HONOLULU — Now that the elation from the University of Hawaii football team’s pulsating 37-35 victory over Nevada-Las Vegas is beginning to wear off, the attention turns to Saturday’s season finale at Fresno State, and whether UH head coach Norm Chow still needs a victory there in order to keep his job for at least one more year.
Those on the extreme ends, either for or against keeping Chow, will say this last game does not matter. They have seen enough to make a decision, regardless of what happens Saturday. The question is, does athletic director Ben Jay fit into that category?
Jay has maintained he will wait until after the season, when he sits down with Chow and they evaluate 2014 in its entirety, to determine whether Chow will return for a fourth season.
If that is true, then the Rainbow Warriors’ performance Saturday is still indeed crucial to Chow’s and the program’s future.
Perhaps more so than at any point this season, the arguments to keep Chow carry legitimate weight: Hawaii has won two games in a row, snapped a nation-leading and school-record 17-game road losing streak, has won as many games (four) as the previous two seasons combined. The Rainbow Warriors were picked to finish last in the Mountain West Conference West Division, but will finish no worse than fourth (out of six teams), still have a chance to finish tied for first and amazingly — if they beat Fresno State, San Jose State beats San Diego State and UNLV beats Nevada — can still qualify for a spot in the MWC championship game.
They are technically, as Chow had promised upon his hiring in December 2011, “chasing championships.”
Those are the tangible, on-field reasons. Another important off-field reason is the fact that almost all of the team’s 23 seniors are scheduled to earn their bachelor’s degree either next month or in May. One (Taz Stevenson) already graduated. The team in general has conducted itself with class and dignity throughout the worst of situations.
And perhaps the strongest, non-tangible reason is the feeling at Aloha Stadium’s Hawaiian Airlines Field last Saturday among the fans and players during and after the final play from scrimmage. Everybody on their feet, screaming with excitement, the offensive line giving sophomore quarterback Ikaika Woolsey enough time to deliver a game-winning touchdown strike to sophomore receiver Marcus Kemp — two of the most heavily criticized players, a heavily criticized offensive unit and a heavily criticized coaching staff coming through in the clutch at perhaps the most important moment of the season.
The way Chow’s team stuck together and kept fighting when the going got tough — as they have throughout the past three seasons — speaks volumes about the values he has instilled, and the buy-in from the players. The scene of the 68-year-old Chow jumping and dancing alongside the 21-year-old Woolsey and then getting a Gatorade shower from the ecstatic quarterback, followed by the two sharing a big laugh with surrounding teammates — showed a team that is very much together and connected through their battle scars.
To break that up now, and start over with a new coach and a new system and facing at least a year or more of building a culture of trust and belief and unity — would seem untimely given what we saw late Saturday night.
Then again, as we have seen, this team is still fragile when it comes to on-field performance, and a lopsided loss at Fresno State could quickly undo all the positive momentum and vibe built from the past two games.
And perhaps most importantly — fairly or not — the team’s performance in the season finale usually is a lasting memory for the more-fragile fan base, and can go a long way toward many of them deciding whether to renew their season tickets. Or for non-season ticket holders deciding whether to sign up.
With only 25,604 tickets issued for the popular Senior Night game last Saturday, an already-low season ticket count for 2014 is in danger of dropping further should the Rainbow Warriors suffer a bad loss at Fresno State.
By the same token, an upset victory capping a three-game win streak — on top of the feel-good home finale at Hawaiian Airlines Field — would likely bring back at least the 25,604 who had tickets last Saturday and probably more for next year’s season opener against Colorado.
It would bring tangible proof — in the form of a 5-8 record and 4-4 conference mark, plus maybe a share of the MWC West Division title — that things indeed are headed in the right direction and that Chow has the program on solid footing heading into next season.
Even a competitive, down-to-the-last-few-minutes loss may be enough to convince Jay that Chow deserves one more year to fully turn things around. Records of 4-9, 3-5 in the MWC would still represent significant improvement from last year’s 1-11, 0-8 campaign, and even Chow’s 3-9, 1-7 first season at the helm.
Another three-game improvement next year would put UH back in the Hawaii Bowl, where it belongs.
Either way, at 5-8 or 4-9, much of how Chow is evaluated could very well hinge on the Rainbow Warriors’ performance at Fresno State on Saturday. For many reasons, it is the most important game of season, maybe the most important game of Chow’s career as a head coach.
It may be the swing factor in deciding whether he keeps that title beyond next week.