Disciplinary action will test UH’s pledge to win with class

In the wake of a Big West Conference public reprimand of Roderick Bobbitt on Friday, the University of Hawaii isn’t saying what action it might take.

Sanctions — and UH wouldn’t confirm if it will mete out any — “will be between the coaching staff and the student athlete,” the school said.

So, we’re left to wonder if the Rainbow Warriors’ star player might be made to: Run steps? Write “I will not stalk visiting coaches” 1,000 times on the locker room grease board? Deliver an apology to the Stan Sheriff Center crowd? Sit out the first half?

With the new athletic administration at UH there has been the promise of winning the right way, of competing with class. This is a test of that pledge.

What happened Thursday night in the 77-71 loss to UC Riverside was losing with an abysmal absence of class and it was a poor reflection on the program UH purports — and needs — to be.

Yes, things got chippy on both sides and tensions ran high in a stunning loss to a team that had been a 15-point underdog, but that does not excuse some of the behavior that was witnessed on several fronts by a home crowd that deserved better.

In the most egregious episodes, the Big West, after reviewing video of the game, cited Bobbitt for “unsporting behavior” specifically an ill-tempered technical foul with seven seconds left in the game and the persistent “aggressive attempts to engage UCR head coach Dennis Cutts during the handshake (line)” afterward.

Thankfully, the intervention of cooler heads kept things from escalating.

Afterward UH felt the need to apologize to their visitors and the conference.

You expect better from a team captain. Bobbitt leads UH is so many positive ways, defense, assists and an indomitable will to win, that when he veers off track it is easy for others to follow.

It isn’t the first time UH has “lost composure” as coach Eran Ganot euphemistically terms some of the sulking, whining and belligerent actions that have taken place. Or that Bobbitt’s “unique disposition” — another favorite Ganot term — has been on display.

Nor is it a secret that the rookie head coach and staff have had their hands full trying to rein in some of the players they inherited. Stories abound about players taken to task by coaches simply walking away during practice or firing back a string of F-bombs from the bench during games.

To Ganot’s credit the number of technical fouls has been down over last season’s T-fest.

But the lack of a consistent, firm hand from early on has had the effect of enabling too much boorishness. Nobody, it seems, wants to press too hard while the team is winning. The unadvertised mantra has been “Let’s just get through this season without an explosion.”

We’re told that such behavior will certainly cease when Ganot accumulates a roster of “his” hand-picked players.

As comforting as that might be, this has been “his” team since April, even if he didn’t select the players or they him.

As such it isn’t too early to begin sending a message that will resonate.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.