New conference, familiar foe

The University of Hawaii Warriors play their first game as a member of the Mountain West Conference today, and it should be fun to watch for a variety of reasons.

For one, the 1-1 Warriorswill be going up against old nemesis the Wolf Pack, from the University of Nevada at Reno, which also left the Western Athletic Conference last year to join the Mountain West, so it will feel familiar.

For another, former star UH quarterback and offensive coach Nick Rolovich will be in the house again, as the new offensive coach for the Wolf Pack. But let’s welcome him anyway, shall we?

One more reason: Fans who can’t attend the game in person can see it live, starting at 4:30 p.m., on NBC Sports, which is on channels 19 and 210. Go Warriors!

And the hits just keep on coming

Watching $200,000 land in the bank account of a scammer — the one who promoted a bogus Stevie Wonder athletic fundraiser at the University of Hawaii — was a rotten experience for taxpayers. But that was just the beginning. Now add an annual salary of $200,000 carved out to give Jim Donovan, the exonerated former athletic director, another job. Cha-ching.

Then there’s the $50,000 maximum allotment for the Cades Schutte lawyers who prepared that 57-page factfinders report (readers of that document found many of the facts redacted, by the way). And now a second law firm, Torkildson Katz, will be paid up to $25,000 to help the university respond to information requests for the Senate committee. Cha-ching, cha-ching.

In return, however, the public gets to watch UH officials squirm at the hearing, televised at 1 p.m. Monday on public-access Channel 49. Hottest show in town. Not.