UH, USC schedule three football games
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By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer
The University of Hawai'i and Southern California have finalized an agreement to meet in a series of football games.
They will play at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 2003 and at Aloha Stadium in 2006 and 2008.
"It's good for our school and it's good for our status as a program," UH coach June Jones said. "It will be good for our California players to go out there and play."
USC associate athletic director Daryl Gross said the series is "a fun thing for us. We've always had a great relationship with the University of Hawai'i. (UH is) a sister school to us. We're close. And our alumni like to go to Hawai'i."
UH associate athletic director Jim Donovan, who helped arrange the series, said the games "increase our quality of competition. Our California players can play close to home against a powerhouse Pac-10 school and, of course, we get (USC) coming back two times to Hawai'i. That's great revenue for us."
The last time the teams met, in 1999, USC won, 62-7, before a capacity crowd at Aloha Stadium.
While the contracts were signed yesterday, the deal is rooted in last year's UH-hosted Paradise in the Pacific Golf Tournament.
"That tournament helps build relationships," Gross said. "It's a good place to close deals and come up with ideas and concepts."
Last year's tournament led to five football games for UH — the series with USC, last year's game against UH Nevada-Las Vegas and this year's game against Brigham Young.
With most NCAA deals now arranged through committees and teleconferences, Donovan said, UH looked for a way to "interface with other" sports officials. Donovan said the tournament offers the chance for school officials from across the country to "spend two or three days having fun and talking about possible scheduling. In our case, it's been really good. We got five football games from this tournament."
This year's tournament, which will be played today, is underwritten by 20 companies, including Hawaiian Airlines and Outrigger Hotels and Resorts.
"The school pays nothing," Donovan said.
Said Yoshida: "It's a good fit for us. It can't hurt us."
