UH's Fuata still awaiting surgery
By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer
University of Hawai'i football player Lui Fuata still is waiting to meet the requirements to undergo reconstructive surgery on his injured left knee.
Fuata, who has a torn anterior cruciate ligament, was scheduled to undergo surgery once the swelling subsided in his left knee. The swelling is gone, according to UH officials, but the knee still does not have enough range of motion and muscularity to fully benefit from the surgery.
Because the recovery period is between four and six months, Fuata, a senior center, wants to have surgery soon in order to have a chance to participate in a National Football League mini-camp in May. The NFL draft is in April and, before suffering the injury against Alabama Nov. 30, Fuata was projected as a possible late-round selection.
Fuata has been invited to play in the Maui Hula Bowl, and there is a possibility he could delay surgery to play in that all-star game.
As a UH senior in 1999, linebacker Jeff Ulbrich played in a game with a ligament injury similar to Fuata's. But Ulbrich, now with the San Francisco 49ers, had surgery soon after, and Fuata, if he wishes to continue playing football, eventually would need reconstructive surgery.
Fuata initially was diagnosed with a knee sprain. But arthroscopic surgery Dec. 2 showed the anterior cruciate ligament was severely torn. Two weeks ago, UH officials announced Fuata would not play in next week's ConAgra Foods Hawai'i Bowl.
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It was former coach Bob Wagner's complaints that led to the UH policy of paying assistant coaches a month's salary for coaching in a postseason bowl.
Wagner had argued that his assistants deserved a bonus because of the extra work in preparing for a bowl. Wagner and his staff did not receive bonuses for UH's participation in the 1989 Aloha Bowl and 1992 Holiday Bowl.
But the policy was adopted a few years later. Now, assistants in all UH sports receive bonuses for coaching in postseason bowls or NCAA tournaments.
For football, the bonus is equivalent to the average monthly salary of the nine assistant coaches. Their monthly pay ranges from $5,000 to $8,333.
