enough," Jones said.
The coach also said there is nothing new on his search for a special-teams coach to replace Tyson Helton, who departed for Memphis after last season.
Former UH special-teams coach Dennis McKnight has expressed interest, and Jones said he has at least two other candidates he declined to name.
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