UH wants expanded athletic role in Asia

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Writer

At first glance, Mobile, Ala., would seem a curious place for the University of Hawai'i to begin shaping its vision.

But opportunity is where you find it and sitting next to He Zhenliang, chairman of China's Olympic Committee, at a U.S. Sports Academy function Friday offered Herman Frazier, UH's athletic director designate, a chance to talk up his new employer and a vision of the future.

"I don't know if we'll get a 7-footer (in basketball) out of it, but I wanted to let him know that we would welcome some of China's outstanding athletes coming to the university," said Frazier, who was there in his capacity as a U.S. Olympic Committee vice president.

"I'm going to be doing a lot of that, trying to expand our reach, now that I'm representing the university," Frazier said.

Thursday, both Frazier and his immediate supervisor, new Manoa chancellor Peter Englert, officially assume their posts and part of their shared plan for UH is an enhanced Asia-Pacific focus.

"One of the prospects that (UH President) Evan Dobelle has put out there is for the university to have a predominate role in the region athletically as well as academically," said Englert who comes to UH from Victoria University in New Zealand.

Frazier said he hopes to use his Olympic ties to help UH find a niche in Asia.

"Looking to some of those countries for the recruitment of our athletes and to actually think of playing there is something that excites me," Englert said. "It is something I fully support and I have a couple of ideas and maybe something to contribute because of the environment I have worked in the last seven, eight years."

Last year international students made up approximately 8.5 percent of the UH student body, most of them from the Asia-Pacific region, according to school officials. Approximately 10 percent of UH scholarship athletes were from foreign countries.

Men's soccer, popular in Asia, is one sport UH is considering adding to its 19-sport offering. UH officials said they may have to add a sport to keep the school and the Western Athletic Conference in compliance with Division I-A minimum standards by 2004.

Football coach June Jones, who has looked into the possibility of the Warriors playing a season opener in Tokyo, wants to recruit some players from Japan.