Is here anyone here with experience with the U of H? If I'm not wrong, they can offer some travel money to players with certain limitations. The other problem with recruiting is that this would be a school that would almost, by necessity, have to be considered without a physical visit. Any personal knowledge on the program would be helpful. Thanks in advance.
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Not direct at all but I would say:
IMO any kid who gets serious interest from any Big West school is very fortunate. Lots of great schools and great teams. I saw HI in a game a couple of years ago and they played very well.
I know you're in CO and it's no doubt more challenging but I've flown to HI many times from CA and always managed to find reasonable flights. For us at least, having a kid in HI would be no more difficult than having kid on the east coast.
Take it for the third-hand info it is, but we know one kid who turned down an offer from HI partially because during his visit he found the practices to be too loose. But he was coming from a program that has been described as militaristic bordering on tyrannical.
Oh, and BTW Oahu is beautiful!
I spent quite a bit of time in Hawaii when I was in the Navy. It would definitely be a pretty neat experience for a kid who could break away from home. My wife is the main objector. First, she has an extreme dislike of flying and sees herself traveling to most of his games if he were closer (say, Big 12). However, it looks like Hawaii has rather long home stands and it would be interesting to take one long trip there every season. There is also the question, though, of his being able to come home very often for holidays, etc.
sent you a PM
-DD
Just looked the HI schedule and looks like they do a good job of consolidating travel which must help a lot with not disrupting academics. We were looking hard at a school from the WAC (not the school in your state) and their travel schedule looked much more difficult than Hawaii's. Sounds like a tough situation to find balance in your family. I hope your son finds an opportunity that makes everyone tolerably happy.
Also, one hang up is that I don't see taking an unofficial visit and I don't see him waiting long enough to make a choice that would put him into a time frame for an official visit. So, if that were his choice it would have to be made without actually visiting the campus.
So are you saying, hypothetically of course, that if the coach made an offer and it was financially a workable offer and otherwise everything seemed good, you wouldn't send him out to take a look to be sure? Seems like that would be a good investment of time and money.
If I was 18 again and got to play D1 college ball 10 minutes up the hill from Waikiki beach?
Sign me up! lol
Smokeminside can probably add a lot since he lives there.
I was stationed there and my wife worked private sector while we were there. I will caution this to any mainlander considering going, particularly to play a sport. There would be a significant culture challenge to overcome. The locals are very tight. Mainlanders are outsiders. I would suspect that this would be pretty difficult for a freshman to face, on top of being away from home for the first, time, so far that a weekend trip home or weekend visit from mom and dad would be cost and time prohibitive. My wife faced a good deal of "attitude" and outright rudeness on a daily basis as a hoale there. I've been told that it's very difficult for that same thing to be overcome by athletes attending UH.
While we were there, I played in a men's baseball league and caught a good bit of flack from the locals. My wife and I attended probably half of the UH baseball games each season. We loved the atmosphere and really enjoyed following the team. I will say, the fans love the local boys. I would highly recommend that you make a visit prior to commitment and make sure that you look closely at the cultural side of the equation.
You raise a good point about the resistance to haoles, but looks like the baseball roster is 2/3 or so mainlanders and most of the coaches are haloes so that's got to mitigate that quite a bit.
Having lived there for 10+ years (and dating & marrying a local girl), I can concur that 'some' resistance to haole's can and does exist. However, it's not as prevalent as some might lead you to believe. If you treat the local's poorly, you will be treated poorly yourself (not insinuating that any of the above posters did). This remains true no matter where you go! "Hawaiian's" for the large part are very nice, friendly and accommodating folks that are more than happy to show you the 'Aloha Spirit' that exists in the Islands (in my personal experience).
Perhaps the resident Kama'aina-Smokeninside can weigh in with his experiences?
ps. Root, I hear all the home games are streamed live on the net (so all the mom's & dad's on the mainland don't miss out). Shoot me a call/text when you get to town if you'd like to hook up for a beer, there's a Mexican restaurant/bar on the other side of the outfield fence on field 4-Padres.
JCG posted:So are you saying, hypothetically of course, that if the coach made an offer and it was financially a workable offer and otherwise everything seemed good, you wouldn't send him out to take a look to be sure? Seems like that would be a good investment of time and money.
I guess I was saying that. However, if he ever decided that this was the #1 option, I'd probably find a way to make a visit.
Root, I'm thinking that Dalton will have good opportunities stateside. The continued travel to the mainland for games would be grueling, let alone getting back to Denver, and then getting home. Brutal thought.... I know you're investigating... but unless you've a condo in Hawaii and Dalton is your only child....
Smoke is at the higher end of academic schools but he most certainly has an opinion.
IMO get the college opportunities back stateside...
David
We are very familiar with the U of Hawaii. My son played baseball at UH 1992 and 1992 after attending Santa Rosa JC. The UH team was ranked 6th in the Nation in 1992.
On the 10 day road trips, a tutor provided daily class and study hall. The stadium seat 4,000 and was 100% sold out. Games were on TV [road and away].
The Stadium is pitcher friendly and astro turf.
Japan Colleges play every year and the Easter tournament draws Major Colleges and many pro scouts. A great place to learn International Business.
Bob
HOWZIT?!
Sorry it's taken so long to weigh in. Busy day at work. What follows is probably more than you want to know, but since you asked!
The travel thing is just the way it is. I wish it were easier to get to the mainland and back, but I married a local girl, too, and she ain't budging. GREAT place for kids: fishing, surfing, hiking, paddling, swimming....all year round and only ten minutes away. Had a few haole/local moments in the past twenty years, but avoidable if you're paying attention and don't go all arrogant on anyone.
Big West Conference is very competitive as you may know. UH has held its own the last two seasons going .500 in conference but has struggled outside of conference against often excellent competition: PAC 12, Big !2, etc. That outside conference competition usually visits Hawaii from mid-February to early April, so there are a ton of home games during the first six weeks of the season. They used to be on TV every night but that's been cut back so now only about half the home games are telecast. Very good play by play crew, though I think the broadcast guys are retiring and there will be new people this coming spring. Mainland games are always on the radio, usually using mainland broadcasters. Conference play begins in early April and runs to early to mid May. As mentioned above there is usually a ten day road trip in April where UH plays two conference foes on the weekends sandwiching a non conference game mid-week. This year, for some reason I can't fathom, UH travels to Minnesota in early March to play in a tournament there. I'm assuming it's indoors, but still.
Coach Trapasso has been here since 2002, and the team is about .500 overall during his tenure. He replaced Les Murakami, a local legend who the stadium is named after, and who took the team to a college world series final (in the 80s?).
Very good local support for the team, though there are always grumblings from some locals about why so few players from Hawaii are on the roster. His recruiting in the islands is relatively low key: from the class of 2017, players are going to USF, Kentucky, Oregon (3x), Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Cal State Northridge. Not sure what it means that kids are going to other teams in the conference. One or two kids are picking Hawaii.
The stadium is viewer friendly with stadium seating for about 4k with above 3K crowds for most games. It is a pitcher friendly park, but the fences were moved in about 10-15 feet a few years ago. A few more dingers, but still pitcher friendly. The turf is domo turf with the pitchers mound and home plate the only dirt areas. Tix are cheap, and so is the food, so great for families.
The University itself, for someone used to a residential campus, is more like a commuter school However, several dorms overlook the stadium. Lots of night games. Excellent int'l business as Consultant pointed out. Excellent natural sciences, geology, oceanography programs as you might imagine.
The Spring Break Tournament (aka the Easter Tournament) has, unfortunately, not been played for a few years. When it was played, it was great. Lots of great teams visited and the quality of play was very high.
UH athletics are the biggest game in town. When the teams go well, it's palpable.
It's a lot of local boys' dreams to play for UH.
One thing to note: if you're a west coast kid at UH at least 12 games a year in California. Ez to get to, compared to the islands.
smokeminside posted:HOWZIT?!
Sorry it's taken so long to weigh in. Busy day at work. What follows is probably more than you want to know, but since you asked!
The travel thing is just the way it is. I wish it were easier to get to the mainland and back, but I married a local girl, too, and she ain't budging. GREAT place for kids: fishing, surfing, hiking, paddling, swimming....all year round and only ten minutes away. Had a few haole/local moments in the past twenty years, but avoidable if you're paying attention and don't go all arrogant on anyone.
Big West Conference is very competitive as you may know. UH has held its own the last two seasons going .500 in conference but has struggled outside of conference against often excellent competition: PAC 12, Big !2, etc. That outside conference competition usually visits Hawaii from mid-February to early April, so there are a ton of home games during the first six weeks of the season. They used to be on TV every night but that's been cut back so now only about half the home games are telecast. Very good play by play crew, though I think the broadcast guys are retiring and there will be new people this coming spring. Mainland games are always on the radio, usually using mainland broadcasters. Conference play begins in early April and runs to early to mid May. As mentioned above there is usually a ten day road trip in April where UH plays two conference foes on the weekends sandwiching a non conference game mid-week. This year, for some reason I can't fathom, UH travels to Minnesota in early March to play in a tournament there. I'm assuming it's indoors, but still.
Coach Trapasso has been here since 2002, and the team is about .500 overall during his tenure. He replaced Les Murakami, a local legend who the stadium is named after, and who took the team to a college world series final (in the 80s?).
Very good local support for the team, though there are always grumblings from some locals about why so few players from Hawaii are on the roster. His recruiting in the islands is relatively low key: from the class of 2017, players are going to USF, Kentucky, Oregon (3x), Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Cal State Northridge. Not sure what it means that kids are going to other teams in the conference. One or two kids are picking Hawaii.
The stadium is viewer friendly with stadium seating for about 4k with above 3K crowds for most games. It is a pitcher friendly park, but the fences were moved in about 10-15 feet a few years ago. A few more dingers, but still pitcher friendly. The turf is domo turf with the pitchers mound and home plate the only dirt areas. Tix are cheap, and so is the food, so great for families.
The University itself, for someone used to a residential campus, is more like a commuter school However, several dorms overlook the stadium. Lots of night games. Excellent int'l business as Consultant pointed out. Excellent natural sciences, geology, oceanography programs as you might imagine.
The Spring Break Tournament (aka the Easter Tournament) has, unfortunately, not been played for a few years. When it was played, it was great. Lots of great teams visited and the quality of play was very high.
UH athletics are the biggest game in town. When the teams go well, it's palpable.
It's a lot of local boys' dreams to play for UH.
Well stated synopsis of the program. We took our family there for Spring break in 2014 and caught a game. We know a kid who plays on the team (mainlanders from a California). The things he told us about the program were:
1) They favor the local boys because the audience for tickets are the General Honolulu population - they want to see their boys play.
2) Roadtrips were grueling, not everyone gets a bed on the trip. They share rooms (2-3 men to a room) and they let the starters have the beds. They rest sleep on the floor.
3) He had nothing bad to say about the level of educational quality. From my observation though, the campus is not terribly well maintained and I would agree it feels like a commuter campus or Juco. The ballpark is very nice...view of Diamondhead in the outfield!
Forgot to mention they played UC Davis and the quality of play from Hawaii was not what I would expect from a D1 or even D2 program. Maybe just a bad game, but it wasn't pretty.
Gov posted:Root, I'm thinking that Dalton will have good opportunities stateside. The continued travel to the mainland for games would be grueling, let alone getting back to Denver, and then getting home. Brutal thought.... I know you're investigating... but unless you've a condo in Hawaii and Dalton is your only child....
Smoke is at the higher end of academic schools but he most certainly has an opinion.
IMO get the college opportunities back stateside...
David
I am with Gov on this, your son is a 2019 correct? What is the hurry? Continue with the process, he has a while to go yet.
And definitely never make a decision without visiting ANY campus or meeting future teammates.
Sleeping on the floor is what you do in professional ball where you don't have to get back home and go to class the next day.
And think about the degree, the value in the end depends on where you go looking for a job, unless he plans on living in Hawaii.
JMO
No, he's a 2018.
roothog66 posted:No, he's a 2018.
My bad, sorry.
Regardless, don't do it, dont let your son take an offer because he might not get one as soon as you think he should, he has all spring and summer. Shut him down, get him a trainer, work on mechanics, be ready for spring and summer.
We don't get along but trust me, have seen it happen, people panic, then they have remorse later on.
