The next time the University of Hawai'i seeks to hire a football or basketball coach, it might query candidates on more than just win-loss percentage, postseason track record, uniform deal and preferred style of offense.

It might also inspect what the coaches' Academic Progress Rate or graduation history amount to.

The APR, the NCAA's four-year-old measuring stick of a school's performance in retaining, advancing and graduating its athletes, could soon be tied to coaches, too.

And, despite some shrieks from coaches and others, it should be. Sooner the better.

The APR is forcing schools and athletic departments — some faster than others — to come to grips with not only the educational potential of the players they recruit but the assistance they are given once on campus.

Already dozens of schools, including UH, have been docked scholarships in sports where the APR is deemed below national benchmarks. Which is as it should be.

But APRs are a partnership of sorts among schools, coaches and athletes who all play a part in the equation. A player who doesn't measure up is rendered ineligible and risks losing a scholarship. A school that has too many of them loses scholarships, squad size and, very likely, games and income. But the coach who recruited them is free to move to another institution and bigger paycheck unfettered by whatever mess might be left behind. That's a loophole that begs to be closed.

USA Today said the NCAA, when its Committee on Academic Progress meets next month, is considering tying APRs or graduation rates to coaches for all — schools, prospective recruits and the fans — to see. Perhaps even to the point of making coaches who leave sanctioned programs offer evidence why penalties shouldn't go with them.

As it is now, a coach can bring in a busload of marginal students, win with them and bolt to greener pastures as the hammer comes down on the school.

Such things have been discussed before but as schools shell out larger sums, often in the millions now by even mid-range schools for football and basketball coaches, it behooves them to ask a lot, too. Not only when it comes to winning percentage and postseason appearances, but at graduation.

Clearly, you don't see, say, a professor of European history hired, evaluated and paid based upon how many students remain eligible, make progress and graduate. But a key difference is that a coach has a larger say in which players are recruited to the school and usually has them for four or, sometimes, five years.

To be sure, a coach can't compel a player to open a book or hover there until it is read. The responsibility for academic performance crosses many paths. But coaches who recruit the players should be the ones most tied to their performance, on the field — and in the classroom.

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