They fit the P6 type of school flagship strong academics.
They have a new stadium on the way and some historical success.
They already are football only in their football conference.
Seems like an easy add that hurts the MWC and might help get some others .

Because teleportation hasn't been invented yet.

Perhaps Guam could be their travel partner.

Its football only at most a trip every other year to paradise for a divisional foe . Less for the other division gives Hawaii more exposure .

(09-21-2021 08:08 PM)CoastalVANDAL Wrote:  They fit the P6 type of school flagship strong academics.
They have a new stadium on the way and some historical success.
They already are football only in their football conference.
Seems like an easy add that hurts the MWC and might help get some others .

Ok, why not the other flagships like Wyoming, New Mexico, Nevada etc? I respect Hawaii a lot. I get your point. I’m just saying there are other flagships who’ve been playing sports at the top level for over a century. Heck, Wyoming and New Mexico formed the original WAC 60 years ago with Arizona, Arizona St, BYU and Utah along with the MWC back in 1998.

I think the MWC would even be willing to pay the AAC $1m a year to take them.

(09-21-2021 08:08 PM)CoastalVANDAL Wrote:  They fit the P6 type of school flagship strong academics.
They have a new stadium on the way and some historical success.
They already are football only in their football conference.
Seems like an easy add that hurts the MWC and might help get some others .

Just like Idaho they were denied.

(09-21-2021 08:25 PM)CoastalVANDAL Wrote:  Its football only at most a trip every other year to paradise for a divisional foe . Less for the other division gives Hawaii more exposure .

That doesn't make it more affordable.

If Gonzaga could be paired with football-only Hawaii ... this Memphis fan would take that combo for the AAC.

(09-21-2021 08:19 PM)Schadenfreude Wrote:  Perhaps Guam could be their travel partner.

Don't forget Manila u and Vietnam state

(09-21-2021 09:14 PM)bill dazzle Wrote:  If Gonzaga could be paired with football-only Hawaii ... this Memphis fan would take that combo for the AAC.

You’d want a Hawaii/Gonzaga combo for the AAC Bill? Even without other MWC schools?
Lot of distance there…

Honolulu to Philadelphia is basically the same distance as Honolulu to Sydney, Australia :)

(09-21-2021 09:45 PM)billybobby777 Wrote:  

(09-21-2021 09:14 PM)bill dazzle Wrote:  If Gonzaga could be paired with football-only Hawaii ... this Memphis fan would take that combo for the AAC.

You’d want a Hawaii/Gonzaga combo for the AAC Bill? Even without other MWC schools?
Lot of distance there…

Yes, indeed, I would BB777. In fact, I would take Liberty as football only to get Gonzaga (Olympic sports) into the AAC. I'm a Memphis man and Tiger hoops are hugely important to we UM fans. It's almost like a religion. For the American to land Gonzaga would he monstrous for the league's basketball fortunes and, as such, extremely helpful to Memphis. To be blunt, I would rather have Gonzaga join the AAC over any other university/athletics program outside the P5 and Big East, with perhaps the exception of Army (football only).

Of course, this is an insane hypothetical, so it's all moot.

(09-21-2021 09:14 PM)bill dazzle Wrote:  If Gonzaga could be paired with football-only Hawaii ... this Memphis fan would take that combo for the AAC.

I would second the motion.

(What the bleep - you only live once!)

With a 9 game league schedule that’s 4 or 5 fellow conference members who can schedule a 13th game under the Hawai’i rule. Use those to set up a Week Zero slate of neutral site AAC vs. SEC and Big XII games plus on campus games with Army as well as select non conference G5 opponents (SDSU, Fresno St., Boise, FAU, FIU, Marshall, Louisiana, La. Tech, Coastal, App. State, UTSA, Georgia St., Charlotte, ODU).

Thanks but no thanks. (That's the polite version of my reaction.)

I know that realistically nobody other than the MWC wants us, but just as an academic discussion, there's no way UH would join a conference other than the MWC or the Pac-12 unless it was for power conference money. An extra million or three wouldn't be enough to induce us to play football games five or six time zones and 10 to 12 hours of travel away. Three to four time zones and 5 to 8 hours of travel in each direction is plenty already.

Moreover all of our historical rivals are in the MWC except BYU. We've played Fresno State 53 times, San Jose State 44 times, San Diego State 35 times and UNLV 30 times. We're exactly where we should be in the MWC west division and no desire to be anywhere else that doesn't pay $25 million or more per year.

Hawaii is a long flight from Denver and then a crappy redeye back; are there non stops to philly and Greenville and Tampa? I know football charters, but I’m trying to get a sense as to distance. Surely all four schools would need to charter something larger than the normal 737.

The redeyes back to the east coast would be better than what I get back to Denver in that you’d actually get a decent amount of sleep I guess. Those are massive time differences though.

(09-22-2021 12:21 AM)VCE Wrote:  Hawaii is a long flight from Denver and then a crappy redeye back; are there non stops to philly and Greenville and Tampa? I know football charters, but I’m trying to get a sense as to distance. Surely all four schools would need to charter something larger than the normal 737.

The redeyes back to the east coast would be better than what I get back to Denver in that you’d actually get a decent amount of sleep I guess. Those are massive time differences though.

Yep. In my experience a lot of folks don't truly comprehend how far Hawaii is from the rest of the country. Especially for people who live on the East Coast, they think you take that long flight to the West Coast, and then it's just a little puddle jump on over to the Islands. The reality is that you've only traveled half the way!

The best way to really "get" how isolated we are is to look at a globe. If you position it just right, with Hawaii in the center, you realize that 90% of what you're looking at is water. The Pacific Ocean is genuinely huge.

Every time I think about it I thank my lucky stars that somehow UH manages to have a D1 athletics program and be in a couple of really great D1 conferences. Yeah, we hate the travel subsidies, but nonetheless thank you MWC and thank you Big West.

(09-22-2021 12:29 AM)HawaiiMongoose Wrote:  

(09-22-2021 12:21 AM)VCE Wrote:  Hawaii is a long flight from Denver and then a crappy redeye back; are there non stops to philly and Greenville and Tampa? I know football charters, but I’m trying to get a sense as to distance. Surely all four schools would need to charter something larger than the normal 737.

The redeyes back to the east coast would be better than what I get back to Denver in that you’d actually get a decent amount of sleep I guess. Those are massive time differences though.

Yep. In my experience a lot of folks don't truly comprehend how far Hawaii is from the rest of the country. Especially for people who live on the East Coast, they think you take that long flight to the West Coast, and then it's just a little puddle jump on over to the Islands. The reality is that you've only traveled half the way!

The best way to really "get" how isolated we are is to look at a globe. If you position it just right, with Hawaii in the center, you realize that 90% of what you're looking at is water. The Pacific Ocean is genuinely huge.

Every time I think about it I thank my lucky stars that somehow UH manages to have a D1 athletics program and be in a couple of really great D1 conferences. Yeah, we hate the travel subsidies, but nonetheless thank you MWC and thank you Big West.

We try to go to the islands every couple years and had a several week trip planned for summer of ‘20. The resilience of HI has been impressive given the drop off in tourism and yes, I know it’s been tough.

(09-21-2021 08:34 PM)billybobby777 Wrote:  

(09-21-2021 08:08 PM)CoastalVANDAL Wrote:  They fit the P6 type of school flagship strong academics.
They have a new stadium on the way and some historical success.
They already are football only in their football conference.
Seems like an easy add that hurts the MWC and might help get some others .

Ok, why not the other flagships like Wyoming, New Mexico, Nevada etc? I respect Hawaii a lot. I get your point. I’m just saying there are other flagships who’ve been playing sports at the top level for over a century. Heck, Wyoming and New Mexico formed the original WAC 60 years ago with Arizona, Arizona St, BYU and Utah along with the MWC back in 1998.

Hawaii is worth traveling to. Who's ever said "I'd love to go to Wyoming!"