Hawaii Football Investigated For Point Shaving

An anonymous tip alleging point shaving by members of the University of Hawaii football team has sparked an investigation by the school and the Honolulu Police Department, the school’s president confirmed in a statement to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

President M.R.C. Greenwood told the paper that the tip was sent to the school’s admission office on Nov. 3, at which point she immediately notified the police department and the NCAA. Here’s Greenwood’s statement to the media in its entirety, courtesy of the Star-Advertiser:

On November 3, 2011, the UH Manoa Office of Admissions received an anonymous letter alleging “point shaving” by unnamed football players of UH football games.

Recognizing the seriousness of these allegations, UH leadership acted promptly and responsibly by immediately alerting the Honolulu Police Department and providing the letter to them.

Board of Regents Chair Eric Martinson and President MRC Greenwood met personally with Chief Louis Kealoha to offer UH’s full cooperation with HPD’s inquiry.

UH has alerted the NCAA about the anonymous letter and its contents and, in discussions with them, has been informed that it is “doing exactly what you need to be doing” in this situation.

Out of respect for the police investigation, UH will not comment further at this point.

It’s unclear when the point shaving is alleged to have happened, or how many players are alleged to have been involved. But Ryan Greene, UNLV’s beat writer for HeyReb.com and a contributor to Yahoo!‘s The Dagger college basketball blog, pointed out the following on Twitter shortly after news of the investigation broke:

Hawaii faced UNLV on Sept. 19, losing the contest 40-20. As Greene noted following that game in a recap published by the Las Vegas Sun, Hawaii was on the wrong end of a blowout despite entering the game favored by nearly three touchdowns.

Shocking upsets happen in college football nearly every week, so this game hardly proves anything. And for that matter, a single anonymous tip is hardly a reliable eyewitness. But now that the school and the local police are investigating, you have to imagine that head coach Greg McMackin and his staff will review their game tapes with even more scrutiny.

The Warriors are 5-6 on the season. Three of their last four losses have been by four points or fewer. According to VegasInsider.com, they’re 3-7-1 against the spread this season. To put that into perspective, only 16 teams in the nation have won fewer than four games against the spread all year.