By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

University of Hawai'i men's volleyball coach Mike Wilton at Brigham Young?

Our Mike in Provo, Utah, as if he was the coach to be named later in the late, lamented Frank Arnold "trade?"

It could happen, of course. In fact, some people, mindful of the fact that Wilton is scheduled to talk to BYU officials next week, are predicting Wilton will end up in Boo-Y-U blue.

But it doesn't have to end that way. Nor should it.

Once everybody sits down and takes a deep breath, you'd like to think there will be an agreement that both Wilton and UH can live with so the Warriors can get on with defending the national championship.

I mean, UH would be left with a whole Grade A carton of egg on its face if, after finally winning a national title, the coach not only bolts at the first opportunity but defects to BYU of all places. Hardly the shining example of excellence UH President Evan Dobelle seeks to project.

What's more, here's a coach whose players are a credit to the school and community. Here is a low-cost program and just one of four in the 19-team athletic department that annually turns a profit.

After 10 seasons of blood and sweat, this NCAA title has given Wilton a bargaining chip as big as a manhole cover. But it would be a mistake to overplay it.

This is, after all, men's volleyball we're talking about, a sport that only 22 Division I teams play and half of whom could drop at any time. You need only glimpse the Alice-in-Wonderland looks of the coaches who visit the Stan Sheriff Center to know that most of them would give their left ventricle for Wilton's job and all that comes with it.

Even at BYU, home of two NCAA titles, the headlines are few and far between. It is doubtful very many fans showed up at the airport to see BYU return from its title games or threw a parade. In Utah, a columnist last year said men's volleyball titles rank somewhere between squash and gymnastics.

That's something to think about if you are Wilton, a builder who, to judge by what he has talked about doing with this program, is far from finished in Manoa. Here, though he is the school's fourth men's volleyball coach, it is his program lock, stock and jock. At BYU, where he would be following the only coach the school has known, the shadow of Carl McGown would loom Wasatch large.

Five years ago Wilton mulled leaving for an assistant's job at BYU. Now, there's ample reason to reflect on how what an error that would have been.

Just as it would be a mistake to leave now — or for UH to make it easy for him to do so.