"Indefinite" is a handy concept. It can be forever. It can be tomorrow.
It can be anything.
The general school of thought around lower campus Tuesday afternoon is that by "indefinite" University of Hawaii football coach Norm Chow might mean the duration of spring practice. And then, maybe, suspended quarterback Cayman Shutter can rejoin the team.
Of course, there’s nothing definite about that. The coach didn’t say it, didn’t even hint at it. It’s just speculation. "Indefinite" means we get to keep guessing. It means Chow doesn’t have to show his cards yet.
Chow did not make this decision in a vacuum; athletic director Jim Donovan and the team’s leadership council were involved, too. But it will be identified with the head coach. It is the first major disciplinary act in his four months at the top of the state’s most prominent sports team’s organization chart.
Could UH have come down harder on its No. 2 QB (who has two seasons left of eligibility) with something specific — such as a year away from the football team? That would have certainly sent a strong message, to the team and the community: Do not get arrested for DUI.
And there lies the more important reason for a suspension of undetermined duration: The difference between "arrested" and "convicted," between "suspicion of" and "guilty of."
DUIs that don’t involve accidents (this one did not) are generally pretty straightforward. Someone drinks too much, makes a bad decision to drive a car, and gets caught by the police doing so. There’s no chance of mistaken identity. Usually, the testing equipment functions properly — you’re either drunk or you’re not.
That simplification does not dismiss the magnitude of the crime. The real outrage is about what could happen and sometimes does as a result of intoxicated driving; death and shattered lives.
Still, Shutter deserves his day in court before the full extent of his UH football suspension is determined, and Chow knows this. It has to play out before indefinite changes to something specific.
So why not wait until all the legalities are addressed before suspending him at all?
Shutter put himself in the wrong place at the wrong time, allegedly doing the wrong thing. If it were all some big misunderstanding, there’d be some hint of it by now.
Some might see the suspension as harsh treatment for a DUI charge — considering many people in other walks of life are not penalized other than legally and financially for a DUI conviction.
Warriors football players are local celebrities. They are looked up to by many, especially children. Yes, there is a higher standard and a responsibility extending even beyond the team, and the immediate suspension makes that clear.
With the immediate suspension, the idea of the UH football team representing the state is reinforced, and that membership is a privilege.
Chow said Shutter is "a good young man who made a terrible, terrible decision."
"He’s a good friend and a good guy," said Warriors receiver Miah Ostrowski, a member of the leadership council and friend of Shutter since intermediate school. "It’s a wake-up call. The type of guy Cayman is, I know he’ll bounce back."
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Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783.