UH could help AD by settling contracts

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Columnist

While it remains to be seen who will emerge as the University of Hawai'i's next athletic director, we already know what awaits the lucky selectee.

A desk with an in-box stuffed to overflowing.

Now, add to the mounting pile of to-do items the soon-to-expire contract of Mike Wilton, the newly crowned coach of the NCAA men's volleyball champions.

Of course, this is on top of the expired contract of Western Athletic Conference championship men's basketball coach Riley Wallace, the Steinberg marketing contract, the June Jones contract extension that has been sitting on a back burner, the local television contract negotiations . . .

Space limitations do not permit an exhaustive listing of all that awaits the new AD, but be assured that whoever gets the job, office lights will be burning late for quite a while even without the invariable surprises.

For the next AD walks into a department that is drifting toward limbo. The outgoing AD, Hugh Yoshida, who is expected to vacate the premises before his December retirement date, doesn't appear to have a mandate to do much more than the day-to-day affairs nor the wish to commit his successor to anything beyond the summer.

The athletic department's immediate supervisor in the chain of command, the Manoa chancellor, is, himself, an interim appointee awaiting his own successor. And UH President Evan Dobelle is working on a strategic plan and his first hands-on budget.

Nor has UH shown an inclination to go into a hurry-up offense anytime soon. If everything goes off on schedule — and that is a big if — a new AD won't be chosen until the beginning of July. And heaven help UH if it is somebody from outside the state or the university, requiring more time for moving in or learning a lot of ropes.

A new athletic director should be allowed a degree of choice in coaching and contract decisions. But, in the cases of Wilton and Wallace, it isn't like these guys are newcomers or unproven.

Wilton has been there for 10 seasons, Wallace for 15. They are known quantities coming off career seasons. In short, the kind of coaches you'd think UH would want to demonstrate its commitment to no matter who the AD turns out to be.

We caught a glimpse of the frustration both Wilton and Wallace have felt over the past months when, for lack of a contract, they checked out positions at Brigham Young and Fresno State, respectively. Wallace didn't get a nibble from Fresno State and it remains to be seen whether BYU has offered Wilton something.

What should be clear is that the new AD will have enough to do without having to deal with these two contracts, too.