HONOLULU — The state of Hawaii watched with pride last Saturday as its own Marcus Mariota was presented with the Heisman Trophy. Perhaps the only other thing that could have made it better was if Mariota also represented the UNIVERSITY of Hawaii.
Alas, UH was never part of the conversation as instead it was the University of Oregon that shared in the triumph and was thanked by Mariota, who mentioned his Ducks teammates, coaches, school, fans, Phil and Penny Knight and even the city of Eugene in his acceptance speech. Mariota, to his credit, also gave shout-outs to Saint Louis School and his “boys” from back home.
But as far as the UH football program — its players, coaches, fans — well, it could only watch as an outsider and take consolation in the fact that at least Mariota is from Hawaii. Although, it’s fact that also could invoke feelings of envy as much as pride in Manoa.
While Mariota and Oregon continue to bask in Heisman glory and begin preparation for college football’s first national semifinal game at the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, the Rainbow Warriors and their fans are left to sit and watch on TV, with nothing much to look forward to except National Letter of Intent signing day on Feb. 4.
Oh, and in the meantime, UH will also continue to feel helpless as an NCAA letter of allegations awaits the men’s basketball program, a sure-to-be-slow and secretive and expensive process begins to find a new athletic director and men’s basketball coach, and the red ink continues to spill by the barrel load as each day goes by.
As great and admirable an achievement the Heisman Trophy is for Mariota and Oregon, it also indirectly serves as a subtle but symbolic stiff-arm to UH … as in, “Sorry, this is big-time college football … and umm … you guys are not part of it.” Unintentionally, of course, but it’s almost a slap in the face.
But just as with any slap in the face — or in this case, more like a punch to the gut or kick in the groin — there are two ways to react: You can either crumble to the ground and drown yourself in tears … or, you can say, “Hell to the no!” and get up, dust yourself off and fight back.
For the returning Rainbow Warrior players, that means improving yourself now, instead of waiting until official conditioning begins Jan. 26. For the coaches, it means finding better ways to convince our top local recruits to stay home. And maybe most importantly, for the fans it means showing financial and moral support for the entire athletic program.
Unfortunately, UH may not have a “Phil and Penny” to write million dollar checks in support, but as Mariota himself said, we do have the spirit of ‘Ohana and aloha here. That spirit means when times are tough, you pitch in and help.
Of course, as we saw last week, people are frustrated with UH’s administration and its repeated failures and poor decisions, bad hires, etc. Some of that frustration and resulting complaints is warranted, and is used as justification to not get involved.
But like recently fired men’s basketball coach Gib Arnold said, “At the University of Hawaii, we’re great at finding the problem. We suck at finding the solution.”
Apparently that goes for many in our community — some media and fans spent last week (and the past several years, really) vocally identifying the laundry list of problems connected with the athletic program.
We’ve heard over and over that “the system is broken” and that “the current model is not working,” and the various reasons why. No breaking news there.
But when it comes to innovative ideas or commitment of support, the conversation screeches to a halt and with shrugged shoulders, it’s back to business as usual.
It is interesting that perhaps the most powerful statement made by outgoing athletic director Ben Jay was either left out of or downplayed in most of the news coverage of his stepping down:
“This is a great program, folks. I think all of you know that; if you don’t, you should know that. We have a great intercollegiate athletics program at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. It’s something that this state should be very proud of, it’s something that everybody here in the state of Hawaii should be very proud of, and support.
“And I ask the public, and I ask all of you, to make sure that that happens. Because our coaches, our student-athletes, everybody involved here on our staff, everyone who puts every ounce of every blood into what they do every day here for the program … deserves that kind of support. Deserves that kind of financial support to keep this program sustaining. And I will do everything I can to help in that effort.”
Maybe some considered that to be “same old rhetoric,” not worth repeating.
But as much as anything put forward so far, it summarizes what most can agree on: If the people of Hawaii want UH to succeed — and most say they do — then they need to pitch in and help: big corporations, small businesses, alumni, parents, students, fans … everybody.
Some want to see winning results first, and then they will jump on the bandwagon later. But it doesn’t work that way — it’s tough to compete with those who already have the support.
Like the University of Oregon.