Quotes about HF's meeting with the Legislature

After his grilling by Rep. Chang and Rep. Takai, HF said:
"anytime I can explain what we do, it is time well spent, no question in my mind. I think they now have a better understanding about me." (HA)

"I think they (legislators) now have a different understanding about me. I think they understand I don't shoot from the hip. As they asked us questions, I knew the answers." (HA)

"We were able to squash some rumors out there pertaining to unnecessary travel. I think we squashed some rumors about a whole lot of things about how I feel about our program, what I do to our program. I think the comments you heard from some of our coaches tell you exactly where we fit." (HSB)


About the public unhappiness with HF and the Athletic Department, Takai said:
"(UH athletics has) got an image problem." (HSB)

"I think a meeting like this is generally very productive because it provides the public with the opportunity to find out many of the questions people have been wanting to ask for quite a while. From that standpoint I think it's very productive." (HSB)


About the purpose of the briefing and how things need to be followed up, Takai said:
"I think we started the discussion on questions that I've had. I think there's more that still needs to come from the university as to whether I'm satisfied." (HSB)


Asked if he thinks he will have a better relationship with lawmakers after the briefing, HF said:
"We didn't have a bad one with them before. We were just never afforded the opportunity to sit down and talk with them. That's why you kind of wish that you have a cordial nice meeting instead of a public debate as to what it is that you're supposed to do for your program." (HSB)

HA Note: "There were revelations of mold that has largely shut down the mauka training room and how bedraggled Cooke Field is "a lawsuit waiting to happen."

Lawmakers made clear a willingness to listen and to help. Time and again Takai and others asked, "How do we help you?" As Rep. Jerry Chang, chairman of the House Higher Education Committee, put it, "we're here because we care."

Here, in one room were two of the most powerful committees publicly reaching out, if not beseeching UH, to make a wish with the state watching. It was tantamount to a fat pitch down the middle with the base loaded. Somebody, anybody, should have stepped up and hit it out of the park. Instead, nobody even bothered to take a whack at it.

Maybe, in what was at times a sweltering, crammed to overflowing, meeting room, the UH delegation was simply exhausted. Perhaps, with all their focus devoted to fending off Takai's thrusts, they didn't appreciate the opening — or were too defiant to grasp it."


Supporting HF, WAC head Karl Benson said:
"People on the mainland look at him as efficient, effective and organized." (HSB)


Revealing that the Athletic Department still owes $2.3 mil, Takai said:
"They paid off the $1 million (loan) but they still have another $2 million to go." (HA)

HA Note: "After lawmakers asked UH to tell them what the purse-controlling legislature could do for the state's only Division I-A athletic program, none of the assembled officials stood up and asked for a thing, much less unfurled a wish list."


About how her office hasn't demanded the $2 mil debt to be repaid, Chancellor Denise Konan said:
"We haven't constrained their growth by making them pay back in a rapid, dramatic fashion." (HA)


About the incomplete schedule, HF said that he accepted:
"full responsibility"(HA)

HA Note: "he now is working "hand in hand" with the WAC and ESPN in attempts to land a 13th opponent for a game at Aloha Stadium." (HA)


About the question of names of the potential donors of above $1 mil or more, Konan said:
"I really don't think this is appropriate." (HSB)


Questioning HF's ability to fundraise, one of the most important functions of an AD, Takai said:
"My line of questioning at the very end is probably the most important. As we move forward, how can Mr. Frazier assure us and the public of his ability to fundraise? I'm still unclear as to that." (HSB)


About not wanting to discuss the names of potential donors, HF said:
"You can't do that. There's no way you give that out. There's no athletic director in America that's going to give out the names of who your key donors are, especially ones who you have lined up." (HSB)


About how his late hiring didn't hurt his recruiting, Bob Nash said:
"We've not been negatively impacted." (HSB)


About the $2.3 mil debt that the Athletic Department has, Takai said:
"I can tell you I'm deeply concerned about financial statements. I think the fact that I was able to point out some things that are a little bit troubling about the financial situation is important." (HSB)

Note: This does make it seem kind of silly how HF publicly made a big deal about paying off the $1 mil loan while the Athletic Department was sitting on this $2.3 mil debt. The public had no way of knowing about the other loan and I think that most (like me) assumed that UH sports was out of debt then.


About their $2.3 mil debt, HF said:
"How many times have we talked about that? The audit came out in January. If he had any questions about that, he should have asked me in January. The numbers are there. We didn't fake anything there. We always said we were in the black for the one year. That other money (the previous deficit) didn't disappear. That's why we were kind of baffled with that question. That's a public document that's been out six months." (HSB)


About the poor state of the facilities, Takai said:
"I think the whole discussion about facilities leaves a lot to be desired. On the one hand everybody questions why the facilities are in such deplorable conditions and they ask the Legislature why you don't step up. On the other hand one of our frustrations is we don't have the ability to step up if we don't know what is actually needed. I think that discussion on facilities will be continuing and hopefully we can get to the bottom of some of those concerns as well." (HSB)

HSB Note: "The subject of UH's autonomy factored in when legislative funding for facility repairs was addressed. Takai asked for more information about what lower campus needs to maintain and improve facilities such as Cooke Field, which remains without turf. Konan countered that there are other projects on upper campus that are of higher priority, and it is not the Legislature's domain to determine priorities at UH.

Takai said the Legislature can't help the UH athletic department if it isn't asked. Frazier said he didn't want to "double-ask" since such requests are supposed to come from upper campus."


HA Note: "The athletic department's mauka athletic-training room has restrictive availability because of a "mold issue," associate athletic director Carl Clapp reported. Clapp said water piping inside the room must be moved outside of the building."


HA Note: "A wing on the third floor of the athletic complex remains unfinished because of a lack of money. The amount appropriated by the Legislature was only enough to build a shell. UH is seeking private donations to pay for the offices."


HA Note: "Despite promises to negotiate with coaches two years in advance of their contract-expiration dates, Frazier acknowledged two head coaches are working without contracts, and football coach June Jones and women's volleyball coach Dave Shoji are approaching the final year of their contracts. Frazier said he and his associates have "started our drafts" on contract proposals to Jones and Shoji."


HA Note: "Frazier revealed that the drop-dead date for UH to add a 13th game to its 2007 football schedule is the end of this month. He also vowed to complete the 2008 schedule by the end of the summer."