A coach's show is more than an ego trip. It's a way universities compensate their coaches in such high-profiled sports as football, basketball and, here, women's volleyball. UHcoaches want
to see the moneyIt's standard practice at most colleges and the University of Hawaii is no exception. That is, until this year.
There won't be a Fred vonAppen Show during the football season, a Riley Wallace Show during basketball and the Dave Shoji Show when the Rainbow Wahine take the court.
Instead, vonAppen, Wallace and Shoji, among other Rainbow coaches, will be the featured guests on a weekly 30-minute television show devoted to Rainbow sports in general under the terms of the new $6-million, five-year contract at UH signed with KHNL and its sister station, KFVE.
"To say the coaches shows have been canceled is crock," said KHNL general manager John Fink. As far as he's concerned, vonAppen & Co. are expected to continue to provide insightful commentary on their respective sports on the station's weekly highlight shows.
The only difference is a format change, according to Fink, who first outlined it to the Star-Bulletin's Paul Arnett in April.
"It's like Entertainment Tonight. You don't want to see Harrison Ford for all 30 minutes," he said. In other words, no vonAppen all 30 minutes either.
"In the fall, one can expect a lot of coverage on football. It will be the primary focus. But the weekly highlight show will deal with other Rainbow sports, broadening the appeal."
FINK likes the flexibility of the new format. Instead of focusing on just one sport, he can now highlight a deserving Rainbow golfer or swimmer as well.
"I think this is win, win, win," Fink said.
Well, maybe.
The concern right now is how some coaches, especially vonAppen, who previously got $40,000, will be compensated now that he won't have his own show.
"Sure, I'm concerned. It diminishes my income," said vonAppen.
"But right now, I'm more preoccupied with a lot of things more important than a coach's show. I'm at the point where I'm totally consumed on the coming football season."
VonAppen, however, has been assured by athletic director Hugh Yoshida that the university will make up for any loss of revenue from not having his own television show.
The coaches will continue to have the perks they've had, according to Yoshida. "If you ask the coaches to be on the show, they've got to be compensated," he said.
"We're going to honor a commitment that we made to all of our coaches. We feel a moral obligation to do that."
The rub, though, is where the money will come from.
Previously, the extra income came on a handshake between the station and the athletic director. But when KHNL upped the ante from $429,000 to $1.2 million a year, the hand-shaking was over.
"The way the contract is structured, all the money now comes to the university," Yoshida said. So now it's up to the school to figure out a way to make up the coaches' compensation.
"We're moving in different ways to get it done," Yoshida said. "You have to. Otherwise, we couldn't begin to compete in getting qualified coaches."
There is no provision in the TV contract that says a coach can't solicit another station for a show.
That's a possibility that can be explored down the road, according to Yoshida.
Fink said he had no problem with that as long as the coaches cooperate on his station's weekly highlight show. But he added a caveat: such a competing show can't have pertinent information his station doesn't.