Thousands of fans get to eat free Jack In The Box tacos, courtesy of the University of Hawaii’s men’s volleyball team’s sweep of Saint Francis on Friday.

Upon hearing this promotional announcement at SimpliFi Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center, I wondered if the two-time national champion Warriors themselves get free tacos, too.

And that led to thoughts about 4.5 … the number of scholarships allowed by the NCAA for men’s volleyball.

I know this isn’t the only sport with this kind of predicament, but it seems crazy that only 75 percent of the starting players on a national championship team — actually, even less (64 percent) if we count the libero as a starter, which we do — get a scholarship, technically.

We say technically, only because in men’s volleyball, and some other sports, the scholarships can be divided up into partial amounts so that more student-athletes benefit. You’re not allowed to do that in football — where you can give out 85 scholarships.

That brings us to the latest item for discussion from my There Should Be A Different Rule Department.

We’ll start with a 64 percent-baked idea:

If you are a member of a team that wins an NCAA championship, you get a full-ride scholarship the next year if you don’t already have one.

Sounds great, right?

Except for one thing: Who pays for it?

Not my problem. Yes, I’m one of those people full of ideas about how to spend other people’s money. Hey, aren’t we all?

But, at least in this case, at this time, it really shouldn’t be problematic for UH or the state. I keep hearing they both have bigger wads of cash floating around than Heisenberg had hidden under his floorboards.

It’s got something to do with pandemic relief.

That’s why UH said it can fund its $30 million expansion of the Ching Complex. And, I’ve been told, it’s why the Legislature last year finally allocated hundreds of millions to build the new Aloha Stadium.

Not everyone draws 4,550 people to a match, like UH did Friday, but men’s volleyball is growing in popularity nationally.

So, assuming an equitable increase for women’s sports, to comply with Title IX, doesn’t that mean the NCAA scholarship limit for men’s volleyball should be raised?

I was surprised when Warriors coach Charlie Wade said it should not. But I understood when he explained why, in his opinion, more scholarships would not help the sport — at least at this time.

“I’m not a big advocate for that because the growth of men’s volleyball is significant. We’re adding entire leagues, let alone programs,” Wade said. “We’ve gone from 30-something Division I programs to like 60 in a relatively short amount of time.”

Many men’s volleyball programs are from small schools, like Friday’s opponent, Saint Francis. In 2021, the Pennsylvania school had an enrollment of 1,647. The Red Flash were 0-22 in 1984, their first year of men’s volleyball. But Saint Francis has posted winning records four of the last seven seasons.

An increase in the scholarship limit could cripple or even knock out small programs like the Red Flash, Wade said.

“If we raised it to even six it would price some teams out of the market,” Wade said. “There’s a great amount of parity in men’s volleyball right now. There are more players than there are teams. So everybody’s got good players, everybody’s got good teams. If we make that six, or seven, or 10 (Hawaii) would have those scholarships the very next day. There are teams in our league that wouldn’t be able to fund it like that, and anyone looking at starting a team, the price just went up.”

Wade said the low scholarship limit is key to the sport’s growth.

“Now, at four-and-a-half it’s a bargain. If you’re a university you’re looking at (it as), ‘Wait a minute. I’ll have 20-something guys show up and I only have to give four-and-a-half scholarships?’

“You put me in charge, there’s a lot of things I would change,” Wade said. “But that’s not one.”

The discrepancy in scholarship funding of various sports can now be mitigated by other sources.

“Our guy are getting (Name, Image, Likeness) opportunities now. There are more buckets of money to pull from for help,” Wade said. “Traditionally it was just the four-point-five and maybe some academic money. Now you see the cost of attendance bucket. The University of Hawaii is fully engaged in cost of attendance, and the NIL opportunity.”

Around the same time of the highly publicized NIL legislation two years ago, the Supreme Court ruled on another case (National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Alston) that resulted in covering some educational expenses for student-athletes not covered by cost of attendance.

“David’s (athletic director Matlin) has been working on it, and we’re going to be the first school in the Big West to do it,” Wade said.