It’s 5 degrees outside and it just snowed. I’m sitting in class thinking why am I at American International College in Massachusetts? I fully regret not being at Miami, Florida State, University of Southern Cal, or most of all, I regret not going to the University of Hawaii. It gets me thinking, how come the state’s namesake university can’t be more competitive? Sure, they play in the Mountain West Conference. But so does Boise State. I’m not weatherman, but Boise is just sounds like a place covered in nothing but potatoes and snow.
Let’s look at Hawaii football first. They can’t keep their top guys home. As a coach, you HAVE to keep the 5 star, 4 star and in Hawaii’s case, especially the top 3 star guys in state. The top 2 players in the state are a 4 star outside linebacker and 3 star outside linebacker. Neither are staying. They’re taking their talents to USC and Washington, respectfully.
Quarterbacks, I get. Colt Brennan was filthy. He played at Hawaii for about 7 years. But they really missed this past season with National Championship SUPERSTAR, Tua Tagovailoa. 5 star stud. #1 ranked dual quarterback. #32 ranked player in the Nation. He led Alabama from a halftime deficit to beat Georgia.
Think that’s the worst of it? Not even Close. Somehow losing out on a stud like that isn’t the worst of their recent recruiting issues.
Marcus Mariota: Three star recruit to Heisman winner to Second pick in the NFL Draft. He won his first NFL playoff game this season. I mean, come on. You gotta be better at keeping guys home.
Let’s take a quick look at basketball. Personally, the only basketball game I’ve watched that took place in Hawaii was the Paradise Jam and that’s only because I love Bill Walton in a Lei. But in the extensive research I’ve done (I googled “Hawaii Basketball recruiting” twice, and looked at 247 sports), the state didn’t produce ANY big talent basketball recruits. Not shocking, but it kind of shows how important my next point is.
The kids these days aren’t spending more than a year or two at school. Yet they’re going to places like Kentucky, Duke, Syracuse, or anywhere in the Big 10. The weather SUCKS in every one of those places. RJ Barrett, come on. Go play in paradise before you become a millionaire. Thank me later.
A gorgeous sunset for a Hawaii football game
But who would I be if I didn’t mention everyone’s favorite coach of all time. Hey Rick Pitino, you free these days? Imagine the 7 seconds or less game plan on the beach. It’s your dream come true.
Getting the top guy in any sport to the State of Hawaii should be 100 times easier than getting them to attend Wisconsin, Michigan, Syracuse, Washington and any team that resides where the weather sucks.
For football, how can you not want to play in a place where the weather is literally picture perfect for 6 or so home games every year? Oh, you travel to Boise State, well good thing you can go to the beach the next day. It’s not that complicated. It can’t be that hard to get some kids from California or Oregon to travel to the islands. Get playing time and play in gorgeous weather surrounded by gorgeous girls.
Basketball-wise, it’s insane to me that more one and done type of players aren’t going to Hawaii. The only reason you’d go to Duke, Kentucky, or a blue blood school is because of National Championships. If you go somewhere else, you know the odds of winning aren’t very high. Also, it’s a fact that you can go almost anywhere as a top 15 recruit and still be drafted in the lottery. The top players in the country in high school are typically the ones being drafted. Sure, some people burst on the scene, but in today’s game the top guys get drafted either way.
You’re in paradise. Recruit like it. Play Like it. Win like it.