COMMENTARY
UH move to Pac-10 would benefit both

By Steven Goldsberry
Author of "Maui Demigod" and co-author of "Sundays in Hawaii"

The University of Hawai'i community at large is once again talking about switching athletic conferences.

The University of Hawai'i football team, shown above playing Southern Methodist last year, has more natural rivals in the Pac-10. Advertiser library photo • Sept. 29, 2002

A lot of people think of the Pacific-10 Conference as a reach for us, especially in football. But if you don't reach, you don't get. And there are compelling geographical, sociological and financial arguments for making the University of Hawai'i a member of this fine organization.

First of all, the Pac-10 has a regional imperative for including us. Of the four westernmost states — California, Oregon, Washington and Hawai'i — ours is the only one not represented in the conference. We are a major Division I institution, the largest and finest of nearby and logical potential candidates for inclusion (the others are Fresno State and San Diego State). Our unique location, wealth of cultures and the singular beauty of our islands also make us attractive to the national media.

Member schools of the Pac-10 take pride in being a part of the great American West. But their sister state across the water in the Deep West, with so many historical and familial ties to their communities, is being pitifully neglected.

How they can call themselves the Pacific-10 Conference and not include the Pacific university — the University of Hawai'i — is one of sports' great mysteries.

If distant Penn State can be added to the Big Ten, it stands to reason UH should be invited to join the Pac-10. Our teams have proven themselves against highly ranked opponents from those two revered conferences, and we can expect, with June Jones, for the Warriors to only improve. You play to the level of your competition, and it would take but a few years for UH to match up with the likes of highly-ranked Washington State, for example (whose recent success has depended on Hawai'i-born athletes).

It makes no sense whatsoever that a major university like ours be excluded from its nearest neighboring major conference. It is patently unfair.

Coaches around the country are amazed by our schedules and daunting road trips, and they agree that securing conference games with nearby opponents should be a priority for one reason: It's in the best interest of the athletes.

And that is our job as a public university, to provide the best care, the best education and the best environment for performance, so our athletes (as well as all students) can excel.

These Mainland coaches commiserate with UH. We're a sea-level school.

It's difficult for us to play at altitude. And when we have to travel thousands of miles to a game, our students miss too many classes and often reach their destination so exhausted they can't play at their peak. These problems are not ours alone. They affect everyone.

Detrimental playing conditions for UH athletes result in tremendous collateral damage, not just to our opponents who should be challenged by our best efforts, but to everyone: every coach everywhere, every trainer, sports physician, staff member, family member, school administrator, other students, the distinguished alumni, and the crews involved in broadcasting the game. Everyone.

Such burdens also result in less-than-optimum entertainment for the fans, and our fans deserve better. We've all seen how sparkling athletic achievements affect society. They swell the pride of entire cities, states, conferences, whole regions.

What I'm talking about is the responsibility of the sports community at large. We're all linked by a common bond. We want to promote health and well-being. Immediately we want it for our kids, but we are all role models for society, and we lead by example. That example is the game. We must do everything possible to improve the quality of the game, so our example is nothing short of stellar.

The business and politics of today's sports occasionally produce conditions that harm the players, and as coaches and educators that's the last thing we want. The coaching fraternity desires optimum playing conditions for everyone across the board. When a school like UH suffers from the excessive demands placed on its athletes, we all suffer; the game as an entity suffers.

The hallmark of football is fair play, but somehow the business mentality that has seeped into college sports has compromised this notion. The bottom line of any business is dollars, and sports business is no different. But pressure to get the quick buck — to reap immediate financial return — too often shortchanges long-term dividends. Sports businessmen need to consider that the overall improvement of playing conditions for the athletes improves the game. It improves the product. These folks stand to make a lot more money with a better product.

In terms of football, Hawai'i has more to offer than most fiscal pundits consider.

We hear a lot about market size, that the Islands don't provide a big market, and therefore can't be attractive to a high-rolling conference like the Pac-10. The population of Honolulu and the Neighbor Islands simply doesn't rank with major metropolitan areas like L.A. or Seattle. Networks want lots of viewers because advertisers want lots of customers. The reasoning has been that our local market is too limited.

But this kind of analysis is illusory. It discounts the vast audience of transplanted Hawai'i residents on the Mainland, not to mention the millions of tourists who have visited Hawai'i over the past six decades and come away with an abiding interest in and love for anything Hawaiian. We really do appeal to a huge trans-national (if not trans-international) market unlike any other in America.

Academically, we can hold our own with other Pac-10 institutions.

Although we aren't yet the "Harvard of the Pacific," our enunciated objective in the pre-Ariyoshi years, we are certainly on our way. Indeed, many of our programs are world-class. We offer premier curricula in astronomy, oceanography, tropical agriculture, Asian studies, Indo-Pacific languages and the sciences (especially in genetics and cancer research). We have a reputation comparable to many Pac-10 schools, and in some fields we compare to the best — UCLA, Stanford, Cal.

We still need improvements to make ourselves a more attractive candidate.

Our campus requires better facilities, and a harmonious balance of architecture. Each department, like our art department, should have a display hall, to exhibit the achievements of its faculty and students. Visit a Pac-10 campus and compare it to ours, and you can see we need some work. The strength of our athletic programs is also a key component to our becoming one of the finest universities in the world, and though we've made great strides in the past few years, we still lag behind most of the Pac-10.

Even so, we present a strong case. Ours is one of the great football states in the country. Strong local high school programs have made us a major recruiting area. We have Pop Warner, arena football, a semi-pro league and a lot of young men in brutal pick-up games on our fields.

Hawai'i also hosts three of the most-watched bowls. The Pac-10 used to have the Rose Bowl, the granddaddy of all bowls, and since the Bowl Championship Series has ruined its tradition of hosting the Pac-10 and Big Ten champions, Hawai'i could offer a glorious alternative to that classic event, a showcase featuring Pac-10 and Big Ten champions or runners-up who are locked out of BCS events.

Bottom line for the businessmen who hold court with the Pac-10 commissioners — UH can make the conference more money.

Bottom line for the good of football and other sports, for the good of America and the world — the Pac-10 should dedicate itself to the betterment of all athletes, and in the interest of fair play for its sister state, Hawai'i, should embrace and nurture its young men and women.

This is the ultimate in good PR, and it will invigorate everybody.

Our strategy at UH should be to appeal to the higher sensibilities of the Pac-10 commissioners, and to make a case for the moral and ideological imperatives of social justice for our Pacific state and a level playing field for our athletes. Beyond that, we need to make it clear that in the golden market that college sports have become, the University of Hawai'i will shine with a 24-karat performance.