Informational Briefing: The Day After

I guess "informational briefing" turned out to be an oxymoron, as Dave Reardon writes:

Some of the hundred-plus people who were there will remember it only as 4 hours of their lives they'll never have back.

Nonetheless both sides saw value in the meeting:

"I think the whole discussion about facilities leaves a lot to be desired," Takai said. "On the one hand everybody questions why the facilities are in such deplorable conditions and they ask the Legislature why you don't step up. On the other hand one of our frustrations is we don't have the ability to step up if we don't know what is actually needed. I think that discussion on facilities will be continuing and hopefully we can get to the bottom of some of those concerns as well."

Ferd Lewis and Stephen Tsai summarize the status of the 2007 schedule.

Frazier has been the target of enduring public criticism for a 2007 football schedule that remains unfinished despite several self-imposed deadlines. He accepted "full responsibility" for the incomplete schedule and said he now is working "hand in hand" with the WAC and ESPN in attempts to land a 13th opponent for a game at Aloha Stadium. If no opponent is found, the 2007 schedule will feature two Division I-AA opponents, Northern Colorado and Charleston Southern.

Frazier said he was willing to pay up to $750,000 to secure a Division I-A opponent for either the vacant Oct. 20 or Nov. 3 dates. Two Pac-10 schools are among the prospective candidates.

Frazier stated that the drop-dead date for adding a 13th game is the end of this month. Otherwise, UH will only play 12 games this year. Hopefully a lot can happen in ten days.

The Advertiser's Leila Wai has about 10 minutes of Herman Frazier video excerpts, mostly about the schedule.

Ferd Lewis laments that UH didn't really ask for help in regard to the facilities.

There were revelations of mold that has largely shut down the mauka training room and how bedraggled Cooke Field is "a lawsuit waiting to happen."

Lawmakers made clear a willingness to listen and to help. Time and again Takai and others asked, "How do we help you?" As Rep. Jerry Chang, chairman of the House Higher Education Committee, put it, "we're here because we care."

Here, in one room were two of the most powerful committees publicly reaching out, if not beseeching UH, to make a wish with the state watching. It was tantamount to a fat pitch down the middle with the base loaded. Somebody, anybody, should have stepped up and hit it out of the park. Instead, nobody even bothered to take a whack at it.

Hopefully all this is being discussed in their private conversations.

Well, a lot of info came from these meetings. Read the articles for the nitty gritty regarding budgets, travel, etc. And hopefully for the UH athletic department, a lot of good will come from this.