Whenever the University of Hawaii at Hilo hires and names a permanent athletic director after more than a year without one, two giant obstacles that are elephants in the room await: fundraising and perception.
The Vulcans are one of two public schools in the 13-team Pacific West Conference, and are the lowest funded, asking for more dough from the state Legislature while big brother UH-Manoa is standing in the same line.
UHH chancellor Donald Straney pointed out the woes of the NCAA Division II program in a Tribune-Herald guest column on Nov. 22, 2014, making a plea to the community for help with sponsorships, raising scholarship funds or attending games.
One of the two UHH AD candidates — Notre Dame de Namur AD Joshua Doody or former Cal State Dominguez Hills AD Patrick Guillen — will be tasked with tackling those issues for the school’s 12 sports, which has a budget of $2.6 million, with 70 percent designated for travel.
The challenge of gaining sponsorships and raising scholarship funds will likely be much tougher because neither UHH AD candidate appears to have a local tie.
On the perception issue, that can be put into a nutshell with a question all the locals know the answer to: What’s the most popular sport on the Big Island?
It’s UH football, by a landslide, either on pay-per-view or a rebroadcast on OC Sports channel 16.
On game days, drive around Hilo and there will be a half-dozen cars parked in someone’s garage. Those ohana gatherings are not tuning in to an episode of Glee, they’re cheering for the state’s team.
Watch any Rainbow Warrior sport on channel 16 for more than two minutes, and Howard Dashefsky will soon be in a commercial for Ahahui Koa Anuenue, the fundraising arm for UH.
The KHON2 newscaster and OCSports sports broadcaster delivers a passionate and powerful message calling the University of Hawaii, “Our team. Hawaii’s team.”
It’s a tough deal and stark reality for the Vulcans that they’re not the most popular collegiate team, even in their own backyard.
A classic example was a rivalry game in 1993.
That year, UH baseball coach Les Murakami brought his team over to Hilo for the season-opener against the Vulcans, who made it a game, but lost 9-7.
The single set was at UHH’s field, not Wong Stadium, and the place was packed, in part because of the popularity of several Rainbows, including Kenny Harrison, Corey Ishigo and Franz Yuen, who suffered derisive chants of “Hans and Franz” all night long.
After the game, the young fans swarmed the Rainbows for autographs. The Vulcans walked back to their locker room, unaware that 1993 was the start of a collegiate record 23-year losing streak.
UHH’s next series was against Sonoma State, and that huge crowd never showed up again.
It stands to reason if locals are watching OCSports, they’re not attending UHH games, and more likely donating money to AKA (Ahahui Koa Anuenue) than to the Vulcans.
In a small town like Hilo, there’s an old saying: a pebble thrown in a pond makes more waves than a pebble thrown on sand.
The Vuls not only battle the Rainbow Warriors for general fan interest, but also all the BIIF sports, which typically outdraw UHH, especially in basketball — the university’s main gate producer.
That’s because parents, family and friends of players attend BIIF games where the local motto “everyone knows everyone” was invented, a reason championship basketball games at Hilo Civic are full house.
Local ties
UH AD David Matlin, Hawaii Pacific AD Vince Baldemor and Chaminade AD Bill Villa all have deep-rooted island connections, and, equally important, know the landscape.
That will likely put them a step ahead of either Doody or Guillen when chasing the same corporate dollar.
Matlin worked at the UH ticket office from 1994 to ’99, but on a larger scale spent 13 years connected with ESPN, and managed the Hawaii Bowl and Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic, where he built relationships with NCAA conferences, ADs and national organizations.
Besides AKA, UH has a Corporate Partner Program, which raised more than $5 million during the 2014-15 season.
Before Baldemor became the HPU AD in January of 2014, he was hired as the AKA executive director in 2003 and promoted to president two years later.
During his tenure, AKA raised $70 million through its ticketing, booster clubs and annual giving programs.
It’s likely his Rolodex at UH is sitting on his desk at HPU or all those phone numbers are stored on his cell.
Villa benefits from Chaminade hosting the Maui Invitational on ESPN, which provides exposure and serves as a recruiting tool other PacWest schools can’t match.
He spent 15 years as a high school AD, including six years at private school Mid-Pacific, and his assistant AD Bonnie Bedoya is well-connected, too.
She worked with the Hawaii Lodging and Tourism Association in Honolulu, which is the driving force of a large trade organization representing over 500 lodging properties and affiliated businesses around Hawaii.
Bedoya also helped organize major HLTA events such as golf tournaments, fundraisers and community events.
There’s now a Chaminade Athletics golf tournament to support several athletic programs and a scholarship endowment.
Image issues
The Vulcans are often overshadowed by big brother UH-Manoa, especially with the non-stop rotation of games and AKA commercials on OCSports, calling for donations.
There’s not much the Vuls can do about that.
It didn’t help that former UHH AD Dexter Irvin’s last day was Dec. 31, 2013, and two finalists for the job were announced on Friday, more than a year after he left.
It also didn’t help that in June of 2013, UHH was unable to officially announce GE Coleman’s hire as the men’s basketball coach for nearly a week, which become known as the “worst kept secret in town.”
Like HPU with its change of nickname to Sharks from Sea Warriors for marketing purposes, Irvin updated UHH’s logo for hats and T-shirts to sell, hoping to give the school a distinctive brand.
He moved basketball games from Hilo Civic to UHH gym because he wanted to create a “college friendly environment.”
Then interim UHH AD Tim Moore had some games played at Hilo Civic and some at UHH gym during the 2014 season.
Vulcan soccer games are played at UHH’s baseball stadium because the soccer field is misshaped. But the UHH baseball team calls Wong Stadium home.
Doody will meet with the general public on June 19 and Guillen on June 23 at UHH, where they’ll take questions with more than two elephants in the room.