Keeping Rainbows on right base path
By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Columnist
Shortly after the June 3-4 Major League Draft, several University of Hawai'i baseball recruits will likely have some big decisions to make.
For the ones who go in the early megabucks rounds or late, the choice of college vs. pros will be straightforward enough.
But for the mid-round picks, the ones looking at decent money with some room to negotiate, there is apt to be more pause for thought. And, for UH, more concern.
This is where it behooves the Rainbows to step to the plate and make a statement about where their baseball program is going and who is to be entrusted to take it there. This is where UH can do itself a favor by addressing head coach Mike Trapasso's contract situation sooner rather than later.
After the conclusion of next week's season-ending road trip to UC-Irvine and San Jose State, Trapasso will shortly be down to the final year of his initial three-year contract. That's not where you want to leave things hanging for too long when some of your better recruits, the ones who have a pro offer on the table, are making up their minds.
By many accounts, the Rainbows have a promising recruiting crop signed, although it remains to be seen how many will actually make it to Manoa come fall.
It is athletic director Herman Frazier's stated policy to keep the contracts of coaches — the ones UH wants to keep, anyway — from running down to the final months and generating concern and speculation the way football coach June Jones' contract has.
Ideally, Frazier has said, he'd like to have negotiations well in progress before coaches reach the 18-month mark and avoid scenarios like the one that has Jones down to the final eight months.
At this point, you'd have to think Trapasso is a keeper — or should be. He has the program moving in the right direction. After the struggles of a 16-40 campaign in his inaugural season, one largely built on an 11th-hour recruiting pitch, the Rainbows are 28-24.
By winning one of their four remaining games, the Rainbows can clinch a winning season; with a split, they nail down a 30-win season. Either would demonstrate significant progress.
With the performance of this year's freshmen, six of whom played major roles, there is a lot to like about UH's immediate future, especially if the Rainbows can stack back-to-back solid recruiting classes.
When UH and Trapasso first talked about the job, they envisioned it as a 4- to 5-year process to get back to being a Western Athletic Conference contender and NCAA regional-quality team. Because the school had a prohibition against giving more than a three-year deal to new hires who hadn't been head coaches before, they agreed to revisit an extension as soon as warranted.
For UH, you'd have to say that time has arrived.
