UH sports: If …
If, say, Warrior volleyball associate head coach Jeff Hall were to be hired in the women’s program as an assistant indoor coach and head sand volleyball coach, it would appear logical that the men’s team would promote Milan Zarkovic to associate head coach and Spencer McLachlin to full-time assistant coach.
If, say, a business giant such as Warren Haruki were named leader in the search for a new athletic director, it would make sense to fill the committee with members who were not involved in the three previous searches. Those committee members are intelligent and otherwise successful. But the last three AD hires led to departures with time remaining on the contracts/agreements. Hey, I once had to make a decision between Beta and VCR. Choosing Beta was the last decision I was allowed to make involving home appliances.
If, say, UH wants to reward Benjy Taylor for the impressive start, boost this year’s salary to what Gib Arnold was supposed to earn for his first UH season. And take off all the restrictions and monitors. Trust can’t be parceled.
Yep, we are in the midst of a slow period!
Speaking of coaching changes, appears the Aztecs football program promoted running backs coach, Jeff Horton, to offensive coordinator replacing Bob Toledo. Also, couple assistants were released (receivers coach LeCharls McDaniel and quarterbacks coach Brian Sipe) that Horton will have the responsibility of replacing.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/jan/07/aztecs-new-offensive-coordinator-jeff-horton/?#article-copy
I’ll attempt to keep the blog going…
Seems like its been a dead period for over a year now…..
Most reactive approach to recruiting in the country. Instead of forecasting what the issues on personnel are, we wait till after things go bad to patch things up temporarily when everything is obvious.
Issues..
1. Keep recruiting QBs… 2 per year. Not gonna win until we find the next star at QB. You want continuity when a kid graduates or a player gets injured.
2. Be more aggressive with RBs.. We need explosive play makers. Not a coincidence the best RnS offenses at Hawaii had Nate Ilaoa and Alex Green. Easiest position to recruit based on quantity of talent. Stop recruiting 3rd string JC ones that a friend recommended. Do proper homework.
3. Recruit diversity of WRs. We have the possession targets in Kemp and Barker. Now we need slot guys who can make plays over the middle, burners who can keep safeties back, guys who can make DBs miss in space. Need more depth…
4. Replenish the D line. If we don’t get some quality NTs, we will get ran on big time with our schedule. We took the reactive recruiting approach here and now were scrambling to replace Samia up the middle.
5. Need to recruit offensive tackles. We have a bunch of solid guards, but we need to protect the QB with longer, more athletic tackles. Blake Muir was the closest thing we had and Baylor moved him to guard.
6. DB HELP!!!! All of our corners get burned deep. Nelson is probably the best cover guy. Need help ASAP. Need to evaluate a lot better.
Good morning Tsaikos!
Nice post, ST.
I’d missing seeing Jeff Hall at MVB if he were to move over to the Wahine side.
As successful as the bb team was pre-conference, I’d would rather wait until after the regular season, to evaluate Coach Taylor.
GO WARRIORS!
GO WAHINE!
Well, I do hope that things change for the better and we have a winning season.
Meanwhile, today is my 69th birthday. Hubby and I will celebrate this momentous occasion with my daughter, son in law, and 2 grandkids at Makino Chaya.
Love the Japanese buffet there. And birthday girl eats for free. What a bargain.
And to add to it, I do think Norm Chow needs to do a much better job selling the program to his fans even if he’s busy doing other things. Most coaches now days are on Twitter creating a buzz around their team or talking up mid year recruits in the papers trying to sell the University. Benjy Taylor has been doing a pretty good job doing so. College Football is a business and fans are what drives the program. There is a huge disconnect between Norm and the fans of Hawaii and I don’t know why he doesn’t try to do more… I guess it reflects his personality as a coach.
ST – we chose Beta too, so don’t feel so bad.
GOOD MORNING, HAWAII!
In regards to Jeezy’s list–I place a double underscore on items 3 and 6. Pendoza is a solid possession guy, but man, we had some major problem creating appreciable separation–and damn, it was noticeable. So, I agree, we need folks, that can do it out of the break or have the ability to run pass folks.
The DBs just make me take a pause at times. One, and this is a fundamental rule of most any DB, don’t give up or get beat on the post or middle of the field. Duh, the sideline is your friend and boundaries the field–even an old guy knows this basic premise??! Two, deep plays are not just killing us on the scoreboard, but also the morale of the D squad…..I wish, I had time to look at all the stats, but we must have an exorbitant number of pass plays in which we give up 30 plus yards….Bottom-line, corner must be one more consistent, and towards those ends, fundamentally sound.
Our LBs were a huge issue this past year but I think it will be a strength in 2015 season. Gener and JGW back (knock on wood no injuries), Russell Williams(All American), plus Mageo and Poti give us solid depth. Fonua and Lance should stay on ST mainly. Addition of Keoni Bush Loo (sorry his new name is too long and I don’t want to look it up) should help with pass rush.
A 60 + year old dude… with his style of ‘grumpiness”…. is not going to change over-nite…even if the nite lasts for 5 years…(length of contract)…sum younger coaches do change…don’t except that in this case…no matter if the fans keep staying away o not…
The handwriting on the wall is written in invisible ‘red ink’ in this case…most can see it…others will never see it… due to loyalty etc.
Most on here seem to be putting their ‘easter eggs’ in one basket…QB MAX….low n if that basket ever slips from ones hand…them eggs will be scrambled…
Short memory extended… a team TRAVELED to aloha stadium with a 3 string QB.. N BEAT US….
Speaking of JGW, will he get another year to play since his injury happened in game 2 last year? Stephen?
JGW should automatically get a medical redshirt since he hasnt redshirted yet
LBs will certainly be a strength this year. Bigger question is that play fluidly in the scheme—this will allow for much of that athletic ability to shine–so, hopefully an additional year in the system will really lend towards this end.
Since we are slow, I will share my experience of the first time I saw, Johnny Taylor—John played in 82-83, and then later with the fish, birds and bolts in the NFL. But, he was, at least in size, UH’s answer to Lawrence Taylor, bruddha was about 6’4 and a good 245,-250–and just yoked! I could not believe he played outside linebacker—I thought he was one superfit offensive tackle–man, he looked the part.
i hope Clune uses the backers more to get pressure on the qb. and still need the front depth to keep the backers clean.
Good morning everyone!
Happy Birthday gigi-hawaii !!!
Blog Party 1 attendee.
https://gigihawaii.wordpress.com/2006/12/29/after-the-blog-party/
Hmmn, how does our staff compare to their staff? See; http://www.oregonlive.com/beavers/index.ssf/2015/01/breakdown_of_new_oregon_state_1.html#incart_river
Mahalo, SteveM.
Thanks for the link to one of my first posts in blog land.
Hey, when is the next blog party? Lol.
16. Oregon St- ribeye
Hawaii – carne asada
Saint ant…60+ is kindly to a coach who will be 69 this year.
J33…I was thinking pork hash?
I thought it curious that Jeff hall would jump the fence to the women’s side?
Kevin Wong is a viable candidate as well. Perhaps if Jeff got this one then Kevin would be a great fit for Charlie.
And if the same old same old committee gets picked we will be delivering the “death penalty” to our athletic program.
If, the wvb coach applied, I would.
…pick him.
…all we are saying, is give benjy a chance.
18—but its all in the preparation, right?
Is coach Clune a candidate at Utah State to be their DC?
morning all like that plan ST. pay Benjy Taylor what gigs would get for rest of the season !! and remove that temp !! and let them try to bring in some player for next season !!
the problem with selling tickets and coach chow all most everyone was thinking he going come here and win !! and he not type to be talker or like a sales man ! he is all about football and his players !! lot key people got hurt ! no qb and break away speed guys !! then taking away k5 tv and the way jim Leahey did UH football game made people know and love there home team !!
know when you watch a game it ok but seems like there try to copy college game day!!
some time its nice to make money with pay per view on oc16 about 260 dolllar on the big island ! but my thinking sometimes better to charge 150 dollars on k5 a ch on the tv that all hawaii can get to sell a UH tv pkg that everyone can !! so the next time trey take atrip off island they looking to go to a UH game !!
Congrats to local boy Corey Batoon for being named safeties coach at Ole Miss.
http://www.clarionledger.com/story/olemisssports/2015/01/07/ole-miss-corey-batoon-staff-hire/21384059/
Sports Radio talk shows in Utah have mentioned Kevin Clune as a replacement for USU’s departed DC, noting his work at UH despite the record. Problem is that USU doesn’t have the financial means to buy out Clune’s contract (unconfirmed reports).
Not sure anything Tsai said, but anyway, Go Bows!
The easiest job for anyone in the UH athletic department to do is to extend Benjy for 3 seasons. There “may” be better coaching options out there but why take the risk on whiffing bad? You have a team loaded with super sophomores and the best FR. I’ve seen since Carl English. Better than Fotu IMO. Can play offense and defense. No point in changing continuity here… Let him recruit to the talent we have and see how things play out… We don’t want to enter Bob Nash, Norm Chow, Fred Von Appen territory.
Yes, indeed, the administration is over-thinking Benji. He as has already provided you a sample of his cooking…..lock the brother in.
I would like to see UH go after Harris Ross because of the coaching change I think he will no longer abe going to Oregon State and he gray shorted so he’s free game and wouldn’t have to sit a year like a transfer would….
Harris Ross is going JC
Where did Jared Afalava end up?
Yes …al… n not want hit the ‘age’ button to much on us old buggas..
he he he…just call it a 9 year mistake…
32. I wanted him bad. But truth is there are so many good RBs out there. Don’t know why we struggle when Fresno, Nevada, Boise, SDSU can breed them every year. And those guys aren’t highly recruited. There just a huge amount of RBs out there. We just don’t do our homework and have the right connections.
This kid Tyree Range is available. Rated #11 prospect in San Diego. #10 is Christian Cronk. Ran a 11.08 100 as a junior. Which puts him right next to Keelan Ewaliko 11.05. That is fast for a 225+ pound RB. Ran a 4.51 40. Just 1 example of many RBs that are not committed yet.
Lagarrette Blount 2.0
http://www.hudl.com/athlete/435776/highlights/175510387
http://www.oregonlive.com/recruiting/index.ssf/2015/01/tuli_wily-matagi_former_utah_u.html#incart_story_package Tuli now headed to Oregon St. I can see Utah now coming after potentially one of our commits.
Happy Birthday gigi-hawaii !!! Have a wonderful day.
37. I don’t think there is any correlation. We don’t have any commits worth poaching. My opinion is Utah moved on before Tuli committed to OSU.
ST, right on for suggesting a new model for selecting the new AD. In hindsight the old one just wasn’t working.
Heard on BC radio this morning that both Ohio State and Oregon will probably run the wideouts straight up the field for blazing long, long passes and lots of scoring. So UH should look for track stars—maybe in the Bahamas? 🙂
Interesting thought: what happens if Ohio State’s qb Jones goes down?
They have a wildcat qb, Jalin Marshall, who threw two passes this year
and missed both. On the other hand Oregon’s back up qb, Jeff Lockie
hit I think 27 this year (had 31 passing tds in his senior year in high
school). So hope both Jones and Mariota stay healthy for a good game.
But it looks better for Oregon, imho.
Couple of notes….
I agree with Jeezy’s list of needs & priorities in recruiting…
Chow “is what he is” and won’t change…Take it or leave it…Unfortunately, we’re dumb enough to “take it”, so bend over and just smile because we asked for it.
Benji and Benji-ball is a “no brainer”, we should offer him a 2 year extension…Unfortunately, we don’t have many folks with brains in upper Manoa, so we still bending over.
We should recruit for SIZE (OL and DL) and Speed (WR and CB)…As you can’t teach size and speed.
al:
BTT some yahoo decides, Benji will have accepted a position on the mainland
I agree, don’t have to wait until conference play begins.
historically, UH does will in pre-season and struggles in conference play – will it happen again in 2015? same goes for the baseball team.
BTW, anyone going to the BaseB fund raiser on 2/8/15?
IMHO, Chow is so “tunneled vision” on his own concepts he cannot see the many different schemes used by other teams – for a bench warner, it appears very simple and teachable to the offense
notice the number of 3 wide receiver sets used by the “pros” – take one set and let the receivers run different routs/patterns – give them the scheme and let them practice during the off-season
an, stay away from the “flat pass” to the sidelines which very seldom gains any positive yards – Oregon tried it 4 or 5 times and were successful only once
contrarie, FSU did it also with very limited success
and I am sick of “up-the-middle” – why does as OC stay with this when 8 or 9 defensive players are within 3-5 yards of the LOS? Hello? ” do you see what I see?”
Part of the recruiting issue is geography. Yes, with social media and internet, you can find kids easier than in the past, but Hawaii is still a loooooonnngg way from the mainland. UH will never have the ability to easily have a staff member drive a few hours to watch/film a targeted recruit play, only to discover that some of the unknown teammates are really good players too.
On the flip side, UH will never have the availability for recruits (both targeted and unknowns) to be able to drive in on their own for unofficial visits. Most of the time, it’s not financially feasible for mainland players family to fly to tour UH on their own. Almost all of UH’s recruits are official visits, or already have a scholarship offer on the table.
Unofficial visits are a nice tool to have recruits to visit facilities without needing to burn one of the recruits 5 official visits, especially if they get in touch with a “friend/unofficial tour guide” that already attends the school. Local Oahu recruits often take unofficial visits to UH, but the problem is that Oahu has a small population base vs mainland schools and a very limited number of D1 talent to go after. Even most mainland small college towns are within a few hour drive from a metro area.
The question I have is…
How many home visits is the UH coaching staff making at recruits homes?
I have no clue how many home visits UH coaches make to recruits homes. I imagine not as many as other MWC coaches because UH does not have the budget to be booking flights/hotels/transportation to all high priority recruits. Remember, UH can’t exactly just make a weekend road trip to LA or Bay Area when they can visit a dozen recruits like how Fresno or Reno.
I know Nick Saban and Urban Meyer (or at least their top assistant) visit for milk and cookies and give some swag when they are after a key 5-star player.
I do know they’re addressing needs at RB, OL and NT.
I think they like some of the young guys in the secondary — Jerrel Jackson, Jamal Mayo, etc. — but you can never have enough corners.
Trouble with stockpiling is that guys get agitated when they don’t play, particularly when the team isn’t winning a lot.
But you guys are correct that they need to upgrade the overall speed at receiver, corner and linebacker.
They also have to finalize moves for a punter and kicker.
Former UH Athlete:
I think each team is entitled to one home visit, right?
I know they’re doing a bunch of home visits when the dead period is lifted.
And punt returner.
What’s the TV share for CBS and OC12 or OC16? Do you think it’s a good idea on Spencer McLachlin? I mean who for them, and for us, what? Really!
One would have to read in amusement, namely blaming Chow because of the lack of communication with the public especially this time of the year when it is traditionally quiet anyway. Posters, here, bemoan the fact that all they hear are crickets…no information…nothing. Is this on Chow? Or the media? I say media.
Do you think Chow, current players, current recruits or others are shunning the media? Do you think Chow is unapproachable? I don’t think so.
When you follow other teams-Nevada, Boise, UW, USC…there’s a gearth of information. It falls on the media in those places (like it should). You can see that in a second. Here nothing. It’s not on Chow.
The SA should hire jeezy.
Ben Taylor, the UH basketball coach might be out of reach of the local program if the team keeps winning, other programs will offer twice, three times what Hawaii can pay. Without an active A.D. would he submit himself to any kind of binding agreement.
So, while we will be cheering the wins bear in mind others are taking notice,too.
ST – isn’t Spencer McLachlin taking a break from pro vb to recover from a shoulder injury? Don’t think he’s ready to hang it up yet. Not sure if Wade would want another young coach.
aloha all i like the fact that the noga brothers are helping at the UH !!
Would be nice if there kids was ready to play !! it been a long time since we had or got that type of players on UH defence !!
that would be nice to see some old UH GAMES ON OC16 when hawaii beat BYU !! Was like 3 years in row !! chow last couple your there at BYU.
#53:
if not the media, then who at UH is responsible for getting sports information out to the public? SID? coaches?
What is stopping the UH coaching staff from talking to any media person who is willing to listen?
What is stopping the coaches from visiting schools; not the recruit, but to answer any questions any student has? – after all, not all students will be athletes
all I’m saying is be pro-active and find ways to publicize UH sports – don’t go into hibernation because it is the official recruiting “dead period” – do coaches go into hibernation also? do they sit back and twiddle their thumbs away?
Why should UH offer Benji Taylor an extension? That makes no sense. I agree that they should up his pay for this season to HC rate. If they continue to play well (tonight was not a good indicator of that — lazy inbound pass across court to end the game — terrible play call and effort), then you offer him the job at the end of the season. He’s not going to get other offers nor will he be out of reach for UH as someone previously suggested.
ST…the Army went with wang computers in the 80’s. I highly doubt anyone remembers wang.
I dont think any other schools would be interested in any of hawaii’s head coaches, including benji.
Today’s post: http://hawaiiwarriorworld.com/?p=26903