Hawai'i Bowl can affect recruiting
By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Writer
ESPN commentator Rod Gilmore, who was once recruited by the University of Hawai'i, knows tomorrow's Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl football game carries import beyond the final score for the schools involved, Alabama at Birmingham and UH.
It is also a four-hour recruiting pitch expected to reach two million or more households.
Gilmore
"I mean, it (the game) coincides with the time where you are talking with the recruits and the recruits are focused on your school and other schools," said Gilmore, who was sought by UH as a wide receiver-defensive back.
"They (recruits) want to have a lot of pride," Gilmore said. "They're 17-, 18-year-olds. A lot of the pride comes from what their friends say. (It is like), 'Oh, you're being recruited by Hawai'i. I saw them and they (were lousy).' That's not good. If it is, 'Oh, boy, that Hawai'i team, you're thinking about going there! They're great. I saw them on TV.' That stuff plays very big in the minds of the high schoolers."
Feb. 2 is the first day that high school players can sign binding national letters of intent.
There were less than half the number of bowl games to watch when Gilmore was being recruited out of Oakland, Calif. in 1978. He said UH was the only non-Pac-10 school he visited, when then-head coach Dick Tomey promised the opportunity to play wide receiver.
"They (the Warriors) were definitely in my top three," Gilmore said. "In the final analysis I just couldn't turn down the opportunity to go to Stanford," where he played defensive back on the 1978-'82 teams that featured John Elway.
Gilmore said the Hawai'i Bowl "is a great stage because it is Christmas Eve and there will be a lot of eyeballs watching these guys. Besides Timmy Chang, you've got Darrell Hackney and a heavy focus on the quarterbacks and a couple playmakers in Roddy White and Chad Owens. A lot of people heard about what Owens did the last couple weeks of the season but not a lot of people saw. So I think it is a great opportunity for those guys to make statements.
"So, they (UH and UAB) will get a lot of focus, a lot of people that normally don't get to watch them play football."
Disney dominates college bowl scene
ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, which are all owned by Walt Disney Co., will show 25 of the 28 bowl games. The Hawai'i Bowl is one of three owned and operated by ESPN Regional Television (ERT), which also owns the Las Vegas and Fort Worth bowls.
ERT, which says it produces more than 2,000 hours of sports programming, is a subsidiary of ESPN.
ERT sells ESPN the rights to televise its events in exchange for a rights fee and commercial units for its title sponsors, said Pete Derzis, ERT senior vice president.
This is the third year of ERT's four-year contract with the Western Athletic Conference and Conference USA. "We haven't been focused (on a contract extension) yet," Derzis said. "I'm sure we'll get to it at some point. We still have another full year."
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.
