If you’re a University of Hawaii football fan it sure didn’t take long for that buzz to wear off and reality to sink in again.

Yes, a day after head coach Todd Graham resigned, the overall program is still in a better place than it was 24 hours prior — for the long term. And there’s no buyout to be funded, no paying a high-priced state employee to please no longer report to work.

For the short term, the 2022 season, there also seemed to be a very nice bonus. Just a few hours before Graham’s announcement, Khoury Bethley signaled that he’d return for his fifth year at Manoa.

But now that’s a double reverse … maybe. The hybrid linebacker-safety had more to say Saturday: He, too, is entering the transfer portal. He’s the last captain to abandon the ship … maybe … following quarterback Chevan Cordeiro, linebacker Darius Muasau, and a lifeboat full of other starters.

All those “maybes” are because as of Saturday evening, Bethley had left open the possibility of returning to UH. Yes, that is allowed, and an all-conference performer like Bethley is not taking as much of a risk as a lesser player might be. Once you become a recruitable athlete again by entering the portal, all bets are off.

Regardless of where Bethley lands, it’s a harsh reminder that Graham’s presence wasn’t UH’s only problem, and players weren’t leaving just because of him.

>> RELATED: Much is up in the air after Graham leaves UH

Let me be the 2,683rd sports scribe to assert that the less powerful schools have become a farm system for the elite since there’s no longer a requirement for transfers to sit out a year.

Couple that with the big boys’ capability of providing more name, image and likeness perks, and being a fan of anything less than SEC royalty makes you a supporter of a minor league club, crossing your fingers every day that your favorite star doesn’t get called up to the bigs.

I am all for student-athlete empowerment, and if coaches can move around without sitting out, then the competitors risking their health should be allowed the same luxury. Coaches will adjust; it’s their job and they are well paid. They survived players leaving early for the pros, they’ll survive this.

But I feel for the fans. Free agency is why a lot of them prefer college sports to pros. Supporting specific pro teams eventually devolved into cheering for uniforms more than the humans wearing them.

College is — sorry, was — different that way.

This is really tricky, though. Where is the line between loyalty and indentured servitude? Lack of commitment and pursuit of better opportunity?

At the time of this writing, we don’t know where Bethley is headed, if anywhere, but we know he’s good enough to play for anyone. Even as a freshman in 2018 he was one of those guys who stood out, and you knew he had a great future in front of him.

It didn’t matter who his coach was. Bethley got better every year, and his five interceptions this season put him just one behind the nation’s leaders. And none of those three guys came close to Bethley’s 99 tackles.

The double shot of Bethley coming back and Graham not was almost enough to make people forget about the stadium situation.

Almost.

I’m trying to stay positive for you here, but the bleeding was supposed to stop, wasn’t it?

You can’t blame Bethley for checking it out, maybe go to a program that has a stadium with more than just a few thousand seats, and where you don’t have to worry if the local government won’t allow even those to be filled.

And, even though many consider Friday’s other news addition by subtraction, a place where he’ll know who the coach is.

Even before all this, the saying used to be that recruiting never ends. It’s truer right now than ever, especially with letter-of-intent day less than three weeks away.

Interim head coach Jacob Yoro and whoever is still left on the Warriors staff will do their best, but that is only so much without a new permanent coach in place.

There are some interesting candidates out there who meet the qualifications and were ready yesterday — or two years ago, or six years ago.

Obviously, UH can’t afford another mistake, so plenty of vetting needs to be done before the new coach is hired.

Athletic director David Matlin will do well to follow the immortal words of the immortal John Wooden.

“Be quick but don’t hurry.”

And don’t read too much into that; it’s just a coincidence that a couple of potential candidates coached at UCLA last season.