Ben Jay: ‘If I knew more, I may not have taken it’

[808Hawaii]

I've said it before, it doesn't matter who the AD is. The problem at UH will always be there cause the AD has no power when it comes to major decisions in the athletic department. All the power is with the regents, president, donors and government. If you get a locally connected AD, then the problem will still exist cause the powers-that-be will have their "guy" to push around. And if you get a strong minded outsider AD, yep, the problem is still there.

I sound like a cynic, but kinda hard not to be after what's transpired at UH in the last decade.

That's why we need a guy like Mufi as the AD. We need someone with a backbone, strong enough to stand up against upper campus. He's been successful in fund raising in the community. He can do it for UH.


Oooh, I think I'm starting to gain a following on this one.

[808Hawaii]

Jim Donovan didn't fail. He just took the blame for the Stevie Wonder fiasco.

Pretty much. some people took issue with who got hired to be football coach, but other than that there wasn't the negative public sentiment for him like there was/is for Ben Jay.

Chow wasn't Donovan's choice.

[CoconutKid]

With regard to the difficulty of turning the athletic program around in Hawaii, there was not a single comment he said that wasn't true.

Yes, but is any of that news to anyone? My issue is that these boys from Ohio automatically equate "difficult" and "different", almost as if to say that if it can't be done like it's done at Ohio State, then it can't be done at all. I really think that's where the failure lies and that's why I hope they don't go with another search firm to find the next AD.
"For all the whining and complaining, none of this noise was as loud as it is now when the football team was winning and fun to watch. If the team was 8-5 and playing in the Hawaii Bowl, we aren't even having this conversation. People don't think about that..."

Smith, of Ohio State, said,
""I just know that if (Hawaii) is not the toughest job in college sports it is awfully close."
"Hawaii has got some problems, so to expect that you are going to hire somebody and they are going to walk in and all of a sudden your $3 million deficit is going to go away when, frankly, you have some systemic problems in your model, well, that's just not going to happen.
"When you have the stadium issues that you have, when you have the travel costs that you have and you want to be able to compete, there is a reality to those issues," Smith said. "When I look at the job, frankly, it is not just the AD. They have to understand that, hey, wait a minute, we need to rethink this model on how we fund Hawaii."

What IS news to me is you're interpretation of his comments. There is absolutely NOTHING in his statements that show any belief that "if it can't be done like it's done at Ohio State, then it can't be done at all.". Nothing. If anything, his comments reveal his belief that some of the problem are unique to Hawaii. Some of the issues he brings up are issues Dave Reardon and Ferd Lewis ALWAYS bring up. The only difference, an individual from Ohio said it. Not a local writer.

[poidog]

Jim Donovan didn't fail. He just took the blame for the Stevie Wonder fiasco.

Pretty much. some people took issue with who got hired to be football coach, but other than that there wasn't the negative public sentiment for him like there was/is for Ben Jay.

Chow wasn't Donovan's choice.

I didn't say he was. Some people (the BOR, mostly) took issue with Donovan's choice of Dirk Koetter. Other people took issue with Rich Miano not getting a chance to interview for the job. People just took issue with the coaching hire in general because everyone has their own agenda. My point was that other than that, there wasn't too much criticism of Jim Donovan and very few people were demanding that he be replaced until the Wonder Blunder. But with Ben Jay? He didn't even make it out of his first year without people questioning whether or not he was qualified for the job.

[madeinhawaii]

Ben Jay is out immediately..

http://hawaiiwarriorworld.com/category/warrior-beat/

[CoconutKid]

Ben Jay is out immediately..

http://hawaiiwarriorworld.com/category/warrior-beat/

Where in the article does it say this?!?!!

[RedZone]

To Mr Jay,

I wish you knew more too. Oh well too late.

[Irse]

Ben Jay is out immediately..

http://hawaiiwarriorworld.com/category/warrior-beat/

Where in the article does it say this?!?!!

It doesn't. Just one man's opinion.

[madeinhawaii]

Ben Jay is out immediately..

http://hawaiiwarriorworld.com/category/warrior-beat/

Where in the article does it say this?!?!!

It doesn't. Just one man's opinion.

Sure sounded like it when Tsai said.. "But he can’t be the UH AD. Not today. Not for the next six months. Not ever again. "

[WA Warrior]

Spill the beans Ben, just tell it like it is, that's the only way Hawai`i will ever improve. TO HEAR THE TRUTH!

Hawai`i will either fold under the pressure or finally get some leaders in the right position. Do the islands a favor and spill the truth.

[TheDuke]

Ben Jay only reinforced what JJ dealt with, why he left and why Rocky Freites was smart enough to not apply for the job. Whoever took it would have failed because the support just isn't there. Unless the budget was increased significantly to deal with additional travel costs, recruiting costs and doubling the athlectic/activities fees it is a no win situation.

[season ticket holder]

Spill the beans Ben, just tell it like it is, that's the only way Hawai`i will ever improve. TO HEAR THE TRUTH!

Hawai`i will either fold under the pressure or finally get some leaders in the right position. Do the islands a favor and spill the truth.

Sadly they don't want to hear it, he told it like it is about the financial struggles and possible future outcome and people wanted him fired on the spot.

[WA Warrior]

Spill the beans Ben, just tell it like it is, that's the only way Hawai`i will ever improve. TO HEAR THE TRUTH!

Hawai`i will either fold under the pressure or finally get some leaders in the right position. Do the islands a favor and spill the truth.

Sadly they don't want to hear it, he told it like it is about the financial struggles and possible future outcome and people wanted him fired on the spot.

What I'm talking about is letting the national public hear about it and continue to hear about it. Let UH get embarrassed nationally, attach people's names both administrators and those outside the university making it difficult (presumably for their own personal gain), to the decades long debacle. If not it will be nothing but this same ole crap. Hold them to the fire and it will change.

Same ole, same ole, will lead to nothing but the same ole, same ole. For example: current UH admin and tired old Chow-ism.

[poidog]

Spill the beans Ben, just tell it like it is, that's the only way Hawai`i will ever improve. TO HEAR THE TRUTH!

Hawai`i will either fold under the pressure or finally get some leaders in the right position. Do the islands a favor and spill the truth.

Sadly they don't want to hear it, he told it like it is about the financial struggles and possible future outcome and people wanted him fired on the spot.

He didn't "tell it like it is". c'mon, man. He used the worst-case scenario as an attempt to scare people into acting because he lacked the talent and ability to inspire them to do so. Was it news to anyone here in Hawaii that the program is "in the red"? NO. I guarantee you that Blangiardi or Amemiya are not going to deliver that kind of message to try and cause a panic, and if they did, they would phrase it in a way where headlines like "Hawaii Considering Cancelling Football?" aren't showing up on ESPN.com and SBNation.

The bottom line is he came in with a "Plan A" (solicit big donors) and when that plan didn't work, he didn't have a plan B so he tried to scare and guilt people into action. And when one of his plans did work, like getting control of the Rainbowtique and rebranding the program around the "Warrior" name, he didn't have the charisma to get the public to buy into his plan, nor did he have the juice to stand up to whoever pulls his strings so he did a total 180 and changed the nickname back to Rainbows. And we are supposed to give money to this guy? Really? If I were a big donor, I would look at the Ben Jay-run department as a bad investment. I would say "show me you are serious about SUCCESS and do something about your outmatched football coach and your shady, rule-bending basketball coach, and then we'll talk dollars..."

He tried to re-sign Gib Arnold, man. How are we supposed to trust the guy?

[poidog]

With regard to the difficulty of turning the athletic program around in Hawaii, there was not a single comment he said that wasn't true.

Yes, but is any of that news to anyone? My issue is that these boys from Ohio automatically equate "difficult" and "different", almost as if to say that if it can't be done like it's done at Ohio State, then it can't be done at all. I really think that's where the failure lies and that's why I hope they don't go with another search firm to find the next AD.
"For all the whining and complaining, none of this noise was as loud as it is now when the football team was winning and fun to watch. If the team was 8-5 and playing in the Hawaii Bowl, we aren't even having this conversation. People don't think about that..."

Smith, of Ohio State, said,
""I just know that if (Hawaii) is not the toughest job in college sports it is awfully close."
"Hawaii has got some problems, so to expect that you are going to hire somebody and they are going to walk in and all of a sudden your $3 million deficit is going to go away when, frankly, you have some systemic problems in your model, well, that's just not going to happen.
"When you have the stadium issues that you have, when you have the travel costs that you have and you want to be able to compete, there is a reality to those issues," Smith said. "When I look at the job, frankly, it is not just the AD. They have to understand that, hey, wait a minute, we need to rethink this model on how we fund Hawaii."

What IS news to me is you're interpretation of his comments. There is absolutely NOTHING in his statements that show any belief that "if it can't be done like it's done at Ohio State, then it can't be done at all.". Nothing. If anything, his comments reveal his belief that some of the problem are unique to Hawaii. Some of the issues he brings up are issues Dave Reardon and Ferd Lewis ALWAYS bring up. The only difference, an individual from Ohio said it. Not a local writer.

I love how you omit the "almost" from my words, but whatever. My point was that this Ohio guy is pretty much blaming "us" for Ben Jay's failure. It's not Ben Jay's fault - it's the stadium's fault or it's the Hawaii government's fault. In Ohio State, this wouldn't happen and Ben Jay would be a hero. If only those people in Hawaii were smart like us Ohio people, Ben Jay wouldn't be the scapegoat for their problems. This would all be great food for thought IF BEN JAY ACTUALLY WAS BEING FIRED FOR UHAD'S FINANCIAL PROBLEMS - but that's NOT Ben Jay's "failure" and it's not why he's leaving! They make like he wasn't gonna extend the contract of a basketball coach in the middle of Tier-1 NCAA violations, but he was! Why aren't the Ohio State folks talking about that? and would anyone in the OSUAD give Norm Chow a 4th year? HELL NO!!! Why don't they talk about that? The only thing the $3 million dollar deficit has to do with Jay's leaving is that he decided that he's not the right person to try to fix it. That is the core of the issue, but people want to change the narrative and make Ben Jay a martyr and it's ridiculous.