By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

Confronted with a situation where four players broke a team rule before heading home to play the No. 1 team in the country, you wonder how many coaches in his position would have followed University of Hawai'i men's volleyball coach Mike Wilton's example?

How many other coaches would have sat down the players — three starters and a backup — on indefinite suspension for the important series that opens tonight with Brigham Young University at Stan Sheriff Center?

You'd like to think the action wouldn't make Wilton something of a Lone Ranger, but the reality is it is probably rare enough to be refreshing.

At a time when several high-profile scandals are unfolding in college athletics because too many coaches turned their heads to any number of misdeeds, here is one who has apparently taken a stand on principle. At a point in the season where the losses could impact UH, a line has been drawn and adhered to.

The school, Wilton and the players — opposite hitter Pedro Azenha, outside hitters Delano Thomas and José José Delgado, and backup middle blocker Dionisio Dante — have so far refused to say exactly what took place in the hours after the Warriors' three-game sweep at USC on March 10 leading to the suspensions. But we're told by UH that the violations, because they did not constitute a breach of the athletic department's Code of Conduct, did not involve violence, illegal activity or an academic deficiency.

If so, under those circumstances, think how easy it might have been to sweep it all under the TeraFlex. For sure, it wouldn't have been the first time it happened at UH.

Possibly only Wilton and the team would have known about it, which was the case until the school's announcement Monday. But in Wilton's eyes, that apparently was enough.

Wilton was brought in to bring focus to the men's volleyball team. And, for 25 seasons now, the last 12 at UH, Wilton has operated under the theory that if you establish rules, you might as well stand behind them so they mean something. It is why he suspended Tony Ching two years ago for arguing with coaches during practice and why he sat Thomas for a time in 2002 for academics.

"Basically the platform of the program is to do your best job as students, as players and as persons," Wilton said.

Will the absence of so many regulars cost the Warriors? Can the remnants rally around the opportunity? What it will mean in the MPSF standings, the national rankings and, ultimately, to the Warriors' playoff hopes remains to be seen.

But now there can be little doubt where their coach stands when it comes to the rules.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.