When the University of Hawaii hired Norm Chow as its football coach in December, a lot of people cheered the appointment but lamented that it hadn’t come 16 years earlier.

The perception being that Chow Time should have rightly begun in 1995, when he was a “finalist” for the job that went to Fred vonAppen.

You’ve got to believe Chow would have been an improvement on the 5-31 era that it begat.

Truth be told, however, the timing that has brought UH and Chow together for the opening of spring practice this afternoon in Manoa was probably best for all concerned, the intervening years making it a better match.

The 65-year-old, salt-and-pepper-haired Chow who commands his first UH drills today is a lot different from the one the Warriors could have hired earlier. And so, too, in many respects, is the task he inherits.

In 1995, Chow’s resume primarily consisted of a solid-but-stayed-put 19 years at Brigham Young. The portfolio these days is much more diverse and compelling: North Carolina State, USC, UCLA, Utah and the NFL. And, with two more national championships and two more Heisman Trophy winners, more well-rounded.

Chow can, as he did this past recruiting campaign, talk to prospective players about preparing them for the NFL, because he has not only sent bunches there, he’s been there now, too.

Then, there is the question of whether UH could have gotten Chow in 1995 had Hugh Yoshida even deigned to tender him an offer. At the time, you got the feeling he was more window shopping than anything, and skeptically so, given what he knew about UH.

For one thing, he bemoaned to acquaintances at the time, the shoestring recruiting budget, available money for assistant-coach salaries and other factors that would have made it a much riskier move for somebody with four kids.

Now, his kids are grown, he’s cashed BCS and NFL paychecks and there is a lot to lure him home, including grandchildren and a chance to shape an enduring home-front legacy.

These days he comes across as mellowed by the years, tempered by his experiences and better able to handle the institutional frustrations and austerity that can confront a UH head coach. When you’ve dealt with NFL play-me-or-trade-me ultimatums, superstar tantrums, a Pete Carroll ego and high-roller alums, you should be prepared for a lot of what Manoa can dish out.

Then, too, had Chow stepped aboard in 1995, he would have arrived with the tint of Boo-Y-U, still UH’s most-hated opponent. In those days he would tell stories of how his mother in Palolo would go to the hairdresser and get an earful about her son and BYU.

But the passage of time and string of pride-generating accomplishments now cast him more as an admired returning son than a begrudged recent rival. Indeed, the warmth of the reception he has received and the groundswell of support it has generated for UH would have been hard to imagine 16 years ago.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flews@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.