USA Today Article, Konrath, Te'o

David Leon Moore of USA Today has an article about the UH athletic department's facilities. Some interesting excerpts:

Jones, though excited about his new rebuilding project at SMU, admits he never would have looked for another job if the Hawaii administration had agreed to his requests for upgrades in the program. When Hawaii officials countered SMU's offer, proposing to raise his salary to $1.7 million and promising upgrades in the program, Jones saw it as too little, too late.

"It was almost like it was just talk," Jones says. "I didn't believe that it would happen."

Jones' departure did spur action, however. Donovan says the school is seeking bids for the artificial turf field and that it should be completed by late October.

Another longtime annoyance of Jones will take longer to remedy. Down the hall from his former office is a wing of unfinished office rooms — shells, with bare walls and floors — where the football program was supposed to move. They sat like that for four years, with no money to finish the project.

Donovan says he is moving on that, too. He thinks the project will be completed in a year or so. The needs are everywhere, though. The locker room and weight room need upgrades. The archaic video equipment needs to be replaced.

Stephen Tsai writes that linebacker Kevin Konrath is looking to transfer out of UH.

Konrath said he wishes to transfer, although he has not decided on a destination.
“It’s a lot of things,” said Konrath, who redshirted as a freshman last season. “I don’t want to finger-point things.”

Konrath, who was raised in Chicago, said he enjoyed his time at UH. He said he also wants to leave on a good note.
Konrath said he will take a summer-school class to ensure that he has at least a 2.6 cumulative grade-point average. That is the minimum GPA Konrath needs to exit without UH incurring an APR penalty.
“I want to leave the program in good standing,” Konrath said. “I want them to be able to use my scholarship.”

That's cool of him. Best of luck to Kevin.

And Ferd Lewis writes about how the attention being paid to Punahou's Manti Te'o is shining a light on a lot of other Hawaii high school football players.

The long line of coaches and recruiting gurus who have come here to check out Te'o is a bonanza for more than the tourist industry; it also is opening up opportunities for other players.

Consider that four of the top 10 prospects on the www.Scout.com Northwest list are from Hawai'i. More than the states of Washington and Oregon — combined. Thirteen of the top 40 and 30 of the top 100 are from Hawai'i. Unprecedented numbers, really.

Here's a link to the 2009 Northwest "Hot 100".