And what’s more …
Back in the day, extra notes were added to the end of sports stories in the category, “And what’s more …” (The ellipses were key because they allowed for easy trimming for the story to fit the space.)
Next year, the Mountain West and four other conferences will be labeled the “Group of Five,” with that conglomeration’s highest-ranked team earning a berth in an elite postseason bowl. Yes, the Group of Five — which means the MWC, which also means Hawaii — will be lumped into the “And what’s more …” category.
It is football’s caste system, with five conferences cast as don’t-sue-us additions.
Thing is, that formula is actually good or as good for the Group of Five as the BCS system, which ends with tonight’s final BCS championship game. A team from the group will have an improbable chance to qualify for the four-team playoffs and, if not, at least it has a seat at the adult table.
Things could be worse. Things were worse. And when the playoffs expand in the future, as expected, every Division I team will have the dream — in theory, at least — if it wins all its games and the stars are aligned, it, too, will have a chance to compete for a national title.
Go Warriors!
#1
OK, #2 then.
Mornin’ all.
AZwarrior — My eldest kid was in Arizona for, oh, 20 minutes yesterday. It was nice of the folks there to hold the airplane for the Hawaii-bound travelers.
I would be happy with a conference championship every year!!!
Then….maybe….THE DREAM……
Top ten! Good morning all.
Any good news on our new DC and linebackers coach yet?
Garret left and is back at work. It was nice spending time with the family. Happy new year to you all
The great thing about the new playoff is that there are no automatic qualifiers from any conference for any of the four slots. It’s just the best four teams playing. Of course the likelihood of the selection committee picking a G5 team as one of the top four is very low, but it’s not impossible; another Boise State could come along and bust its way in. And as ST says, if the playoff expands, say to the best eight teams, the chances of a G5 team making the cut will be better. The so-called power conference schools have plenty of advantages with respect to money and fan following, but so long as a school like UH is given a fair opportunity to compete and be rewarded if it proves itself on the field, I have no complaint.
Without equal funding of athletic programs there will be no fair opportunity to compete. The occasional upset is not proof of equal opportunity, it’s just proof that occasional upsets occur. At this point though we are at the wishful thinking stage since all we want right now is for UH to be competitive among the have nots.
Great Morning All!
Counting down to the CFB (and BCS) Finale (*snf*snf*) and looking back at the 2013-14 bowl season, methinks if the NC follows the trend, once you get past the initial hype of next season’s playoffs there will be some who point to this year as “the good ole bowl days”…
Terrific games so far. Upsets. Big finishes. Great matchups.
We’ll see how it all ends up in about 9 hours.
Happy New Year Tsaikos!
ST- We need another Tsaiko mtg with BJ. Get a “State of the Athletic Department” address. Have BJ give us a report on the department, its goals and direction and how we can help to strengthen it.
Good cool morning Tsaikos!!!
Hope everyone has a great day…. 🙂
ST – Phoenix got up to 70 yesterday for the high. Gotta like that direct flight on Hawaiian Air from Phoenix to Honolulu.
Good morning Tsaikos!
Hope all the Mainland Tsaikos are keeping warm and safe.
BCS/Big 6/Power conferences = 1%
Group of 5 and all others = 99%
Re #10, I understand what you’re saying Old Diver, but there will never be equal funding of collegiate athletic programs. This is America, a market-driven capitalist country, and athletic budgets have been and will remain a function of the level of booster support and fan following (which translates into TV dollars) each school can draw in competition with its peers.
Take USC and UH. USC has a $98 million athletic budget and UH has a $34 million athletic budget. That’s because USC has hundreds more big-time donors than UH, tens of thousands more fans who will pay to attend its games than UH, and millions more people who want to watch its games on television than UH. So long as that remains the case, USC will have a much larger athletic budget than UH. That disparity isn’t unfair if USC has earned it.
Now, it’s arguably unfair that schools like Washington State have bigger budgets than UH primarily by virtue of their conference affiliations. But being in the Pac-12 hasn’t put Washington State anywhere close to being on an even footing with USC. Its budget is only $50 million, closer to UH’s than to USC’s. The same pattern is apparent in other power conferences, where the big-name schools have much higher budgets than the hangers-on. In the Big 12, Texas enjoys a nearly 3-1 budget advantage over Texas Tech, $166 million to $62 million.
Even within the MWC, San Diego State’s $42 million athletic budget is almost double Utah State’s $24 million. Is that unfair? Not unfair enough that anyone is suggesting taking money away from San Diego State and giving it to Utah State.
So when I look for equal opportunity in collegiate athletics, I don’t expect that to translate into equivalent funding. What matters to me is that the best teams get to play for the title, regardless of how large their athletic budgets are. It doesn’t bother me much that USC has more money than UH. But it would bother me a lot if the conference USC played in was given an automatic bid into the national championship playoff, and the conference UH plays in was excluded. To me that would be truly discriminatory. Fortunately, as matters stand now, that isn’t the case.
Mongoose: agreed. Funding doesn’t have to be “equal” as much as it needs to be “enough”.
GOOD MORNING HAWAII!
I assume the other four conferences are SEC, PAC, Big 10 and 12?
American Athletic Conference, Conference USA, MAC, and Sun Belt are the others.
The “big 5” football conferences are pushing for “pay the athletes” and should it come to pass, every other conference will LOSE as more elite players will want to play-for-pay. are they leaving out the new American Conference ( the old Big East ) from automatic entry? thus, UCF would not have played in the Fiesta Bowl – and, the top 4 may come from a single conference – pay the refs, under the table, to “throw” games in favor of the SEC, for example
it would be interesting to see how it is structured – such as amount doled out to each player – will it be constant for all conferences? this would certainly reduce the number of under-the-table dealings and make it “legal”
Not saying its not happening now, but the disparity will become much greater as time passes – none of the mid-major conferences have the mullah to match the “big 5”
will this be an incentive for UH to reach that level? only if it can join the PAC 12 and that will not happen in my life time
What if and it is a big WHAT IF the NCAA loses total control over football and the “big 5” can do anything it wants with NO NCAA to worry about – their own rules, bowl games, national championship title, etc. – this would be most interesting because most the NCAA “big wigs” are from the “big 5” conferences, I think.
Aaron:
That’s a pretty good statement.
Not sure where the independents fall in this group.
It was (relatively) cold this morning when I wrote the post. I wasn’t focused.
A lot of schools eliminated gymnastics a once popular sport could and maybe should eliminate the not so popular sports, ie. water polo, tennis, golf, rifle shooting, ping pong…
Good afternoon, Tsai-kos and Lurk-ers!
Would love for our Warriors to be able to make it once again!
Sounds like a better chance to get there!
Lots to do to get there!
Aloha all. As always, I come with no real answers, but a humble submission of facts to consider. For me, the questions arises, whether the upper tier of football programs only further distances it self from the rest of the pack, as to make such separation an almost permanent feature. I suppose that every 3-5 years, a team will go on a run, and be an outlier.
That said, great sports team, are always based at its core with feature of consistency. Thus, those top programs that are highly funded almost always, place themselves in the position to compete; they must still play the game, but they have placed themselves in a competitive position.
To provide some support and context to my position, review the following:
Rank School Revenue Expenses Profit
1 University of Texas (Football) $93,942,815 $25,112,331 $68,830,484
2 Univ. of Georgia (Football) $70,838,539 $18,308,654 $52,529,885
3 Penn State Univ. (Football) $70,208,584 $19,780,939 $50,427,645
4 Univ. of Michigan (Football) $63,189,417 $18,328,233 $44,861,184
5 Univ. of Florida (Football) $68,715,750 $24,457,557 $44,258,193
6 Louisiana State Univ. (Football) $68,819,806 $25,566,520 $43,253,286
7 Univ. of Alabama (Football) $71,884,525 $31,118,134 $40,766,391
8 Univ. of Tennessee (Football) $56,593,946 $17,357,345 $39,236,601
9 Auburn Univ. (Football) $66,162,720 $27,911,713 $38,251,007
10 University of Oklahoma (Football) $58,295,888 $20,150,769 $38,145,119
11 Univ. of South Carolina (Football) $58,266,159 $22,794,211 $35,471,948
12 Notre Dame (Football) $64,163,063 $29,490,788 $34,672,275
13 University of Nebraska (Football) $49,928,228 $17,843,849 $32,084,379
14 Ohio State Univ. (Football) $63,750,000 $31,763,036 $31,986,964
In short, these are enormous numbers, with incredible margins on profits.
Although, I’m hoping a 12 team NFL style playoff for the FBS/D1 college football will happen. I mean all 10 D1 conferences have a mandatory conference championship game and each conference champ gets into the playoff. That 10 teams right there.
Notre Dame, BYU and the other independents will need to join a conference or can only have 2 loses in the 12 or 13 game season schedule and can only count 1 FCS opponet as a win, if they schedule 2 FCS or below the 2nd FCS win doesn’t count, or a the indy team has be ranked in the top 12 in the AP poll or whatever poll that are still being used to rank D1 College Football teams.
That leaves room for 2 wildcard type teams that deserve to be in the playoffs that didn’t win the conference championship. For example, Oklahoma shocked everyone and whooped Alabama or Clemson upset Ohio State or Duke almost upsetting Texas A&M or a Oregon team. Those are the type of teams that could fill the 2 team wild card slots. Which means somebody is getting a bye week the first week and that will be the top 2 ranked teams in the polls get the bye week. I could only dream.
Oh, on the Duane Akina front, more little birds are saying he will be one of the few holdovers, if anyone else, to the UT staff….
UH selection committee must aim lower and select young coaches with experience who have a vision and goal to attain
does this mean he will stay? probably not when the “bamboochah” school comes knocking on the door ; yet, the call of the islands may be enough to sway his final decision – but, who the heck would turn down a large salary to stay in Hawaii? very few, if any!
the “call of the $$$” is a very strong motivator knowing that there are a limited number of years one can maintain a very high level in coaching.
What the heck is taking so dang long to name our DC and LB coaches? Are we now not looking for an OC? Chow needs to give people some kind of reason for hope for next season because people are jumping like rats off the UH ship. But look at UH’s schedule for next year it is pretty tough. And with no proven QB to lead us, looks like we will continue to suck next year as well.
Pretty pretty sad situation.
28 ahouse
Right on!
And experience doesnt need to be at the fbs level.
Many great big time coaches started out at small schools in the fcs.
Re: Duane Akina – Austin, TX is not a bad place to live and work. Rich tradition, along with top of the line facilities, resources, and boosters at UT. No state income tax, low cost of living, some very good school districts. On his current salary, I’m sure it goes a long way for saving up for his retirement.
31–all true. And if I recall, some schools have accelerated vesting requirements for long-term college coaches.
Norm’s silence is deafening. The last time he put anything out for public consumption was his written statement regarding TK and TT. One would think he would have said something by now regarding the staff vacancies. Not even a ….we’ve got a lot of quality coaches applying and we’re in the process of seeing who’s the best fit. Nothing.
Makes me wonder if he’s gone into hibernation and plans to emerge in the spring time.
ST,
If major schools are pushing to pay athletics, why can’t the NCAA be the ones to pay? That way they can control abuse and keep the playing field somewhat balanced. The stipend for attending University of Texas and UH should be the same. There should be no difference in attending a brand name university. Also, isn’t the NCAA making tons of $$$ from the NCAA basketball tournament, TV rights, etc.? They can afford it.
Hawaii News Now @HawaiiNewsNow 13m
Energy researchers at East-West Center quit, calling for new leadership
http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/24360666/energy-researchers-at-east-west-center-quit-calling-for-new-leadership?utm_source=buffer&utm_campaign=Buffer&utm_content=buffereed99&utm_medium=facebook
typical for hawaii, never taking advantage of the good times.
gotta ask now, what did the UH do with all the revenue from the days of averaging 44k for football and baseball leading the nation in attendance in the 80’s?
I believe it’s inevitable that college football will be realigned into three tiers – Big 5 (Tier 1); Mid-Majors (Tier 2); Div II (Tier 3).
36: it’s already split
And Mark Emmert already has stated numerous times that pay for play isn’t a option.
No news is…no news…Which is all BAD if you’re trying to revive a dying football program. The fans need to know that something is being done to get the team ready for Spring football. Not filling the coaching position tells me we had no plan in place for replacing the coaches involved and probably, got rid of the coaches when faced with an ultimatum…
If I read correctly the first day that the team can meet is January 29, when conditioning drills begin. I’m sure there are players already working out on their own, though.
BTW, VJ Fehoko is transferring from Utah:
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/utes/57359001-89/utah-utes-blechen-filiaga.html.csp
37….while that is factually correct. Mr. Emmert is at best, an embattled figure-head who is residing over a structure that has long since enjoyed its’ better days, and at worst, is stick-figure placeholder at an antiquated organization that is struggling to finds it relevance as individual institutions take the reigns over their own destinies.
Guud Afternoon Tsaikos….bootiful day in Hawaii nei….
Funny story…
Death Bed Declarations…
Mr. Morris Schwartz is on his deathbed, knows the end is near,
he is with his nurse, his wife, his daughter and 2 sons.
“So”, he says to them:
“Bernie, I want you to take the Beverly Hills houses.”
“Sybil, take the apartments over in Los Angeles Plaza .”
“Hymie, I want you to take the offices over in City Center .”
“Sarah, my dear wife, please take all the residential buildings downtown.”
The nurse is just blown away by all this, and as Morris slips away,
she says, “Mrs. Schwartz, your husband must have been such a hard
working man to have accumulated all this property”.
“Property? … the schmuck had a paper route!”
I guess not all that you hear is as you might understand it to be….got to wait for the whole story…huh?…lol
Patience, Grasshoppers!
352 applications; 60 for DC. Background checks, interviews, selection committees – I don’t believe Coach Chow has anything to do in the preliminary rounds except, perhaps, the final selection. Even at that, you might recall that in selection of Coach Chow, the AD was overruled by Upper Campus. Many (perhaps too many) people have their fingers in the pie.
I forgot how long it took before Mr. Von Appen got the job.
#33:
no, no, no – like he said on TV he does not know how to be a head coach and perhaps reason no “public” statement on selection; OR, his hands are tied until the “selection committee” gives him the 3 – 5 names THEY DETERMINE TO BE BEST QUALIFIED for an OC or LB coach.
the members of the selection committee, and I have no idea who they are, have any football experience – playing or coaching – to determine who is the best applicant; OR, are they depending on their “business” back ground to make that call?
that’s why I blogged to “al” I’m concerned what the selection committee will do.
#42. I hear ya Mr. Mui. But sheesh, Boise got its new coach, Washington got its new coach, USC got its new coach and all their staffs have been named. Even Texas got its new coach already. All we doing is sitting on our hands. There has got to be a better way, or even another way, as is done AT EVERY OTHER DI UNIVERSITY!
Okay pau rant, please carry on.
I thought ST said initial review (ie. background checks, etc.) was being handled by a mainland company.
Bad field position for FSU helps Auburn to score TD, 7-3 tigers if anyone cares. Love the fast pasce that both offenses plays.
#43. Are you sure that’s the process for assistants. I was under the impression the head coach makes the call on who he wants on staff.
Howzit, Gang!
Old Diver has an interesting point… equal funding.
Of course, the (old) BCS schools will never support it; they already own too much of the pie to concede more than what will start up after tonight’s game. But…
Consider that even the professional sports have recognized this, and have salary caps in place to sort of level the playing field. Ironic that the NCAA, in all it’s super-educated wisdom, isn’t smart enough, and even powerless, to consider enacting and enforcing such a scheme! And the politicians from those (almighty, all-powerful) states would never be able to reign in this runaway train. Add in the big money from corporate America, along with the media, and, oh well… it was a nice dream while it lasted…
#36
you forgot about the fcs or div 1aa
#41
classic
None of the so-called experts predicted Auburn would be competing in the championship game in the beginning of the season.
50…that says a bunch about the strength of the SEC.
A belated “congrats” to America’s ONLY true NCAA Division One Football NATIONAL CHAMPIONS the North Dakota State Bisons.
Congrats to the Bisons for coming out of the 24 TEAM PLAYOFFS to EARN the right to be called NATIONAL CHAMPIONS.
do we still have a women’s basketball team?
ya think…that it was the bcs bullies who came up with this new dead period which just so happens to coincide with the bowl season?
ya think…it was the bcs who created and then influenced the allowable summer session conditioning and film study? they could afford it.
Al,
I was thinking the same thing about Wahine basketball. Seems like its been forever since they last played at home.
ya think…they are taking core curriculum during the summer or home economics?
Wow what a long TD return. Great game!
Don’t care what happens … my pick…Mason…MVP..
Even better than the Texas USC Championship Game. WOW!
What a finish to the college football season. 4 of 5 BCS underdogs either won outright (4) or covered. What a great game tonight!!
Excellent Game!…
NSF, I totally agree Mason should be MVP.
Defensive MVP…#8 Jurnigan…man played his butt off and left it all on the field. Good to see his efforts pay off.
one of the best national championship games of all time it had everything. But seriously i wonder why doesnthe FBS do a playoff system similar to the FCS division
good question….maybe too many pundits will not have anything to write about and make their case….lol
seriously, there should be a playoff
If Norm Chow is an offensive guru. Gus Malzahn must be a offensive god.
IF there is a legit chance for the small conferences to win a national title even if its a 1% chance that is WAY better than the previous system that ignored countless boise state, TCU and Utah teams that deserved a chance. I think Boise State and TCU in 2009 had a great chance against the BIG BOYS but they wasted it by having both teams play each other. But this year the BCS games were Phenomenal
You guys don’t really think Chow is picking his DC and LB coach based on who “applied” do you? Come on. Applications are a formality that is part of the (of many) stupid state policies that we have in place here.
Chow will hire who he wants to come in. He calls people to tell him he wants them. IF they are interested, they apply. Don’t get it twisted.
Lot of good games this season.
If there was a playoff this year it would be Michigan State vs. Florida St.
Just because there is no news doesn’t mean nothing is going on.
Unless they apply, per the rules, they cannot be chosen.
Undoubtedly Coach Chow may want John Doe as his DC or his LB Coach. But unless John Doe does not apply, he can’t be picked.
Coach Chow may encouraged or tell John Doe to apply. And if John Doe gets through the background procedure and the other red tape, he gets picked by Coach Chow out of the “approved” list.
Hawaii probably has more people cutting the red tape length-wise but unfortunately, that’s the way it is.
Inyo Face, why do you say that? Auburn defeated more ranked teams than Michigan State.
Personally, I think the BCS got it right again.
The New Defensive Coordinator and Linebacker Coach for the Warriors is gonna be Kevin Klune Linebacker Coach From Utah State.!! I don’t know why UH is Taking so long to Make The Announcement. Warriors Linebackers getting a real LB Coach.
Kevin Clune from Utah State.
72- =)
Good chilly morning!
Good Morning Folks! It’s a nice 43 degrees here! Yesterday, at this time it was 37–there’s no place like home!
Now that FSU has been crowned, pretty interesting that the Sagarin rating for SOS is a mere 62. Interesting even more are the teams 60 thru 76 (Hawaii) with a 66. There are only 4 winning records between 63 and 76, nothing better than 9-5. It only speaks to the strength of the roster vs the quality of the opposition. I am looking forward to more speed and size this year in both new and returning and it will bode well for the future….Go Warriors…as in 1-11…..numbers do not lie…..we need to get better…..
Gmorning gang!
Maddog50- you’ll definitely get your wish for size. Next season’s crop is BIG! Hoping seniors take charge this off season and make your other wishes come true.
Aloha all. Woke up, took the dog out for his morning business, temp outside read 3–dammmn-lucky you live Hawai’i!
Kevin Clune?
If that is indeed true. It would be an interesting hire.
LB Coach: Utah State (Year – Team Defense/Scoring Defense;National Rank)
2013 – 12/7
2012 – 14/7
2011 – 50/68
2010 – 100/101
2009 – 113/107
DC: Weber State: (Year – Team Defense/Scoring Defense;National Rank)
2008 – 77/41
2007 – 38/73
2006 – 29/66
2006 – 47/55
Hope we don’t scare him away with the extensive background check and interview process.
Hopefully no off-season injuries this year. We really could have used Joey in all games this year.