N o one ever told Hawaii's athletic directors that they had to be sports entrepreneurs to buy football helmets and bus kids to games. Raising funds
an unwanted priority
thrust on prep ADsHad they known they needed the promotional savvy of Pete Ueberroth and the fund-raising capabilities of Ted Kennedy's campaign organization, they might have thought twice about taking the jobs they now occupy.
But finding ways to make up for what the state does not provide has become so much a part of the ADs' jobs, they wonder what it was they were originally hired to do.
Their careers now revolve around concerts, huli huli chicken, candy bars, etc. . .
Kind of reminds me of the constant plight of parochial schools, of which I'm a product. Back in the 1950s at Sacred Heart School in Lowell, Mass., the good sisters would always have us out peddling Christmas stamps or cookies door to door to help keep the boiler running.
But, of course, parochial schools are not state-supported.
I think the public schools are state-supported.
Might want to check up on that.
Is that true, governor?
Well, OK then, why don't we start understanding that if you're going to authorize the start of new athletic programs at King Kekaulike on Maui and Kealakehe on the Big Island, you have to increase the overall budget for state athletic programs.
I've heard the Department of Education assert that there were no cuts in the athletic budget, and that's true. It's the same as it was when King Kekaulike opened a couple of years ago. Now Kealakehe is opening and there's not a cent more to go around.
What the ADs dread is that things are going to get worse.
Keaau High opens in 1999, and unless there's a substantial increase in funding for athletics, you might have seen the last of public high school varsity football out here.
If there is no increase in budget, football is definitely unaffordable.
After years of helplessly watching their budgets thin out, you can't blame the ADs for worrying that Armageddon is just around the corner in their quest to survive.
Waipahu AD Keith Morioka threw down his cards and stood up from the table last week, threatening to drop football this year if 20 percent of coaches' pay being withheld was not released.
It pained Morioka to suggest this.
But he wasn't kidding, and it made sense. He could have paid for eight other programs (16 when you count boys and girls teams) with the money he'd save by shutting down football.
Can you just imagine having no prep football in the fall?
This is a state with a marginal Division I college program. Without the high school game to fall back on, what else is there for the fans?
Give Morioka credit for having the guts to tell it like it is.
He caught flak but he also gained respect for his boldness.
The coaches' pay was released last weekend but it's not sufficient to save the jobs of a couple of hundred assistant coaches.
And there we go again putting the kids at further risk. Enough athletic trainers are finally being hired to cover each school, but inadequate coaching supervision is a new danger.
Furthermore, the governor is still holding on to 20 percent of the money due the ADs in equipment and supplies.
Without that, they'll have to fund-raise as much as $20,000 apiece -- maybe more.
Now, get real. Aren't these taxpayer-supported schools?
The Legislature will never get the message unless the ADs play in-your-face lobbying throughout the next session.
That, of course, will be time taken away from fund-raising, but they'll have to do it.