Riley Wallace, Blog Parties, Combines

First of all, UH basketball coach Riley Wallace just announced that he'll be stepping down at the end of this season.

"There's no one to blame for this day," Wallace said. "It's time to move on ... I'm not being fired by any means. I'm stepping down as head coach of the University of Hawai'i."

Wallace said he met with the current Hawai'i players after Thursday's 66-53 victory over Tennessee-Martin.

"I met last night with my team and said we're not playing this season for Riley Wallace," he said. "We're playing for this team."

It'll be sad to see him go. Sounds like he'll end up coaching somewhere else. Let's hope Bob Nash will take over.

Moving back to football news, through Stephen Tsai's Warrior Beat, the participants of which had a blog party last night that I wish I could've been at, as I read Stephen Tsai, Leila Wai, Robert Kekaula, Catherine Toth, Bulla, Da Punchbowl Kid, Gigi, Al and others had lots of food and fun at, Tsai writes that quite a few Warriors have been invited to the 2007 National Football League Scouting Combine, the latest of which is Leonard Peters. Also invited are Ikaika Alama-Francis, Samson Satele and Dane Uperesa, with Nate Ilaoa, Melila Purcell and maybe Tala Esera expected to receive invitations as well. Congratulations to all!

And finally, lots of people watched the Hawaii Bowl on ESPN!

The Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl gave the University of Hawai'i football its largest television audience ever, more than 2.33 million households for its Christmas Eve victory over Arizona State.

The audience eclipsed the previous high of 2.28 million homes that saw UH beat Illinois in the 1992 Holiday Bowl, also on ESPN.

"We're absolutely excited ... ecstatic!" said Pete Derzis, vice president of ESPN Regional Television, which owns and operates the Hawai'i Bowl.

"The ratings just reinforce how the nation looks forward to watching the Hawai'i Bowl in prime time. It was a great platform for the two schools and, certainly, the UH program, Colt Brennan and his teammates," Derzis said.

I think UH will be on national TV a lot next year. Actually, I hope so since I'll probably be on the mainland a lot, again. Sadness!