UH needs to see the big picture

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Writer

Now, that wasn't so bad, was it? I mean, 3 hours, 48 minutes of national prime time television exposure for the University of Hawai'i and the state, live and direct from Aloha Stadium.

The Warriors' 38-34 upset of No. 18 Fresno State, the first result that college football fans on the Mainland saw when they turned on their television sets yesterday and a score that crawled across screens all day.

Ashley Lelie soaring into highlight film clips and all-star attention everywhere.

And to think UH initially had to be dragged kicking and screaming onto cable systems across the country to make it possible.

Hard to believe UH, nearly to its own detriment, not to mention the whole Western Athletic Conference television contract, at first refused to move the game from Saturday to late Friday afternoon to accommodate ESPN.

Yet, it was just a few months ago that head coach June Jones proclaimed, "We have no interest in playing on a Friday." And it wasn't too many weeks ago some members of the UH administration were so fearful of what the change would mean that they at first attempted to bully season ticket holders into going along by threatening to cancel the seating priority of those who asked for refunds.

As it turns out, the "short" week of practice harmed the Warriors not at all and there was no stampede for refunds.

In fact, no matter how you look at it, there has been little downside and a whole lot of positives to the whole thing. UH says it had to make good on about $9,700 in refunds, which the WAC has pledged to reimburse the school for.

And, even if the WAC didn't pick up the tab, moving the game would still have been worth it in the kind of exposure UH couldn't possibly buy.

So, why the dig-in-the-heels intransigence at first about what shouldn't have been that agonizing of a call?

That's a question the powers that be at UH need to reexamine. Because if UH football aspires to become the kind of program Jones says it is capable of and athletics in general are to rise to the level president Evan Dobelle says he demands, then the thinking needs to expand commensurately.

This isn't to say UH should sell its soul to television, forsaking its fans and its common sense every time somebody is willing to point a camera this way. But the Warriors do need to recognize that, given their geographical challenges and limited conference visibility, there are times when it behooves them to chase opportunities beyond their comfort zone.

Clearly the Fresno State game on ESPN should have been recognized from the beginning as one of those. Going into the season it was a game to point to. The kind of matchup, given the expectations and the history of the teams, that would allow UH to put its best foot forward. Just as Lelie and the Warriors did.

What a shame it would have been if UH had let this one get away.