On one end of the spectrum, Wichita State’s athletic department is burgeoning enough financially to think of adding a football program. On the other, Hawai’i’s declining operation once again has fans fearful of losing its football team. Two extremes showing what can happen when an administration and its staff function with a purpose and another indicating what can go wrong with a lack of institutional control.
The Shockers’ basketball program, which advanced to the Final Four in 2013, has brought notoriety and financial success to the school athletic department. Meanwhile, Hawai’i is suffering in what should be its two money-making sports: Football and men’s basketball.
The school is embroiled in a lawsuit over the firing of former basketball coach Gib Arnold. The university is reportedly spending more than $1 million to settle with Arnold, who was fired in the midst of an NCAA investigation into serious allegations of his knowledge of improper benefits for players and withholding information from investigators. Hawai’i imposed its own sanctions in May, including vacating wins, docking a scholarship for two years and limiting practice time. Hawai’i awaits the NCAA to levy its sanctions.
Thirty years ago, Wichita State was much like the Rainbow Warriors are now with is football program, faced with budget problems, community apathy, poor attendance and aging facilities. The Shockers’ program first persevered after 13 football players died in a plane crash en route to play at Utah State in 1970. Another plane, carrying the rest of the players, made it to Logan, Utah, safely.
Faced with mounting economic hardships, however, Wichita State finally dropped football after the 1986 season. Reviving the program was last seriously discussed in 1998, but large corporations and affluent boosters suggested concentrating on basketball and baseball instead. A football program would require at least $13 million for facilities, including a new stadium, according to Wichita State president John Bardo, who is receptive to the idea. The move would also require adding women’s sports under Title IX.
Wichita State President John Bardo
Bardo told the Wichita Eagle the football question has been “lingering way too long” at Wichita State. “We need to be very straight on, ‘Here’s what it takes to do it, here’s what it means, here’s what others are doing.’ And if people say, ‘Yeah, that’s what we want to do,’ that’s great. If people say ‘We have no interest in that, we’re not willing to support it,’ then we know the answer,” he said.
Wichita State’s athletics budget is around $18 million. Bardo estimates adding football that would be competitive at the highest level would mean the Shockers would have to practically double their budget.
At Hawai’i, the word “budget” draws a cringe.
The firing of head football coach Norm Chow in November once again created the discussion of the Rainbow Warriors dropping their football program. Chow was 10-36 in his four seasons with the Rainbow Warriors after taking over the program in 2012.
Former Hawai’i athletic director Ben Jay resigned last December, four months after he said the football program might be dropped if the athletic department remained in debt. The athletic department is reportedly facing a $3 million deficit.
Former Hawai’i coaches June Jones (left), Norm Chow (center), and newly hired head coach Nick Rolovich (right)
Rumors surfaced that former coach June Jones was interested in returning to coach the program he and former coach Dick Tomey built to prominence over a 20-year period starting in the early 1980’s. Only eight seasons ago under Jones, Hawai’i was 12-0 in the regular season and a participant in the Sugar Bowl.
In what was a money-saving hire, Hawai’i signed as its new head coach 36-year-old Nick Rolovich, Nevada’s offensive coordinator who is a former Rainbow Warriors quarterback. The school hopes Rolovich’s youth can bring vigor to the program. It passed on the 62-year-old Jones, who failed at the end of his tenure at SMU.
Rolovich’s four-year contract that pays him $400,008 annually in years one and two and $425,000 annually in years three and four is reportedly less than half the Mountain West average for a head football coach and by far the lowest in the conference.
The 40-year-old Aloha Stadium’s deteriorating condition is an example of how the Rainbow Warriors’ facilities have become an embarrassment. Last week the U.S. women’s soccer team cancelled an exhibition at Aloha Stadium because it deemed the field not fit for conditions necessary to conduct a world class soccer match.
Meanwhile, Wichita State’s president has opened the door to discussions involving enhancing the school’s facilities to make the return of the football program possible. “Everything is on the table,” Bardo told the Wichita Eagle. “The sports we offer, facilities, conferences. This is about the university, and its ability to support the community and support our students.”
Hawai’i is literally on an island when it comes to similar support from its community because of turmoil and a lack of administrative foresight within the department. The Rainbow Warriors are hanging by a thread, far from the paradise the islands portray.
Wichita State in the flatlands of the Midwest, looks majestic in its bold pursuits, potentially wanting to give football a try.
The Wichita State-Hawai’i comparison should make all college administrators take note that structure from within goes a long way toward the success that comes out of it.
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