Travel For College Athletics

Long story short, I am doing some research on travel for collegiate athletic programs. One of the first things that comes to mind on this matter is trips to Hawaii. After looking things over, LT's trip for tonight's game has to be one of the longest trips of the year for any school in the country (and visa versa when Hawaii travels to LT).

Does LT leave Ruston sometime on Wed. or very early morning on Thursday? Also, how many connections does it take to get from Ruston to Honolulu? Do they fly out of Ruston, or have to drive to a larger airport to get to an even larger airport that flies to HI?

And help/suggestions is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[boxerdog]

Yeah, we usually leave for Hawaii early Thursday morning for a game that evening. After the game, we catch a bite and are back home for the afternoon classes on Friday.

Boxer, doesn't the team then travel from HI to wherever the Saturday game is?

Thanks for the reply.

[boxerdog]

Nah, since that game is just down the road in CA, we catch a practice in our own gym on Friday and then take off a little before noon on Sat. in order to make the tip.

Wow, that really surprises me. I'm a Pac-10 fan and I guess I am used to the two visiting teams staying in the area for the whole 3 days. Thanks again.

[markay714]

Surely you're kidding. Hawaii's football team stayed for a whole week in the games because they had a California then UNLV game on a Thursday night. I find it awfully hard to believe that we'd foot the extra bill for extra plane fare for an afternoon worth of classes? Are you kidding, really?

To be honest, I thought the same thing. Football's obviously a little different than basketball since the games are more than 1 or 2 days apart. I'm pretty sure the WAC is like the Pac-10 in that 2 teams travel "together". LT & SMU, HI and SJSU, etc. Thus, I'd guess/was guessing that they'd take 3 day trips, etc. I was mainly curious when LT left for the game at HI though.

[boxerdog]

They left at the beginning of this week: Sunday or Monday. Teams usually spend at least a couple of days on the island to adjust to the time change and take in the sights. Sorry, but I don't have any official information.

[aubunique]

This thread was funny for awhile. Why didn't someone tell the guy that everyone had to hitchhike to Dallas to catch a plane. That would have been as believable!

[sportkid]

The team usually flies out early Wednesday morning and has a shootaround when they get to the island. They rest during the day on Thursday, play the game Thursday night, then catch a red-eye to San Jose after the game, getting there sometime around Friday morning. I would imagine that they will rest on Friday then have their shoot-around on Saturday morning sometime. That red-eye has to be a killer.

SK