Frazier has plenty of ideas, meetings set

Advertiser Staff

On a lanai overlooking Waikiki Beach, University of Hawai'i athletic director-designate Herman Frazier paused to catch his breath in a whirlwind week and talked about himself and the job ahead.

On his first order of business:

"I'm still researching some of that. Hugh (Yoshida) gave me all the budget printouts and I'm still looking those over. But I will sit down with every administrator and every head coach and have a one-on-one and we will talk about everything under the sun as it pertains to their programs. That will be my first assessment. Then, I will decide how we go forward and what our plan of attack will be for the department. The day that I walk into the department (Aug. 1), I will start those meetings."

On some areas he has in mind:

"Are we scheduling the right opponents? Are we doing things in the right way to make sure the student-athletes are taken care of? Should we look at UH as having an all-inclusive shoe deal? Are we maximizing everything we can do with marketing? I understand the university pays rent to the stadium. That's something we need to take a look at."

On his involvement in scheduling:

"At Arizona State, I did a lot of the scheduling. (At UH) I'll sit down with the coaches first and discuss philosophy. Currently I'm on the Conference USA basketball committee looking at scheduling. We did an in-depth analysis of RPI and how it is used. Based upon that, I think I can help Riley (Wallace, men's basketball coach) a lot with what I learned there."

On where senior staff, who were given notices last year that would allow the school to terminate them this December, stand:

"Change is not necessarily something a lot of people can adapt to. I don't want people to be afraid about me coming in, but what they (also) need to do is prove themselves."

On bringing in some senior staff:

"If I were to tell you how many times the phone rang this morning with inquiries from people. ... I didn't take anybody to UAB mostly because UAB couldn't pay what it would have taken. Here, I will probably bring somebody in early."

On the description by those who have worked with him describing Frazier as a "coaches' AD:"

"But that's not to say that I don't call them in and have some heart-to-heart with them. I have had some coaches who have worked with me for 20 years who say that I'm like a mentor to them but they will also tell you that I know when to tell them, 'no' and I know when to tell them what is right and what is wrong with a program."

On where he sees UH in conference affiliation:

"Karl Benson (commissioner of the Western Athletic Conference) is a good friend of mine, so I'm not gonna talk about a change of conferences right now. It is too early for me to take a look at that right now. But I think we need to keep our options open. I mean, we need to be on the cutting edge of what's happening. We should not be willing to take a backseat in anything."

On the UH budget:

"I would say that, in the WAC, $17 million-$20 million is probably a good number."