There were bus crashes, snow storms, and medical emergencies.

Wins, losses and forfeits.

After 20 seasons of a road well traveled with the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team, head coach Riley Wallace has the tales — and the frequent-flier miles — to prove it.

"It's been a really fun experience getting to see all these different places," Wallace said. "But, to be honest, I'm glad it's over. All the travel you have to do as a team in Hawai'i really wears you down."

Wallace and the Rainbow Warriors departed Honolulu yesterday for San Jose, Calif. They will play a Western Athletic Conference game at San Jose State tomorrow.

It will be the final WAC regular-season road trip for Wallace, whose resignation as head coach of the 'Bows will go into effect at the end of this season.

During his 20-year tenure as head coach, Wallace traveled an estimated 815,000 miles, and that was just for the road games.

"If you throw in the recruiting and the (coaches) meetings and all that, it's probably more than 2 million (miles)," he said.

Wallace said the travel has been the greatest obstacle during his stint as Hawai'i head coach, and his 80-155 record in away games with the 'Bows is a reflection of that.

"Every coach in the country knows what we have to do, and they respect it," Wallace said. "They come here for one trip and talk about how tough it is. We do it six, seven times a year."

Wallace's advice to the next Hawai'i coach?

"Recruit better than your opponents," he said. "There's no travel plan that's going to help you. Trust me, we tried everything — leaving early, leaving late, staying on the West Coast for a night. There's no way around it. So you just get the best players you can and hope it's good enough."

Here is a look back at Wallace's most memorable and forgettable moments on the road:

NOV. 27 AND 28, 1987

Wallace opens his Hawai'i head coaching career with road losses at Vanderbilt and Kentucky. The 86-59 loss at Kentucky was played before a crowd of 23,049 at Rupp Arena. It remains the largest crowd ever for a Hawai'i basketball game.

Wallace remembers: "A nightmare. We had to play those games on back-to-back nights. Frank Arnold (the previous coach) made that schedule so I had to take it."

MARCH 9 AND 10, 1988

Hawai'i beats Air Force in the opening round of the WAC Tournament at Provo, Utah, then loses by two points to top seed Brigham Young in quarterfinals. The win over Air Force was Wallace's first victory away from home.

Wallace remembers: "I always said that first team I had improved the most, and it showed in that (WAC) tournament when we took BYU down to the wire."

DEC. 1 AND 3, 1988

Hawai'i loses at Iona and St. John's on a trip to New York.

Wallace remembers: "That's when I really found out what it was like to travel across all those time zones. Against Iona, it looked like we were playing in mud."

JAN. 14, 1989

Wallace gets his first WAC road victory when the 'Bows beat BYU, 77-73, before 22,133 at the Marriott Center.

Wallace remembers: "That was a great feeling. At that time, Hawai'i people loved to beat BYU, so to beat them at their house in front of all those fans was nice."

MARCH 16, 1989

California beats Hawai'i, 73-57, in the first round of NIT at Berkeley, Calif. It is Wallace's first postseason appearance.

Wallace remembers: "It felt good just to be there, the top turnaround team in the NCAA that year. Stan (Sheriff, the former athletic director) came with us, and he saw how great that crowd was and it gave him the idea of having our own on-campus arena."

MARCH 23, 1990

Hawai'i loses at New Mexico in the quarterfinals of the NIT. The 'Bows were offered a chance to host the game, but the Blaisdell Center Arena was reserved for the Kamehameha Schools Song Contest.

Wallace remembers: "We would have gone to New York (for the NIT semifinals) with that team if the game were here instead of The Pit. But the good thing to come out of it was it started the movement for this (the Stan Sheriff Center)."

MARCH 12, 1992

Wallace collapses in front of the bench in the opening minutes of a quarterfinal game against Utah in the WAC Tournament at Fort Collins, Colo. The game is postponed for one day as Wallace is rushed to the hospital. The 'Bows lost to the Utes the next day with associate coach Bob Nash taking over for Wallace.

Wallace remembers: "Art Woolaway (a former administrative assistant) was my roommate and when we checked-in to our hotel, we got room 666. Art says 'don't worry, I'm a Christian, I'll watch over you.'

"Then I collapsed the next day. I told Art he didn't do his job because Satan got in my head and knocked me out."

DEC. 1, 1993

Hawai'i loses at No. 4-ranked North Carolina, 92-77, in Chapel Hill, N.C. Prior to that game, the 'Bows lost three games by an average of 42.0 points per game in the Great Alaska Shootout.

Wallace remembers: "We played North Carolina close the whole way, until about five minutes left, then they pulled away. Dean Smith (the North Carolina coach at the time) told me after the game to keep my team together because the potential was there to develop into a winner."

MARCH 10-12, 1994

The 'Bows win the WAC Tournament at Salt Lake City, Utah, for the first time in the program's history.

Wallace remembers: "I go back to what Dean Smith said, because that team really did develop into a winner."

MARCH 17, 1994

Hawai'i loses to Syracuse at Ogden, Utah, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament — Wallace's first trip to the "Big Dance" as coach at Hawai'i.

Wallace remembers: "I had a lot of questions. Did we have the whole package to belong there? Was our band good enough? The cheerleaders? The dancers? Well, I got my answers. Our band was the best one there, and nobody was close to our cheerleaders and dancers. So yes, the University of Hawai'i was ready for a big-time tournament like that."

MARCH 6, 1996

Hawai'i loses to Texas-El Paso, 77-69, in the first round of WAC Tournament at Albuquerque, N.M. Later that night, it is discovered that UTEP used an ineligible player, so Hawai'i is awarded the game via forfeit.

Wallace remembers: "Hugh Yoshida (former athletic director) calls the room and says something's happening. Just stay in the room. I thought we were about to get fired."

FEB. 12, 1997

The team bus crashes into another car on the highway from Denver to Laramie, Wyo. The 'Bows would go on to sweep the road trip, winning at Wyoming and then Colorado State.

Wallace remembers: "It's still hard to believe nobody got hurt. We were flying down that icy road, took out couple signs, then stopped right in front of an electric transformer. I remember the glass shattering right in front of me. Then we have to wait in the cold for a couple hours ... and we go out and win both games. Amazing."

MARCH 4, 2000

Center Marquette Alexander gets into an altercation with a Fresno State fan after the 'Bows lose, 79-69, at Selland Arena. The 'Bows stay in Fresno for a week because the WAC Tournament was also held in Fresno, Calif.

Wallace remembers: "We were talking to police, going back and forth the whole week. It was a distraction. But that was a dangerous situation in that arena, and they changed it and stepped up the security ever since then."

DEC. 9, 2000

UCLA beats Hawai'i, 84-64, with legendary coach John Wooden in attendance at Pauley Pavilion.

Wallace remembers: "No loss is a good experience, but it was something just to play in that arena where they have all that history, and with John Wooden there."

MARCH 8-10, 2001

The No. 5-seeded 'Bows upset TCU, Fresno State and host Tulsa to win the WAC Tournament.

Wallace remembers: "That team got hot when it counted, and it set things up for the next year."

MARCH 16, 2001

Hawai'i loses to Syracuse, 79-69, in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament at Dayton, Ohio.

Wallace remembers: "We were in the game the whole way, we just couldn't quite get over that hump."

MARCH 2, 2002

With leading scorer Predrag Savovic sidelined with a back injury, the 'Bows win at Fresno State to clinch the regular-season WAC title.

Wallace remembers: "That team was experienced and they had so much offensive firepower. They didn't let the road affect them like other teams I've had."

MARCH 15, 2002

Xavier beats Hawai'i, 70-58, in first round of NCAA Tournament at Dallas.

Wallace remembers: "That's the one that got away. We had the lead, we were playing really well in the first half, and then we got in foul trouble and (Xavier) got hot."

MARCH 17, 2004

Hawai'i upsets No. 25-ranked Utah State, 85-74, in the first round of the NIT at Logan, Utah. It is still Hawai'i's only road victory over a nationally-ranked opponent.

Wallace remembers: "Utah State just got snubbed (for the NCAA Tournament), so it was like we got sent there to get rid of us. But we pulled it off, and it's one of the great wins for this program."

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.