Dave Reardon: Predicting Hawaii’s future problematic after Pac-12 defections

Why can’t the University of Hawaii get into the Pac-12?

It’s a rite of passage for UH fans to ask that question when they’re little kids and be laughed at by their parents.

But after the news Thursday that rocked college sports, the snarky “never gonna happen” response doesn’t come quite as fast and easy. In a world where UCLA and USC join the Big Ten anything can happen.

Anything, however, also includes the other Pac-12 programs that made it the UH fan’s dream conference jumping ship, too.

The Pac-12 could become a pumped-up Mountain West, which used to be the WAC (and if your head hasn’t exploded yet, consider that in the really old days the WAC included the Arizona schools).

This brings us to the possibility of a recurring nightmare for UH.

In 1998, Hawaii was part of a 16-school conference — until the WAC got whacked in half. Five school presidents secretly met at Denver International Airport and decided to invite three others to join them and break away and form the Mountain West.

UH’s invitation got lost in the mail, and Hawaii remained in the WAC until finally begging its way into the Mountain West in 2013 — for football only, and with a requirement to pay travel subsidies.

Fool me once, shame on you … you know the rest.

There is good news, or more bad news, all depending on how you want to look at it. That’s because a lot of anything having to do with conference affiliation now might be a lot less meaningful in a few years.

There’s been increasing volume the past year or so of that talk about how the entire college sports system might drastically change.

Essentially, it would be the Power Five conferences breaking away from the rest. In one scenario, the best that the non-elites could hope for is a promotion-demotion system similar to what big-time soccer has and Hawaii high school football used to do.

This discussion is not new at all. But recent developments involving player compensation (name, image, likeness) and the transfer portal have put more emphasis on this reality: Most of the programs on top are there for a reason, and are very well equipped to remain there.

There will likely be all kinds of fallout from the USC and UCLA move, and the trickle-down effect on UH is impossible to predict yet.

At least one thing is in sharp focus though: The big picture is all about the big picture … the one on your 75-inch television, or perhaps the smaller one on your computer screen or even the tiny one on your phone.

Geography used to mean something a lot different than it does now for college sports — pretty much the opposite.

Colleges grouped up with other schools in the same region to form conferences. Rivalries developed and thrived. Fans, including students, could regularly attend road games, often without having to get on a plane. And the student-athletes didn’t miss as many classes.

Now, with the huge influence of TV money, the larger the conference footprint, the better. The more major media markets you’re in, the better. And the more time zones a conference covers the better.

In football, with a wider range of kickoff times you feed the beast more content, and you get more exposure with less overlap.

With USC and UCLA in the fold, if the Big Ten wants to it can work out a schedule with a home game in the Pacific time zone every week of the football season.

UH’s unique geography usually is a hindrance, but being in the middle of the Pacific Ocean makes Hawaii the only college football team with its own time zone. Even with its fun-size stadium, Hawaii still gets some national TV games, partly thanks to the late kickoff. After being fed all day, the TV beast can still handle a midnight snack.

Some folks like to say UH football is the only game in town. Well, it’s also the only game in the country when the Warriors play a night game at home.

It’s something, and the Hawaii exemption that gives UH and its opponents an additional game to play helps, too.

But, as the old WAC showed, the big footprint doesn’t work so well without elite programs that already have huge followings. It did help Boise State, and UH for a while. That, however, was mostly because they were winning.

When people question the sanity of the Bruins and Trojans going all the way to New Jersey to play Rutgers and vice versa (in everything), I remind them that Hawaii and LaTech co-existed in the WAC for 12 years.

It’s 2,779 miles from L.A. to Newark.

Hey, that’s nothing compared to the 4,030 from Honolulu to Ruston.