Back to the drawing board
It’s back to the proverbial drawing board for the Warriors following a surprising 35-21 loss to previously winless Nevada last night.
The Warriors travel today (through Oakland) and will have meetings and conditioning drills tomorrow. But the week will be spent:
> Fixing defensive lapses — the Wolf Pack rolled up 566 yards and converted half their third-down plays (compared to UH’s 1-of-8).
> Knocking off (big) penalties. The Warriors committed 11 infractions (six by the offensive line) for 114 yards.
> Resolving the coaching situation. Does grad assistant John Estes get bumped up to interim full-time status?
COMMENTS
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Does that include changing the person drawing on the board on the defensive side?
If a player is late to a meeting or practice make the entire team run. I guarantee his teammates won’t let him forget it.
Being that the first two bullets have been there since day one, I’m curious to see what good the same old drawing board is doing?? Ever think it may not be the board, but the person drawing on it that’s messed up???
this is all on the coaches. and the buck stops at rolo.
If our Head Coach was named Norm Chow people will be calling for his firing but because it’s rolo we blame the the people taking orders from him.
Chris left before people could blame him.
There’s trouble in paradise and rolo is the cause.
I am reminded of the days of Goliath.
All the soldiers were frozen with fear in the trenches.
Then along came a little boy who everyone mocked
even tho he killed a bear and a lion.
The king’s armor didn’t fit him.
All he needed was one stone.
Bam!
Game over.
There’s only one holdout left from the “loser” mentality of the Chow regime. And to me, our secondary seems pretty f’d up. But the buck stops with Rolo.
Wow! Trying to fix everything else but the problem itself – the coaches. Unreal.
ST, last year there were about 10 first-year freshman who played, while this year there are 4. Can you ask Rolo if this is because the others aren’t ready or they are trying to redshirt them because they won’t play much anyway. It seems like they’re trying to bite the bullet this year and stockpile depth for the future.
Correct me if I’m wrong we have at least 4 team captains-I believe there is a team council. If that’s thecase wouldn’t there be communication and dialogue on issues.
Penalties are an issue, yes, but the most glaring problem is the Defense. The Defense scheming is completely unsound & the on-field adjustments are non-existent or completely ineffective.
Safeties are nowhere to be found, slots are uncovered, dbs w/ incorrect leverage, nobody covering backs, blitzes are getting us nothing, etc.
We manage to make a winless team look like a championship team.
I don’t see us winning another game if this ain’t fixed quick.
Has Lewis and Henderson gotten worst from last year? The only difference I can see is their coach Jacob Yoro. Gotta be the coaching.
Honestly i think brown took a step back this year. So far anyway
#12 = unfortunately, Ammon Barker is not Marcus Kemp.
I really think that maybe, Rich Miano, should be seriously considered for the defensive coordinator. Losing Lempa is a big blow and as we have seen, Legi is in over his head. Our defense is just terrible and you cannot win that way, period. Not unless our offense is scoring in the high 30s or 40s to have a chance. At this rate, we will not win a single game the rest of the season and things have to change. When you have a penalties problem that’s a bad sign of discipline on this team. And that’s a Rolo problem, and a coaches problem. We can’t seem to get enough turnovers to balance the equation. But, oh well, I will still watch the games. Special teams hasn’t really made a big difference and just shows how much we missed Sanchez.
I see there are others expressing frustration and displeasure already. Usually I wait 24 hrs before posting, but I’m making an exception so I can have my say and then go on and enjoy the rest of this day in paradise.
Hensley had some excellent comments, He put his finger on the team’s problems, GOOD. He said, “…but in the heat of battle…” some folks lose their cool, as if that’s an explanation. What he really said was that there are still people who put themselves before the team…after half the season, it still goes on. Never mind the guys who grit it out and play with amazing courage despite injuries…Lewis, Henderson, Posa, just to name a few. And many more who are dinged up. That courage is negated when those selfish and sometimes stoopid penalties kill drives or allow the opponent ill-deserved yardage. Don’t tell me that it can’t be corrected. Every team has this problem to varying degrees. Just look at the teams who manage it the best…the military academies. Why? Because it is taught and reinforced constantly that the individual is subservient to the greater good of the team. That’s how smaller, less talented academy teams beat the big boys with regularity. Watching what went on last night was more than overwhelmingly frustrating.
The other part I had issue with last night was the coaching. How many times does Nevada have to split 3 receivers wide and then throw the wr screen for good yardage? Adjustments? How can you align the safety 15 yds off the slot receiver on 3rd and short yardage. Easy catch for 1st down. That went on most of the night. In the red zone, how can the cb play outside leverage on a tall and athletic wr? Result, simple slant for 7. LB was supposed to be there? Near the goal line, the LB has to be close to the line. No chance. There’s more, but I’m getting repetitive. Enough. Some stuff is probably due to player error. But when alignment, assignment adjustments aren’t made….
Make no mistake, I support this team no matter what. It’s just easier when the team plays clean, hard, and then loses, than what’s going on now. OK, done with this.
Rich Miami Should Have Been our Head Coach instead of Rolo my oppinion.
Just hope we can survive riding out rolo contract.
Our AD gots to go something is a miss in our football Program
Rolo must go
I thought Miano wouldn’t fit on a Rolo staff. But, looking at it now I see he would be better than the current DC. And, you know he would take a UH coaching job next to nothing.
This season it’s all on the coaches. Sorry, there are no free passes because he is Rolo. Looks like the DC had his defense out of position and not playing up to their ability the whole game. Isn’t that the coaches job?
If this team goes 2-10, it’s all on the coaches. Rolo should be given time to fix things because Chow got almost 4 years. But, at least show improvement from game to game. This team is getting worse from game to game. They don’t need another drawing board. Again, they need another person drawing on the board for defense. The defense was horrible last night.
San Jose St will take notice. All they need to do is run it down their throats. If they have to pass, pick on the db’s because they cannot cover anyone. Nevada’s offense looked like a top 5 offense in the FBS against Hawaii.
Can anyone answer this. When did UH become a cut blocking team? I don’t remember seeing this before.
Lempa strength was as a db coach. I thought we would fall off a bit without him being here but never thought it would be this much. I think we need to find a really good linebacker coach. Our linebackers look lost and seem to be chasing a lot.
I haven’t felt this bad after a game since Fred von Appen’s last year. Okay, that’s being overly dramatic, but this loss does smart. The past two games exposed a lot to correct before the SJSU game. Perhaps there should be more introspection, as in dissecting the film as to our weaknesses that an opponent would exploit. We do what we do does not work. In addition, maybe there are technique adjustments that the O-line can implement. There must be things that John Estes picked up during his time in the NFL that would be useful. We need to reverse this weekly preconceived notion that the referees have that causes them to pay special attention to the O-line and be on the lookout for holds and hands to the face. It ain’t fair, but the referees do talk and have weekly conferences, and are human. And make sure that the players, especially first year players, know the rules – that low block flag on Kade Greeley seemed to be a lack of coaching instead of a mental error since it was obviously his intent to block in that manner.
Finally, how banged up is the team? Hopefully, they came away without significant injuries and will be ready for SJSU. They have talent, but the coaches need to scheme correctly and the players need to play their responsibilities and not freelance to try to be a hero or lose their cool.
Rich Miano wont coach at Hawaii unless he is Head Coach which he deserves if Rolo don’t get us a conference championship by end of his contract
Das it No outta way
If one team dominates another totally, not only statistically, score wise but also overall play, I have a hard time understanding how it is said that the loss to Nevada was stated as “surprising”; really! If not for DSJ, think it would have been an okole whupping. Win – Loss records don’t mean a thing, otherwise why show up and play.
On paper, next week’s home game against SJSU favors the Warriors. What could be “surprising” is if the home team doesn’t regroup and defend Da Rock!
I lied…there’s one more thing. With all due respect to Naole, and his resume demands mucho plenty, unless there’s a disagreement over player safety, someone in his position should NOT be quitting in mid-season when it hurts the team. That kind of action verges on grandstanding. In his experiences in the NFL and various coaching stints, he should know that the head coach is the person that has the final word on disciplinary actions unless the act extends beyond team rules into the realm of student rules. If he feels, as he has said, that he and Rolo have personal differences on the matter of discipline, he needs to put that through proper channels to Matlin (perhaps he did), and, if the differences are not resolved, then resign IN THE OFF-SEASON.
I was wondering on the pass to Collie on the last drive. He’s one of the shorter players on the receiving corp. Why was the fade designed to go to him and not a taller player like Greeley? If we were looking for mismatches, it seems that that one was not in our favor.
It seems that we go to the tight end once or twice with success and stop looking for that option, where as opponents see that going to the tight end works against us and keep going that way.
Did we have only 8 defensive players on the field with 6 of them in the box?
RE: #14
Derek — Maybe Miano could volunteer to assist the defense. This might be his only only path to being a coach someday. Those who have forgotten Miano should know that he played 12 years as a pro defensive back, and spent years under defensive guru Greg McMackin. My fantasy is that McMackin would visit to help Rolo, his former assistant. Not likely though.
Guud Afternoon Tsaikos…Bootiful Day!
I ditto bg #15 & #24 … I can’t help but feel that there is more to “differences in matters of discipline”. I do feel that resignation should come at the end of the season if it’s just that. Coach Chris is a good good coach. Witness the run production. Sacks?…o-line, rb and qb all responsible.
Note…DSJ should have stats for 300+ yds. Take away the so called holding and he’s 300+. O-line doing the job.
D?…looked out of it. Didn’t seem like they had any continuity or idea of what kind of coverage they were supposed to be in. Watching some of the game (couldn’t watch it all…bp went up too much..super pissed) too many missed coverage/assignments. Listened to BC and he was pretty confused also.
Me, non-football person, I called some plays from my armchair. I could see what N was going to do..run, pass.
Team go some soul searching to do. Recommit, heal up and get ready for the next. I really think we need to let the back ups into the game. 1, 2 series. The 1’s need some break. Can’t be playing the whole game.
Then there’s the Michigan and Michigan St. game. One glaring stat that I find amazing…Michigan St. went without a first down in the second half! Still won the game! How you do that?!!!??
At this rate, we will have both a rusher and a receiver with over 1200 yards, and that doesn’t make any sense with our record…..perplexed.
Naeole took a stand on what he thought was right. He didn’t compromise his beliefs on the rules. His first priority is to himself and his family. He has an impressive resume. He doesn’t need to settle for anything less.
I don’t know what happened to cause him to take a stand and quit. But, it does appear lack of discipline appear to be an issue for this team. Naeole’s resignation brought the issue to light and it’s a good thing because if it is not addressed, the team will continue to lose to teams they should win.
It feels like 2012-2015 seasons all over again because of the losing streak. The only difference this time is there is still hope before the game. Back in the 2012-2015 seasons you knew there was no hope even before the game started. I guess that is the frustrating part this time around. It’s the coaches that are messing up. The hope is that this team can win. We all saw it last year. But, this is not a team that can just show up and win. There are 6 more games. I am curious to see if the players will play to win or just play to finish the season.
Posa needs to sit. He should cool his britches instead of bitching. His penalties for un-sportsmanship should not happen. The defensive schemes need to go back to a base that these players can handle. Yes I agree the buck stops with Rolo and he needs to fix the discipline problems.
Didn’t see much of the 1st set and not too much of the second set because of the football game, but I enjoyed the watching the Wahine Volleyball knowing they were fighting to win the match. Watching the Warrior football game was really hard. Seems like they didn’t even care to be there representing their school and the state in which they live. After UH intercepted a Reno pass, there was very little celebrating from anybody on the team, which was like they didn’t even care. Sad, very sad.
Trunks420 probably won the best pick:
His score UH 24 Reno 31…
Tho What? had the correct score
35 – 21 but the wrong team winning.
there seems to be a morale problem on the team, players and coaches. the defense is bad all over, they are slow, cannot tackle, the defensive backs don’t know how to defend (out of position most of the time). contributing to this problem is the lack of players with speed, bulk and skill. the defensive line is very poor, the line backers seems to be out of position as well with the defensive backs. the O-line is a veteran one but cannot control its temper, they like to cheat by playing dirty. brown is frustrated because of the many penalties that kill drives, they use st juste too much, RT is rarely used. play calling appears poor – this team overall is really, really bad.
It distresses me that we seem to be going down the same path as when Chow was HC.
It’s crazy how fast fans turn on a coach…..where’s the loyalty? Where’s the understanding that this is only the second year of a young first time head coach at a, currently, third tier team with VERY limited resources….
Give the man some time….
Opening as 17 point favorites against SJSU? Has Vegas seen UH play recently?
People need to calm down as the head coach is still in his second year. JJ went 3-9 his second season then went on to have many successful seasons afterwards.
Anyone would agree we shouldn’t have lost the game, and I think Rolovich needs to assert game time decisions on strategies if he isn’t already. The one thing was infuriating was watching the defense blitz all game and was having no effect on their QB. Why did we keep sending them? Their QB obviously knew when we were blitzing (which was almost every play) which put our LB’s, DB’s and S’s way out of position and made for huge gains for Nevada for the 1st and 2nd half. Legi needs to mix it up.
Rolo must Go! Rolo is loosing the kids. He can’t be calm on the sideline and not work on the refs. The holding call on the long td run was a horrible call and he should’ve let the refs know about it. staying calm and cool on the the sideline wont do it. you are not June and you did not come from the NFL so you need to get worked up and get on the refs.
too many penalties is a sign of weakness by the head coach. If the AD support Rolo, they both should go! UH will probably wont win another game this season. The players bought in to his philosophy at the beginning of the season but he lost them somewhere recently. Get the players back or you’re done for the season.
Let’s go bows!
UH 17 point favorites against San Jose State is a joke. Apparently, oddsmakers have not seen UH play recently. I guarantee San Jose St. will move the ball and score some points. My prediction, they will move the ball to the tune of over 400 to 500 yards and score around at least 30 points. So unless UH can score 35-45 points we might not win this game. Bottom line, take the generous points.
Pain and hurt lingers but the pain and hurt for a lot of players and coaches is 10X. My wish is to back out there and retake and improve on the Wyoming effort. Outside of losing that was by far our best effort. Convinced it will come-
With an offense with the capability to move the ball(albeit not score), there is hope, which wasn’t the case with Coach Norm Chow’s teams. Neither did we score nor move the ball.
If Hawaii was to add a triple-option component, who would be the guy Dru Brown pitches to, and is the backup the better quarterback to run it?
So much criticism of Coach Rolovich and all for the wrong reasons.
Our athletic budget is reflective of our coaches.
Why is that so hard to understand?
More money offered from Boise State: See Zak Hill mull; see Zak Hill run.
Could the combination of Tuialoa and St. Juste in an option package keep the defense off the field? Since we seem to be a run-first team, wouldn’t 25 carries a game wear down our 5-8 rb eventually. And then where will Hawaii be.
My only gripe against Coach Rolovich is that he invited Lou Holtz.
I will leave it at that because I don’t want to be banned.
I will be at the San Jose State game, hoping for the best.
Gotta walk a mile in the teams’ shoes…
“Now I’m not looking for absolution/Forgiveness for the things I do/But before you come to any conclusions/Try walking in my shoes/Try walking in my shoes”
-Martin L. Gore(of Depeche Mode, a 2017 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominee)
Depeche Mode can’t get in before Kraftwerk, Roxy Music, and The Cure.
“The O-line did a very good job, especially in the absence of our line coach,” Saint Juste said.”
“Some things need to change”.
Q&A for the Coach show…What needs to change and How will it be done?
We’ve endured 4.5 seasons with NC, wanting to replace him, now, in a season-1/2 w/ Rolo everyone wants to jump ship 🚢 bcos the team is losing a few games?!
Give him his due/time to make it work, let them play out the season, then evaluate the progress of the program.
Support is what no matter what the outcome is. And life is how you pick yourself up, dust off, and move forward.
I’ll be there for HOMECOMING!! Go Warriors.
37. Explain how on one play, when UH went to an empty set, Nevada rushed Dru and he could not throw the ball and was sacked, i think.
Yet, whenever UH blitzed, we could not get to the Nevada QB ?
Still believe the Warriors got the boyz to be competitive. We got good athletes.
Coach needs to address the lapses. If change is needed then what is it?
Das all.
I firmly believe our road trip schedule of flying out late on Thursdays (sometimes red-eye overnight) plays havoc with the team’s body clock (maybe coaches too); and is affecting their play in this part of the season.
Can they change it to leaving in the morning instead?
ps: didn’t like our defensive play of blitzing everyone on Nevada’s 4th down and 7; late in the game; where their RB slipped out of the backfield for an easy swing pass to score a TD. In fact, we should do more swing passes to DSJ or RT in our play calling.
#49 – it’s called flying “commercial”. If you can find $ for the charters, no problem.
Let’s see if Rolo can make the adjustments.
Thank you Coach Rolo for admitting on your show tonight that you called the majority of the offensive plays. There’s no way Coach Smith can do all 3 jobs. Cut down on penalties and our score will improve. One snap and clear.
Will wait to see how the boyz will respond this week. How they will come out to the field.
“Some thing need to change.” Still not sure what will be done to change the “something”. Vague response.
Am I still a Tsaiko?…Dang right! Am I still a Warrior crazy fan?…Dang right!…but I do expect to see hard nose pedal to the floor football.
Am I supposed to expect anything less?
Oh brother was watching that game awful of what?
No qualifiers here-Simple, there is enough talent and ability to win four games. Dial it up dial it in and make it happen. That’s the challenge to completely right the ship. Team said they wanted a title, that would have included wins over all of the remaining MW teams-Live into playing Warrior period!!! GoWarriors!!!!!!
Can’t help myself. The officiating in last weeks game was absurd. At least one holding call and a hands to the face were ridiculous. Throw in the so called interference call in the end zone. Reach around and “feels” to the receiver is totally within the realm of a defensive back, in that case there was absolutely no interference with the receivers path or ability to catch it was overthrown. The holding call on Allen was not even close from what I saw given the fact he had body position on the defender. I am so sick of this incompetent and costly action. I’m sure that little if anything can be said because it will breed or could breed more of these. People have used the term “legacy” penalties. That means we are known for this behavior-that only means to me you are looking for infractions, anticipating infractions-look hard enough and you will make yourself believe it is taking place. I am personal friends with long time Big 10 officials and crew chiefs-officiating in the MW is marginal at best-
This morning in his chat with KGMB, BC appeared to lay the responsibility of the loss on the penalties. True they had an effect on the outcome but BC made absolutely no mention of the woeful defensive effort.
Fix defense, Offense is sound except for penalties. Coaches are alright but need to shore up tackling techniques, but that might be because defensive backs are out of position?
People calling for Coach Rolovich to be fired after 1.5 seasons (bring n this former coach or that one)? That’s rich. They had some initial success in 2016 and everything was good and people were happy. Now, when you have adversity there’s more chance for a lot of Pilikia to come to the top. People want to jump ship. Coach is still in the process of rebuilding and more importantly changing the mindset and culture from 4 years of “Chow Ball.” Things haven’t worked out with the new DC, but did it occur to anyone that UH doesn’t have the financial resources to get someone like Kevin Lempa? I give Coach another year to work things out and get everyone on the same page (clean out the Opala, if need be).
Anyone notice that the former Boise Junior College has increased the salary of OC Zak Hill from $215,000 to $285,000, now that he’s calling all the plays for Harsin? How did Boise JC end up with such attractive coaches salaries and facilities that rival a Pac-12 school? All because of Alberson’s Grocery Store chain? UH is still stuck in the “You like buy Sweetbread and Portuguese Sausage?” mode. UH continues to fall behInd Boise JC, SDSU, CSU, New Mexico and other MWC schools. f UH and the public doesn’t want to put in the necessary financial resources and support, then drop the program, plain and simple.
The public is paying for other projects other than UH football. It’s called bailing out the city with their rail project. I catch the bus to work and I know I will never use the rail on a regular basis because I don’t live and work in the areas the rail will service.
It’s not about wanting to help the program with money. You are right. Hawaii is still in the sweet bread mode while other programs have their deep pockets. If you say we need to help out the program, do you know how many sweet bread and Portuguese sausage we would need to sell to equal the kind of money the program will need to make an impact?
I guess the attitude is “that’s just the way it is.” Or, drop the program if it cannot be funded. We will see intermittent success every. But, I don’t believe we will ever see regular success like a Boise State or even Colorado State because the football program doesn’t have the funds to sustain the program at a high level year in and year out.
I think Hawaii can match last year’s success with this team. But, expecting a 20 year run at 1st place in the mwc is unrealistic. There is no money.
New post: http://www.hawaiiwarriorworld.com/?p=44826