Here are the suggested magic numbers for 2024:
6
Timmy Chang is entering his third season as head coach of the Hawaii football team, but with the late hiring — 11 days ahead of the 2022 spring-semester signing period — for recruiting purposes, this should be re-calibrated as his second full year of a rebuild.
After going 3-10 in 2022 and 5-8 last year, a reachable goal would be to qualify for the 2024 Hawaii Bowl. That probably would take only six victories, even if it meant a 6-7 regular season.
The Rainbow Warriors have 12 games scheduled — five on the road, seven at the Ching Complex — but talks have been underway for nearly two months for Oregon to either drop out of the Aug. 24 season opener at Ching or push the meeting to another year. UH officials thought it secured a lucrative replacement for the opener, if Oregon were to drop out, but that potential opponent is no longer a sure thing.
UH should not have difficulty adding a game or two. The so-called “Hawaii exemption” permits a UH opponent a 13th game if it plays the Warriors on Week Zero or in Hawaii. Whether Oregon honors its commitment or not, UH needs at least 12 games this season. And winning six of them is a reasonable goal.
12
It could be the Genie’s third wish or the last available invitation to the wedding reception, but there usually is exhaustive debate over the final pick.
When it comes to college football’s postseason, controversy was supposed to have been eased when the pool of finalists for the championship expanded from two to four in 2014. Florida State and Georgia would disagree. Will there be arguments as the College Football Playoff expands to 12 following the 2024 regular season?
Of course.
A nanosecond after the Best Actor nominees are announced, the lists of “Oscar snubs” are released. The ILH has complained for years that it deserves one more spot in a state tournament, any state tournament.
Life is musical chairs, and that 13th team — and its supporters — will not be happy when it is left standing.
Five
Deadline is in 10 minutes, and the editors are impatiently waiting. A reporter’s favorite tactic is to call the office and say: “I sent my story. Did you get it?” When the editors say it didn’t show up in the system, the reporter says: “Darn, let me try again.” And then the reporter continues writing, buying a few more minutes. (Fortunately a reporter was never told: “You didn’t get your paycheck? Darn, let me try to send it again.”)
Last call for spectator-attended events at Aloha Stadium was December 2020. But while the University of Hawaii was told it had to find another venue for its home football games, stadium officials kept hosting swap meets, concerts, fairs and holiday light shows in the parking lot.
Enough. Aloha Stadium should get five months to finish the obligations and promises, then shut down — parking lot and all — for events.
6,000
Maybe it was playing on four consecutive Sunday afternoons. Maybe it was the hectic end-of-the-year schedules. But SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center, according to the announced turnstile count, has been about one-third attended this men’s basketball season.
It could be a labeling problem. Many schools list tickets issued as the attendance. And it could be an accounting problem. UH’s claim is some people who enter through the downstairs pass gate might not be accurately counted. And shouldn’t concession workers, media and the DoorDash guy also be counted?
The thing is, whatever the turnstile calculation, it is bad optics when a team this talented and entertaining is playing in an arena that is less than half filled. Noel Coleman is a 1,000-plus-point career scorer; JoVon McClanahan has 75-foot range; 7-foot-1 Mor Seck is as efficient a blocker as Guilherme Voss; and Juan Munoz is an around-the-world shooting champ. They deserve a larger audience.
Under Eric Matthews, UH has created a fun and enthusiastic in-game atmosphere. But to boost attendance, a suggestion would be to give away a couple thousand tickets to youth teams, military, tourists, graveyard-shift workers …
By any means, UH needs at least 6,000 in house for the remaining home games. It was bittersweet that there were only 3,688 attending last Saturday’s game in which Jamie Smith, who was an innovative promoter for the ’Bows eight years ago, received his 2016 NCAA ring.
Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@staradvertiser.com.
