Recruiting can get down and dirty, and the legend of Norm Chow doggedly wading deep into a North Shore taro patch and staying there until he could convince a father that his son ought to sign to play football for BYU in the 1980s was a unique illustration of that.

It wasn’t enough that the University of Hawaii had to battle the shadow of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to make any inroads on football prospects from Kahuku High for better than three decades. They also had to overcome the well-entrenched Chow, who established himself as the foremost recruiter in the area, losing few scraps there while recruiting for the Cougars between 1975 and 1999.

Which is part of what makes the tug-o-war for Red Raiders running back Aofaga Wily, the state’s rushing leader (1,744 yards and 27 touchdowns in 2012), so compelling.

Wednesday is National Letter of Intent date, the first day that high school recruits can sign binding athletic scholarship commitments. Already at least two prospects from Kahuku, linebacker Rashaan Falemalu and offensive lineman John Wa‘a have made verbal commitments to Chow and UH. The 6-foot, 195-pound Wily, who was scheduled to visit BYU’s Provo, Utah, campus this weekend, reportedly has his choice narrowed to ages-old adversaries UH and BYU.

JUST BECAUSE UH and BYU won’t meet on the football field for the foreseeable future, that hardly means an end to their skirmishes.

Only this drama is being given a twist on history. It is being played out with a reversal of roles, new scripts and additional characters. Chow is wearing green as the UH head coach now, and, along with assistant coach Tony Tuioti, is attempting to sell Wily, among others, on the benefits of staying home and playing in front of family and friends.

And, in doing so, Chow is going up against two BYU assistant coaches, Mark Atuaia (1991) and Robert Anae (1982), he recruited out of the area to play for the Cougars — something he is undoubtedly reminded of when he visits the Wily home, which is just around the corner from Atuaia’s family.

UNDER NCAA rules, none of them can talk about the recruiting process of a specific prospect, but ask Chow about going head-to-head with BYU now and you get a chuckle. Neither the irony nor import is lost on the uber-competitive Chow.

Maybe that’s part of why Chow wasn’t broken up when the cessation of the series with the Cougars was announced this week. With BYU no longer on the schedule, the Cougars can’t sell potential recruits on the opportunity to play at home, something Chow did well when he was wearing the blue and white.

Meanwhile, UH can pitch Utah-area recruits on going home to play Utah State and other outposts in the inter-mountain west that membership in the Mountain West Conference affords.

And if, one day, it takes wading into a taro patch to deliver the Warriors’ message, well, that won’t exactly be breaking new ground for Chow.

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