By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

Imagine Fresno State, of all people, lecturing the University of Hawai'i about rules compliance.

Picture an athletic department on probation for major NCAA violations in basketball, seeking sanctions against the Warriors.

The irony here is that the Bulldogs have a point.

When UH didn't comply with a new Western Athletic Conference rule requiring schools to certify the eligibility of their players prior to bowl participation — some would say they "blew it off" — it opened the Warriors up to precisely the kind of shots Fresno State is now taking.

FSU — from the administration down to football coach Pat Hill — is asking the WAC to take action against UH, apparently the only one of three conference bowl teams not to comply.

While it is too early to say what, if anything more than a slap on the wrist, might come out of it, this is an embarrassment the Warriors really don't need and might have been able to avoid.

The rule is a good one; it requires schools to certify that their players have passed a minimum of six units. It is a rule UH was involved in enacting, one it has known the potential ramifications of since this summer and one it should have done a better job of addressing.

Similar to rules adopted by the Southeastern Conference and elsewhere, it is designed to prevent the kind of abuses that have occurred when players, frequently seniors, have failed to attend any classes in their final semester of eligibility. Since players must be enrolled in 12 semester units, it only means that they must pass (D-minus or better) just half their classes.

The rub is that for schools like UH and Fresno, final exams ended Dec. 20 and the bowl games were played Dec. 25 and Dec. 31, respectively, meaning a scramble to certify players.

Fresno State, perhaps scared straight by its probation, got it done even though it meant the loss of seven players, five of them starters. UH, according to WAC officials, did not turn in a list at all even though it had known since Nov. 2, the date the Warriors clinched their bowl berth, how tight the turnaround would be.

"We followed the rule and we were under the impression everyone else was following it, too," Scott Johnson, FSU athletic director, told the Fresno Bee.

What UH could have done and, indeed, had been advised to do early on was petition the WAC Council for a waiver. But it never did.

Around the WAC some are inclined to chalk it up more to arrogance than the narrow time frame.

If you are UH, the only thing worse that having Fresno State shout out your shortcomings is knowing that the Bulldogs are right.