Before the University of Hawaii Board of Regents grants Gib Arnold his megabucks settlement Thursday, do you suppose they can squirrel away some change for football coach Norm Chow?
If athletic director David Matlin wasn’t already contemplating a coaching change, then Saturday night’s latest dispiriting loss, 28-14 to San Diego State, certainly had to be food for thought.
The third consecutive defeat of the season rendered the one thing that had even the faintest possibility of granting Chow a reprieve — qualifying for the Hawaii Bowl — highly unlikely.
At 2-4 the Rainbow Warriors would now have to win five of their remaining seven games. And, for a coach who has never won more than two games in a row against fellow Football Bowl Subdivision opponents, how much chance is there of that now?
Especially with three of the ‘Bows’ next four games on the road — a place they have yet to score a point this season.
It was probably a pre-booked flight that had the man who oversees the Hawaii Bowl, ESPN Events Vice President Pete Derzis, leaving Aloha Stadium at halftime Saturday night.
If not, the ending that saw UH blow any chances of a comeback would have surely propelled him to the airport secure in the likelihood that the bowl will be without its home team anchor for a record fifth consecutive year.
Remember when fans once grew bored of UH’s almost annual Christmas Eve appearances?
The departure allowed Derzis to beat some of the announced homecoming gathering of 25,643, who started their move to the exits with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Once upon a time a 14-point deficit with 13 minutes left in the fourth quarter would not have budged the faithful from their seats. But these lean offensive days and nights a 14-point deficit practically qualifies as an insurmountable obstacle for a team unable to find any semblance of offensive rhythm while wearing out its defense and punter.
It wasn’t just that the ‘Bows lost — and are 7-33 against their FBS peers under Chow — it is how the latest one was accomplished.
Nor was it yielding 148 yards on 30 carries to the remarkable Donnel Pumphrey. It was an unproductive offense, critical penalties, untimely defensive breakdowns, you name it. It all added up to a loss in a game UH desperately needed to win but didn’t seem to know how to go about it.
For example, here was UH, 104th (among 127 teams) in penalties uncharacteristically with just one through three quarters. Then it commits three debilitating ones in the fourth quarter.
Suddenly UH is 0-2 in the Mountain West, where it is 4-22 in its four-year membership.
Even in the diluted West Division, where the Aztecs (3-3, 2-0 MWC) and San Jose State (3-3, 2-1) now are left to battle for divisional supremacy next week, there is little hope.
Afterward, in response to a question about what went wrong, Chow said, "If I knew the answer to that, then I wouldn’t be sitting here …"
Because of that we are left to wonder, as Matlin surely must, how many of the biggest crowd of the season will bother to return in three weeks — or, indeed, the rest of this season — if there are no answers?
Much less next year if nothing changes.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
