ESPN Announcer Targets UH Facility ProblemsJones Says Bad Conditions Not A New IssuePOSTED: 3:10 pm HST November 26,
2007 HONOLULU -- During Friday's ESPN 2 broadcast of the University of Hawaii and Boise State game, the announcers criticized UH's athletic facilities.ESPN announcer Sean McDonough took a shot at the school in the final moments of the game."If you saw the practice field and their office buildings, you'd be amazed that they can have this kind of success with their facilities in, quite frankly, an embarrassing state of disrepair," McDonough said.Those were harsh words heard across the nation."It's not anything that isn't known," Jones said.At Monday's weekly news conference, Jones said his players do not come to UH for the facilities."They come here because it is a great place to live and because it is a great place to play football. And umm, if we were recruiting to facilities, we wouldn't get anybody. Those are the same dorms I lived in in 1973," Jones said.In May, quarterback Colt Brennan made headlines making similar statements.A berth to a Bowl Championship Series game and its multimillion dollar payout could help."We get to the big dance, it's going to help because the athletics department can get some money. Hopefully that means Cooke Field will get some Field Turf," Jones said.The UH Athletics Department said Athletic Director Herman Frazier was not available to talk about the issue until his weekly press conference on Tuesday.While little can be done right now, players continues to make do. That includes the current players who give tours to possible recruits."You can't hide it. You know? But we try to take them away from the facilities and to Waikiki Beach," linebacker Solomon Elimimian said. Copyright 2007 by TheHawaiiChannel.com All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |








