SAN DIEGO » This was an attractive trip for University of Hawaii football boosters. San Diego is a great place to visit where there is lots to do. At least until recently, the fans were thinking the game itself against the middling Aztecs might be highest on the list of enjoyable endeavors.

Well, what transpired Saturday had to be hard to watch for anyone who has invested heavily emotionally and/or financially in the UH program. Not a lot of fun, my guess.

Still, a clutch of ardent Warriors supporters was smiling and joking at Qualcomm Stadium as the final seconds ticked away in Hawaii’s latest blowout loss, 52-14 to San Diego State under a balmy and soon-to-be fireworks-filled sky.

I did see a worried look on the face of one man I know to be a very strong backer — in many ways — of UH sports, especially football. I asked him how his patience is holding out.

"I’ve still got it for the team," he answered. "It’s the rest of campus I’m concerned about."

He has a good point. We can — and should — excuse student-athletes for dropping the ball on occasion (as long as they’re putting forth their best effort, which I’m certain is the case this season). I mean, it happens.

Yes, too often in this rebuilding phase for the Warriors. But as Mike Edwards, a player who has a history of making a lot of great plays and a few bad ones, simply said after the game, "That’s football."

Then he went to review tape to get better.

If you’re Norm Chow, you also acknowledge it and you move forward. If it continues, you make a change. One problem with a team in transition, though, is that your options are limited.

That’s why Sean Schroeder is still the quarterback. That, and because he’s tough.

I think a first-year coach deserves some room to build his program. Of course they are open to criticism after three blowouts in a row.

Anyone in the public arena is, even under normal circumstances, especially those whose efforts we directly or indirectly subsidize as taxpayers.

But I believe Chow is an educator and coach with solid principles, off the field and on, and is still willing to adapt and learn himself. And that’s why he deserves room to build, no matter how bad it looks now, five games in.

IN THE BIG picture, the turmoil on upper campus and the various unofficial and possibly pending official votes of no confidence for university president M.R.C. Greenwood and Manoa chancellor Tom Apple are much more important than football.

Right?

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that because we lapse into believing what we are interested in is always what really matters. But you might care about money as much as sports.

If you ever need perspective, just think of athletics’ annual budget ($20 million) compared to the entire university (more than $1 billion). The sports budget is about 1/50th of the entire system’s.

You don’t even have to consider all that rhetoric about how the university is so important to our state’s future (which, obviously, it is). Just remember those three words: one billion dollars.

But sports hits us in our guts and our hearts, and that’s part of why this Wonder Blunder thing blew up.

Better days will come for the Warriors. Maybe as soon as this Saturday, which is homecoming against New Mexico. The Lobos are one of the teams even some of the pessimists circled as a win for UH prior to the season.

For the university itself? It looks to get darker first.

Greenwood’s future employment will be discussed Friday at the Board of Regents meeting. Greenwood’s handling of the aftermath of the athletic department’s failed benefit concert was the spark to a blaze that’s still spreading.

A president change is likely to happen before a quarterback change at UH.

At least if and when Schroeder is benched he won’t require a buyout.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783.