It is probably a good thing that San Jose State head football coach Dick Tomey spent time in the K5 television booth doing University of Hawai'i football games a few years ago before returning to Aloha Stadium Saturday.

Otherwise, you wonder what the man who is still UH's winningest football coach might make of the place now.

Not the stadium so much, but the empty seats in it.

Talk about one Halawa change. When Tomey coached his last game at UH in 1986, it was at a sellout against Michigan in a season in when the attendance averaged 40,323. Days when even a date with Long Beach State was good for 40,000. A tenure when Abilene Christian pulled in 46,649 for the 1980 opener.

Back then, UH appearances were more than games, they were social events. The place to be.

Now, they're back to being games again, even for Tomey's return. As of yesterday UH said 25,400 tickets had been distributed for Saturday night's game. And, that is now considered promising in that there are hopes the turnstile count will hit 30,000 for the first time since the 2005 opener against then-defending national champion Southern California.

The hope is UH might hit 30,000 for its last three home games even with what might end up as the winningest team in school history. Here the Warriors are 8-2 (6-1 in the Western Athletic Conference), on the verge of cracking the national polls and leading the nation in several offensive categories and their home attendance actually dropped the last two appearances.

Clearly a lot has changed since Tomey gave his teams blistering sideline "pep talks." Besides the nickname and colors. The Fred Von Appen era (1996-98), which contained the three worst seasons in school history, began giving fans a reason to do other things.

Then, Brigham Young, Air Force and the like largely disappeared from the schedules, having been replaced in the latest WAC reincarnation by the likes of Idaho, Utah State and Louisiana Tech. For another there is premium seating, the plan whereby fans who want to sit in the most desirable locations pay a fee on top of the face value of the ticket to retain those seats. Some marquee schools were only beginning to implement the concept when Tomey left for Arizona.

Then, there is the pay-per-view option. UH had a brief experimentation with subscription TV back in the 1980s, but it was with a couple of road games. Now, it is a full-fledged game-in and game-out option as is staying home to watch cable or surf the internet. All of those things and maybe a dozen more have contributed to the decline in attendance.

The question is: What is going to bring them back? And, when?

If they come back, that is.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.