When the University of Hawaii was invited to apply for membership in the Big West Conference there was some concern around the league that the school might be too competitive for its brethren.
With a bigger budget and, in many areas, better facilities to recruit to, the fear was that the Rainbow Wahine and Rainbow Warriors came with considerable advantages and might run away with titles.
But five years now into its Big West stay, those concerns have, so far, been unfounded.
At least when it comes to the Commissioner’s Cup standings as a metric of broad-based athletic success.
The cup, an annual trophy that goes to the member school whose athletic program ranks highest based on its teams’ average of finishes in conference-sponsored sports, has never found its way to Manoa. Most years it hasn’t been close.
After finishing third (among 10 schools) in its inaugural season (2012-13) in the Big West, UH has finished seventh, sixth, seventh and, again this year, seventh (among nine schools).
Instead, the dominating school has been Long Beach State, which has won the trophy four of the five seasons UH has been in the league and eight of the past 12 years. UC Santa Barbara is the only other school to have won it in that span.
And that has been somewhat disappointing given all that UH would seem to have going for it.
Of course, one disadvantage UH has is that it competes in 14 conference sports while some compete in 15 (including Long Beach State and UC Santa Barbara) or 16. But it should also be noted that Cal State Fullerton, which also takes part in just 14 sports, still finished three spots higher than UH this season.
In determining a champion, the conference said in round-robin sports (baseball, basketball, soccer, softball, women’s tennis and women’s volleyball) points are awarded on the basis of the final regular-season standings, including a 20-point bonus for the champion. The Big West does not offer football but will begin offering men’s volleyball.
Meanwhile, in cross country, golf, men’s tennis, track, beach volleyball and water polo, points are awarded based on the finish in the conference championship.
This school year UH got its best point production from women’s volleyball, women’s tennis, beach volleyball and women’s golf.
Nationally, where a different metric is employed for the Learfield Directors Cup, UH has done somewhat better, ranking 80th among Division I schools (and tops among Big West schools).
For the Directors Cup, points are awarded based on each school’s finish in up to 20 sports in Division I competition — its top 10 for women and 10 for men.
In 24 years of the Director’s Cup, UH has finished as high as 53rd (2007-08) coming off the Sugar Bowl season, and as low as 158th (2013-14). Not since 2009-10 has it finished in the top 75.
This year, UH currently stands 80th (among 289 schools) and is unlikely to move much, if at all, pending results of the College World Series. Stanford already has been declared the winner.
Nobody should expect UH to rank among Stanford, Ohio State and UCLA, the more well-heeled, broadly based historic successes in college athletics, these days.
But after five years, beating out Long Beach State and UC Santa Barbara once in a while, not to mention Cal Poly and Cal State Fullerton regularly really shouldn’t be too much to ask.
