UH got floored because of its many missteps

In October, the University of Hawaii agreed to give a coach it had fired another $700,000, and school officials acted like they’d just won the lottery.

On Tuesday, the NCAA said Gib Arnold “violated NCAA ethical conduct rules and did not promote an atmosphere for compliance in his program,” and provided “false or misleading information.” His attorneys responded by calling it “a victory for Coach Arnold.” (Never mind that “Coach” Arnold probably won’t be allowed to coach college basketball for the next three years.)

It was determined that the school didn’t fetch a big-enough switch with its self-sanctioned punishment for a bunch of relatively minor infractions. So the NCAA added three years probation, a one-year suspension from postseason play and a second forfeited scholarship.

A team that was probably going to very good next year won’t be eligible for even the conference tournament.

That means you can’t blame this year’s juniors if they decide to transfer (no sit-out year required) to somewhere their senior year of hoops might not end at the conclusion of the regular season.

Don’t fall into the trap of deflection that Arnold and UH like to employ on easy targets (each other, and the NCAA). Is it the NCAA’s fault that they didn’t follow the rules, and then there was a power play by anti-Arnold forces to oust him and install Riley Wallace, and then Arnold sent the investigators on wild goose chases?

No, no and no.

Yes, the NCAA is often not very good at what it does, and people who don’t deserve it are often penalized. But was it out to get Hawaii because it’s not a powerful school?

Give that one a rest, too. Ask people at USC and Penn State about it.

The real reason Hawaii got hit so hard is because Arnold and others made the NCAA work too hard. Too many stories that didn’t match up. Over and over again.

And, unless it’s an unlikely coincidence, it’s also why the announcement of the sanctions was made the day of the start of the Diamond Head Classic, UH’s biggest event of the basketball season.

The NCAA report tells us it’s not all on Arnold; UH’s recently promoted compliance officer Amanda Paterson, according to the report, contributed to a dysfunctional working relationship between the coach and the administration.

What happens with Paterson now? My guess is more accolades since she’s considered a hero around the athletic department for standing up to Arnold.

Chancellor Robert Bley-Vroman could have done better, too, right?

With all of the misdeeds either by Arnold or on the head coach’s watch documented by the NCAA and presumably known by UH, wasn’t a firing with cause — you’ll get nothing and like it — in order instead of firing without cause (oh, and by the way, take a bunch more money because of this really poorly written contract)?

Bley-Vroman stands by his million-dollar decision, and said that with-cause would’ve been too difficult, and that UH needed to “act quickly.”

“It’s not as simple as what’s right,” the chancellor said.

Isn’t it sad to hear those words from a leader, as true as they often are at UH?