When the University of Hawai'i offered fans who were not already football season-ticket holders an opportunity to get on the list for a $50 deposit this month, Happy Bobbitt and three friends quickly signed up.

"We want to support Coach (Greg) McMackin and the program," she said.

So far 578 others have joined them, pledging, in all, to purchase 1,746 season tickets as of yesterday.

If 12-1 was the bottom line for the Warriors on the field in 2007, the eventual number of season tickets will go a long way to defining the off-the-field success of UH's best season.

How close the Warriors come to the avowed target of 30,000 and the school record of 36,150 will not only be the best measuring stick of the public's perception of life after Colt Brennan and June Jones, but the athletic department's ability to pay for everything.

Parades are one thing. People forking over their hard-earned cash is another. That's where euphoria meets reality.

UH's goal of increasing season tickets by 7,025 is slightly ambitious. Last year, coming off an 11-3 season with Brennan returning, it managed a 4,760 bump to 22,975. Not all that huge considering the low levels (18,215) season ticket sales had sunk to in the wake of a 5-7 season.

Yet, associate athletic director John McNamara said the originally announced target of 30,000 for 2008 has been upgraded. "We feel good, at this point, that we will be able to get north of 30,000," McNamara said.

If you're ever going to be able to get back to season-ticket highs of the past, this would seem to be the season for it. Never have the Warriors had a more positive experience or more pleasant memories to sell.

Thankfully, unlike what has too often been the case in the past, UH isn't just sitting back and, in a posture that has smacked of arrogance, said, in essence, take it or leave it. No longer is it curiously trying to raise money by charging fewer people much higher prices.

This time UH is finally trying to win back fans and grab new ones, putting plenty into the push beyond the usual contest drawings, etc. Prices are frozen at 2007 levels and an additional eighth home game added. UH officials also are pledging to get season-ticket holders pay-per-view road games either free or at a significantly reduced price.

The two biggest areas to gauge the UH football future are recruiting and season-ticket sales. While it might take a couple years for a true read on the recruiting class, season-ticket results will have an immediate impact.

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