Rolo reunion
Nick Rolovich is back in Hawaii and, early this morning, back on campus for his first official day as head coach.
Rolovich was scheduled to meet with the players at 8 this morning, and will be (re)introduced during a 10 a.m. news conference.
Speculation is two members of the 2015 staff will be retained, and also there are talks to bring back a former UH coach who is with a traditionally good FBS program.
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From last night’s team luau:
COMMENTS
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1st or 2nd ? … . Who is that coach mentioned above ?
Aloha all.
10:00 am and we all will know the scoop. from the scooper himself.
Hope he is smart enough to keep Beemer, this team was in the best shape I have seen in the last 5 years.
Kim Mccloud?
Ikaika Malloe for DC?
They will live stream the news conference starting at 9:55
Dave Aranada!!!
I believe Stephen Tsai says he thinks Chris Naeole and Abe Elimimian will be retained by Rolo. I’m not too comfortable with Naeole because his offensive line was like a revolving door this past season. That would be bad for Rolo’s pass offense. As for that former Hawaii coach, I have no idea. Maybe that’s his Defensive Coordinator. Although I would prefer Coach Tata from Kahuku football team.
Welcome home Rolo, and I do you will bring back the “RUN AND SHOOT” that once lighted up Aloha Stadium scoreboard. Hana hou Hawaii..
Dreaming but considering Rolo will most likely call plays, I wish Rolo would bring in Curtis Johnson from Tulane to be our “OC” by title and fix our WR corps immediately. I assume Rolo will work with the QBs but we need a proven coach like Johnson to recruit and develop WRs like we are used to in the past. And of course, opens up a recruiting pipeline down south which is a huge priority for me.
How is Kennedy Tulimasealii not the MVP? No offense but nobody is close to as valuable or talented as KT on this football team.
id take Dane Uperesa as OL coach over Naeole. but seems like Naeole is a lock.
9. Aint that the truth. Plus this is college football. If you don’t embrace and understand the importance of recruiting, this isn’t the right situation for you. Naeole needs to figure that out. He may have been a heck of a football player. But his ability to evaluate talent has been bad. Offensive line is a unit. You need at least 5 quality guys on the unit to play at a high level to get it done.
so looking like:
Rolo – HC/QB
Smith – “OC”/RB/Assoc HC
Naeole – OL
Stutz/Lelie – WR (i prefer Stutz over Lelie but seems like Rolo is closer to Lelie.)
Malloe – DC/LB
Samuseva – DL?
Abe – DB
I agree with Jeezy on this one, with all due afforded respect to JG, but KT, played a position where we lacked any real depth, where he was always being centered out by the opposition, and still played with distinction.
15. I was referring to team MVP. Gener was the heart of the team this year so I have no problem giving him the defensive player of the year. But the team MVP clearly was KT. In games we were out, KT was still getting sacks and giving the fans something to get excited over with his big hits in the backfield.
Clarke played hurt all season. Inspiring but not exactly most valuable. I mean, our QBs took a pounding.
11…. Kennedy was offside one too many times at crucial times, although the last game he was not.
9…… Abe is a good man, but the defensive backs gave up too many long TD bombs and 3rd down and long passes. Don’t know if it was only the DB’s being the cause.
14. So Abe and Malloe gonna do all the recruiting? That won’t end well if that is our staff.
At a minimum they should have had a co Defensive MVP with KT and JG. I wonder what the odds are the KT comes back for his senior year? We need coaches that can recruit. Good players can mask mediocre coaching.
Kim McCloud would be a good one, but he could never afford the reduction in salary. Besides, he was never a UH coach. The one I am thinking of is Gordy Shaw, OL coach, Houston. He was the OL coach when Rolo was the OC/QB coach 2009-11.
17. That is a talent issue. Not coaching. When your prior staff didn’t recruit speed, you tend to get burned bad. When you have 0 pass rush, that isn’t on your DB coach. When you cannot stop the run and your safeties have to play up, that is not on the DB coach. Abe is going to emphasize track speed guys and you can tell we lack that right now. Nick Nelson is probably the only corner fast enough to keep up.
thats only 7 coaches, so hopefully the last 4 will be big time recruiters.
just my guesses based on on hints ive seen on this blog.
id def like 1 noca, fresno/central, socal and maybe a texas/az/jc guy.
Alabama A &M is a traditionally good FBS program?
Bring back Pisa!
I don’t think Rolo was ever on staff when Malloe was here so I don’t see that relationship,I can see Aranda like I mentioned yesterday slight pay raise and title of Associate HC/DC…plus who the hell wants to be in Wisconsin during the winter….lol
Nick & Malloe were both on Macks 2008 staff
25. Aranda is going anywhere.
USU defensive line coach Ikaika Malloe 2008 coaching staff with Rolo.
Isn’t
Can’t until the presser. Would love to hear what Coach Rolo has to say. I trust him completely (kinda have to) when it comes to his staff. He has a plan and we can only hope they’re a mix of good recruiters and coaches. Bring ’em in COACH! Let’s get the Warrior Train going!
I hope Rolo is going to combine run-n-shoot with pistol mixed with a little semi-traditional offense. Be hard to predict!! We can call it Modified Pro Run-N-Shoot-Pistol Offense…
This way, we can keep the TE if we need pass block or use 2 TEs… TE can be released like traditional offense if necessary. Finally, TE can be lined up as WR or skip the TE and full-on Run-N-Shoot at times… alternately, can go empty back field and use the HB/RB as a WR/SB on certain downs. The team can also use five-WRs set with/without mix of TE and WR in the group…
Uh-oh, stop dreaming!! Still early… need to wait for the news conference…
Thanks big wave I stand corrected they were on the same staff for Mack’s first year
31. I’m ok with TE as long as Tui Unga moves to defense so we have an edge rusher. Chows staff wasted our only edge rusher in Shawley playing him at 3-4 DE.
Aranda is getting paid more than Rolo may get paid
Aranda $480,000 + $117,000 in bonuses
Kalani Stake $500,000 + $41,000 in bonuses
Jeff Ulrich $510,000 + $100,000 in bonuses
Ikaika Malloe $60,750 +$5,063 in bonuses
http://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/salaries/football/assistant
A traditionally good FBS program is not USU. Let the rumors be put to rest with the news conference.
Recruit the good Hawaii players to stay!! C’mon! Good players from Kahuku, Mililani, Punahou, Iolani, Kamehameha, Castle, Leilehua, Farrington, Baldwin, etc. etc. players, please stay and make Hawaii football relevant again!!
Enjoy reading all the speculation but be patient and let the cards fall.
Isn’t Ikaika Malloe currently a coach with the Utah State Aggies? Are they considered a “traditionally” good FBS team?
Honestly, I’m starting to get worried about what kind of staff Rolo will be able to put together.
38. We all have different standards.. By mines, they would fit around average or slightly above.
39. That is the absolute biggest concern as to why I didn’t agree with the hire. Rolo has only coached at Hawaii and Nevada briefly. Lot of other coaches build relationships through multiple jobs at various schools. Kind of hard to get your name out there in coaching community at 2 stops in th same conference.
USC coach Clay Helton’s brother Tyson? lol
Excited to see this press conference. Hope Rolo can keep our top local talents here to stay and play for UH and bring back our winning traditions. I hope he drops the “Rainbow” and go back to just “Warriors”.
Rolo is going to have to depend a lot on his staff to get the job done. As mentioned above, he’s only had coaching experience at 2 places.. Recruiting Is the lifeline in college football.
Good luck Nick!. Hey! All you guys don’t rush him!. He will get his coaching staff together! I really seriously that he goes out to find a new coaching staff in the mainland from other bigger university!. Look at the other colleges new head coach!. They never bring in local coaches!. Just like first year coach from UNLV he has no local coaches on his stall and a lot’s of other university!. Let’s see how he do in three years!
Please no Naeole!!!!
Didnt he quite on Chow for a week
in the begging of season.
I know it seems like a pipe dream. I know it would be a step down in pay, but… Jeff Ulbrich Assistant HC/DC.
9. I prefer to see Tata from Kahuku as our DC as well..
46. Somebody pays attention!!! The blinded ones tend to ignore the obvious issues.
Does anyone know how long it will be until Rolo finalizes his staff?
41. That’s true. But I think it might have to do with the coaching staff budget more than connections to the coaching community.
Tony Sanchez, former high school coach, hired assistants from P5 schools because of the money the Fertitta’s donated that went to help fund his staff.
I dunno, we’ll see. I doubt he will announce his full staff today. Got to give him some time to make some calls.
probably take a few months to finalize his entire staff. but i expect at least 4-5 coaches to be hired within the first couple of weeks.
Cav! Simply the best.
Season isn’t over yet and there might be programs that make some changes to the staff, which might increase the pool of candidates that are be interested in working under Rolo.
Stutz better than Lelie.
Torres better (maybe) than Elimimian.
we can have both.
Elimimian DB
Torres ST/DB
Now there’s a former UH coach from a “traditionally” good FBS team. I don’t know if he’s the one ST is referring to but I think that name fits better than Ikaika.
of course id take Cav or Aranda in a heartbeat. but feel like if it were those coaches Tsai would have said Power 5 school instead of FBS school.
Kevin Lempa?
Does Pisa have any coaching experience Jeezy? Just wondering cause I haven’t seen much about him since retiring
If it’s Cav then why keep Naeole?
Pisa coaches HS in SD area
What about Joe Seumalo? Wasn’t he consider one of the better recruiters when he was at Oregon State. Plus, it will help stop UNLV from taking some Kahuku guys, like he did last year.
52. thanks.
63. Seumalo would be a good pick up for UH. He did lure away some of the Kahuku boys last year and he has built a lot of connections during his coaching tenure.
No live stream?
Pride Rock! I like it that! Protect this house Coach!
1.2 – 1.6 mil for the entire staff including the HC salary. People got to remember we don’t have a champagne budget, nor a beer budget we got a typical UH budget.
would be crazy if he does hire Tyson Helton haha
So Rolo getting about $400,000. Gotta be one of the best intros of a headcoach I have seen. I hope Rolo is successful.
Rolo said that he will take his time in picking his assistants. He wants the right guys.
Press conference I wish we could
find out Rolo philosophy on defense.
Not very good questions asked.
Recruiting starts here in the islands…looking forward to hearing some good news of top local prospects choosing to play for the home team.
I watched it on tv news. KGMB.
Well, that was an interesting interview. Couple questions about scheme or system were asked but went unanswered.
Rolo said he will not be calling the plays. He will focus on being the head coach and hire an OC.
But how do you recruit young men to play for you if you cannot say what system you’re running cause you don’t have coaches in place?
Rolo spoke from the heart. thought he had a lot of emotion in his voice. Said he would leave the play calling to his OC, he wasn’t specific when asked about the type of offense he would run, said he dosen’t have a staff in place.
No chasing championship type quotes.
75. I think he has a plan but will be open to other ideas.
I liked what Rolo had to say about his feelings for Hawaii and it’s people and how it formed him as the man he is today. Also, how it was hard for him to leave, but that he carried Hawaii in his heart wherever he went.
He said he would hire an OC instead of calling the plays. He said that he wanted someone who loved Hawaii and wasn’t gonna leave after one season.
I read in an article that a former teammate of his, Craig Stutzman, is making huge waves on the D3 level as an OC. Stutzman, in an interview spoke of his island home with the same love that Rolo did.
They call his offense the ‘Spread and Shred’! It’s a hybrid of the ‘Run N Shoot’ that is a fast pace, no huddle take no prisoners offense. It sure would be great to see those two teammates back together lighting up the scoreboard at Aloha Stadium and making Hawaii Football great again!
77. That’s what I’m thinking. It will depend on who his offensive coordinator that will have the play-calling duties. Whoever that will be hopefully has the connections to get the right position coaches for his system.
47-that is not “a step down in pay” that is a precipitous fall down a very steep mountain, from 600k to the low six figures in the islands. Jeff also has school agd children—not going to happen.
Great job with press conference by Rolo. You could feel his love and passion for the program. Something you cannot say about Chow regime. All Chows pressers felt pre scripted. “We’re gonna work” “no question” etc. Rolo spoke from the heart and I think fans respect and felt it. I thought he answered all his questions properly. Although lot of us do want to know what his schemes will be.
Oregon is a awesome and attractive school for young athletes… But Vae Malepeai wild be set up for a huge career in Rolo offense. I wonder if Rolo can sell Vae on 4 year starter in front of his family to keep him home. Split carries with Paul Harris in year 1 for a solid 1-2 punch and play with his best friends in Milton and timoteo.. As much as I like Vae, he’s going to struggle to see a lot of touches in Oregon backfield. Royce freeman is a first round pick and they have other good rbs who will also get touches
I don’t recall him answering the question whether he is going to retain anyone from the current staff. Did I miss that?
Getting commitments from that trio in Mililani would be huge
85. No, it was asked and, well, went unanswered.
I think he said something about making early hires then being faced with those hires being hired away from bigger schools a a problem and reason not to rush.
It was probably in reference to an incident where Polian, when putting together a staff, hired a special teams coordinator only to be lured away by Andersen when he took the Wisconsin head coach gig.
Interesting. He says he doesn’t have a staff in place. OK, so who’s going to do the recruiting until he gets some staff, himself? Last I checked we had 5 verbal commitments, Milton, Timoteol, the Leilehua lineman, and 2 guys from California, forgot their names but I think one was a Wilson. I assume Abe recruited the California guys. We need good linemen on both sides, playmakers, everything.
The offensive problems in sustaining drives and putting points on the board hurt the defense as the season went on. Defense played well in the beginning but after key injuries things started to go real bad. End result was about 2 to 1 ratio in points allowed compared to points scored. You can’t win like that. The biggest problem was that Wittek and Woolsey were so bad with their accuracy and their inconsistency. Remember, the most important ingredient in a QB is accuracy.
the 1st year might actually be the easiest to recruit locally. Rolo should go hard after Malepeai, Auwae, Iosefa, Herbig and others in additiona to Milton and Timoteo. sell them on being the future and the core that started the turn around for UH football.
88. Wilson de committed . Going San Jose
Ikaika Malloe would be a great addition. He has coached at a lot of schools and has worked his way up the ladder.
http://www.utahstateaggies.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/ikaika_malloe_889452.html
Rolo said that he doesn’t have a coaching staff in place, and wants to be sure that the coaches he hires is the best fit. In the meantime, who goes out to recruit players?
Jeezy33, at Oregon everybody that they recruit is a star. Freeman is a sophomore.
Thomas Tyner, who is a big time running back missed most of the season with an injury and he will be back. They got about 3 or 4 more good running backs in the program. Malepeai, if he plays as a true freshman will get very limited snaps. He might even redshirt, which is not a bad thing.
If he plays at Hawaii he would play quite a bit his first year. So I agree with you, the opportunity at Hawaii is better. But, Nike has the better stuff!!! Hehe!
68… I like to liken UH’s coaches salary pool as the “Franzia” budget.
#boxwine
#83 Agreed. Last time I felt that way was during JJ’s presser.
I think Oregon may have other plans for Melepeai than running back.
I was a bit skeptical but I like what I heard and am beginning to believe Rolo is the right fit.
I liked that Rolo acknowledged and thank all of his former teammates and coaches.
Other than Rolo not planning to call plays, nothing new learned from that intro talk.
The schedule will be a killer (again) & the budget he has to work with is worse.
Rolo’s a smart guy & he is well liked. He can’t do it alone, though, he’ll need help and soon . . .
Ole Diver 96.
I too was skeptical. But after I heard his heart, I think Rolo has the makings of a great HC.
He had the wisdom to understand that it would be overwhelming as an OC AND HC. I hope Stutz gets consideration at OC and Miano at DC.
Old Diver 96.
I too was skeptical. But after I heard his heart, I think Rolo has the makings of a great HC.
He had the wisdom to understand that it would be overwhelming as an OC AND HC. I hope Stutz gets consideration at OC and Miano at DC.
2016 Warrior Schedule
Cal in Sydney
@Michigan
Tennessee-Martin
@Arizona
UMass
@Air Force
@San Diego
Boise State
New Mexico
Nevada
@San Jose State
UNLV
@Fresno State
You could hear the pride in Rolo’s voice in regards to what a special place and how much Hawaii and the University of Hawaii mean to him. What better way to build a program then to do it with a foundation of pride….Being from Hawaii that is one thing we can all agree on is having a sense of pride in community and state I think that heartfelt sentiment will go along way recruiting locally…
Can’t Rolo use the current coaches to review who was being recruited and hopefully secure the recruits that he wants? They are on payroll until March 2016.
Recruiting? I think it’s going to be a really tough row to hoe this year. Cannot expect too much, but hoping the following year will be a lot better. Keeping Milton committed to Hawaii has to be a top priority. Interesting who he will get to be his Offensive Coordinator.
Stutz 1 was one of my favorite players. I would really love to see him get a shot. If I recall correctly Stutz was pretty good as a chaperone/recruiter while playing at UH.
ST- Am I remembering correctly?
If I were Rolo I would approach Vince Passas to be QB coach
maybe its just me, but i think the first year is easy. there’s an excitement of change. the coaches also have an excuse for recruiting the player late in the recruiting period bc its a new regime that just got hired.
80. “Spread and Shred” sounds nice.
It’s just that that type of offense requires WRs that can catch. There’s going to need to be a lot of changes there.
The allure of the spread is being mitigated somewhat because so many teams now run a variation of the spread. Defenses have learned to defend it better. 10 years ago, the passing spread (RnS or Air Raid) was the equalizer to compete vs teams of better talent, now that the talented teams run spread, talent and speed is reigning supreme again.
20-25 years ago, it was the west coast offense that took the FB world by storm. A few decades before that it was the triple-option. Before that was the play-action pass.
In the past 4 years (more like 7 years for Ault’s Nevada pistol read-option or Chip Kelly’s Oregon spread read-option), it’s been the read-option and tempo that’s the hot scheme or play set that gives defenses fits.
Looking at Rolo’s offenses, statistically, they have trended down the longer he’s with the team (the only anomaly was 2010 UH). I would hope Rolo adds some new wrinkles to his base package to keep defenses on their heels. In the NFL, defenses adjust much quicker to new schemes, because of a limited number of teams, and much more preparation time during a week. You’re already seeing the read-option limited to just a handful of plays per game now. The wildcat set is basically extinct at the NFL level already and only a handful of teams run a set in college.
At the college level, the roster turnover and thinner talent pool gives schemes more longevity before needing to be replaced.
Local recruiting will always be a tough nut to crack. Until we change the overall culture of Hawaii, we will never get a great percentage of the best Hawaii HS recruits.
The culture in Hawaii has been “go to the mainland because it is better.” Whether is for school, vacation, shopping, or football, its always been go away to get better. This has to change. We need to make it a priority to keep our best home!!
Also, everyone that has grown up in Hawaii will bleed their HS colors before they bleed UH. Ask anyone what school did you go to, locals will likely say their HS vs, their college. They all bleed buffnblu, kahuku nation, blue/red of St.Louis, maroon/white of Farrington, etc.
We all need to put pressure on our best possible recruits to stay home. It is a joke that our local papers put recruits as headlines when to commit to mainland schools. They should be covered, but on a back page next the small ads in the sports section. We should be covering our local athletes that stay home (UH, UHH, HPU, Chaminade, BYUH) before those at Power 5 schools. Get rid of the Homegrown report. If their families and friends want to know how they are doing, there is something called the internet.
That was an impressive speech by Coach Rolovich. It came from the heart and will appeal to many. I support Coach, but he (and the program) needs to get a lot of help from the University and the State, though. Will it be back to the dance studios for fall camp? I hope not.
Utah State is finishing up their new press box with luxury boxes, lodges, upgrades to concessions, and a training table dining facility at a cost of some $35 million. Lahainaluna built a new $7 million dollar stadium and field through the generosity of a part-time resident. UH is still in the midst of a $3 million dollar shortfall and can’t get out of it. How serious are the leaders of the university and State government about providing the best for the football program, which in turn brings in revenue to the State of Hawaii? Very troubling.
The Truth is UH Admin. and politicians won’t let UH football die because it still generates $. But don’t expect help either. Mediocre is fine by them… but as soon as we go to a big Bowl Game they come out of the wood work with their palms out for tickets etc…
I’m behind you Rolo, we all need to be, because Upper Campus and Hawaii Politicians (a few exceptions 🙂 ) will say they are, but won’t be. S.O.S.
Old guns such as Rich Ellerson or Brian Cabral (if he’s interested) would be interesting as DCs and could be a big help in kickstarting the defense. Ikaika Malloe would also be a good pick (young, bright, experienced, and enthusiastic). Had to take note that Utah’s DC, John Pease (also coaches the D-Line), is 71 years old and his players love him.
I doubt he would take it, but Rich Ellerson is one hell of a DC.
I wonder why we didn’t wear those white helmets before, I thought it looked pretty sharp.
I know Rolo will do whatever is in his power to help the program succeed.
After Rolo spoke, would have been nice if Matlin & Bley-Vroman spoke on what THEY plan to do to help Rolo & the Football program succeed.
(Or maybe they have no plan or see their role as completed?)
MW commish Craig Thompson says: “We will probably vacate the Las Vegas Bowl this year.” That puts BYU in Vegas. Cal rumored opponent.
#115 I too liked the look. The combo in which it was used this past game, not so much. I hear the few say bring back the silver, I actually hope they don’t. This is a new era of Hawaii football.
It’s funny there will probably be a few 7-5 teams that will go bowling because they don’t have enough bowl-eligible teams.
Meant 5-7 teams that will go bowling.
dead period, dec 14 – january 13. we got 2 weeks to start things up
As others have said, I liked that Rolovich spoke from the heart, and thanked the many people who helped bring him to this stage in his life. Particularly enjoyed how he rattled off the names of his former teammates, and how each did something little to help him learn what aloha truly means.
Also liked his closing Lion King metaphor :”Pride Rock has a chance.”
Maybe it’s time to print new T-shirts: “It’s time to Rock and Rolo!” Ouch. Sorry for the bad pun.
Any opinions on Miano?
Support Rolo, but no need for cheesy T Shirts. We’ve been down that road before and all that money spent on Chow Time Ts are being used as rags to clean bathrooms at this point.
wow, jeezy….you’re such a dick….chow’s gone…leave him alone already
Good afternoon Tsaikos. Welcome Coach Rolo….now, I’m curious to see who will make up his staff. That’s going to be the key.
Hopefully, we can also get a good mix of local and mainland recruits who have skills and speed… 🙂
#123….Well, if cheesy T-shirts make the program some quick cash, I’m ok with it…LOL. Those Chow Time Ts sold by the thousands according to Butigroove at $25 a pop with I think $15 going to UH.
123.
That “Chow Time” motto had a pretty funny double entendre, akin to an Oregon State tee, if you thought long and hard about it.
I don’t want to get banned from the site, so I’ll just leave it at that.
“I’m going to Rolo my sleeves and get to work.”
114.
And Bob Wagner.
The young quarterbacks on the team like Rolo and plan to return. I am not surprised. He is a players coach.
126. Time to rolo rolo.
You can roll a Rolo to your pal, it’s chocolate covered, cara-mel,
roll a Rolo to your chums, it’s chewy and it’s chocolate and it’s lots of fun!
You can roll a Rolo to your friend, it’s chocolate covered caramel from end to end!
While I liked Rolo saying Hawaii is home but Norm Chow said the same type of thing as well! I not getting sucked into that emotional connection speech/feeling.
Rolo says the X&O’s and scheme doesn’t matter it the players unity that wins games. Rolo better hire some high quality coaches that can recruit and know X&O’s to put the players in position to make plays.
Im not worried about the players buying into what Rolo is selling because the ones that are not buying in, will be leaving. Winning will get the players to bond and fight for one another.
Hawaii has been out coached the during he Norm Chow era for many offensive stumbles. So Rolo need to get staff in place that know there X&O’s, because a group of football smart coaches will put the players in position to make plays.
I not letting the emotional press conference of Hawaii is home, soften up my stance that Rolo has to get the sinking ship righted. 1st year honey moon, 2nd year honey moon is over a losing record is still expected. 3rd year better have a winning season and a bowl game. 4th year Bowl game and MW Championship game. Same expectation I had for Norm Chow.
Yep, “Chow Time” was cheesy. “Rolo” candy t-shirts would be cheesy too.
But if there were t-shirts that said “PRIDE ROCK” with the “H” logo, I would definitely would buy several. Plus it would be popular with the keiki’s as they would understand the meaning.
Just no Simba shirts. Mahalo.
My oen cheesy gimmicky slogan for t-shirts: ” dats how we rolo…”
Rolovich said QB run game is important (on sports animals) tempo and using the playmakers on offense. But will let his OC run the offense. Will be contacting local recruits right away. He said his recruiting footprint would be in California and likes Utah (Polynesian players and large population in general) but not further east plus Samoa and Australia.
Just scanned over the season long stats and two things jumped out that I had to double check to see if they were right…
-First, UH only forced 3 INTs. This is terrible. Only Rice had fewer. Yes that is tied for 124th best in the country.
-Second, Rigo Sanchez only had 11 FG attempts (made 8 of 11). Hard to believe UH only attempted 11 FGs in a 13 game season.
-Third, UH had 25 sacks, but only 22 QB hits.
While the sack total is about average, the QB hit total seems really low (stat tracked by UH but not NCAA).
The rest of the stats are ugly but not surprising when I saw them. I thought I’d just note the unusual ones.
Would June Jones be out of the question as O.C. ? Hmm
Didn’t Rolo say, “Live Aloha… but play Warrior”? There’s your slogan right there: “Play Warrior!”
Another very positive virtue of the new coach–he is from Northern California and connected to the quality Junior College programs. (SF, Laney, CC, Butte, ARC, Sac City etc.)
Reno is like an island and Nevada has always recruited very well in Northern California and the Central Valley. The HS power situation in California has shifted north and last year all but one State Championship slot was won by teams north of Bakersfield. UH has always had a pipeline from the LA and OC. Time to get some of those hungry and often overlooked players in Valley.
CCSF, where Rolo played and coached, has again advanced to the California JC championship game … which speaks for the talent it has.
The clues from Tsai say it is Cavanaugh. Nebraska is a “traditional” powerhouse– maybe not a current power, but traditionally yes.
Rolo said he got 700 friends. It may take a while to fill his staff. I am fine with that. Don’t want another Price. Want someone who wants to be here.
I’m not liking what I’m hearing. Sounds like he already underestimated the job. He must have met the donor class. His speaking ability seems underwhelming. UH needs a guy who can sell swamp land to a Harvard Alum.
I love the phrase Rolo coined.
“Live Aloha, Play Warrior” it’s t-shirt time!
The OC/RB has to be Brian Smith, who has those roles at Oxy. Obviously, Smith is someone Rolo trusts and works well with. If, as Stephen “guesses,” Abe and Naeole will be retained, where would that leave Cav?
Like everyone else, just speculation.
It would be great to get Mike Cavanaugh, again, but he currently earns $400,000 ($450,000 in 2016) at Nebraska. That would be a huge pay cut to coach at UH. Ikaika Malloe as DC would be a good hire and possible, though, considering his salary at USU.
http://journalstar.com/sports/huskers/football/nu-releases-salary-info-for-husker-assistants/article_a67b0096-beeb-5c99-ae05-4198ff7712e8.html
My guess on the former UH coach could be Buzzy Preston. Maybe him and his wife(who is the sister of a old friend) feel its time to come home. Paul Johnson could be on his way out so Buzzy could be looking for work.
Buzzy coached db….rb…wr ……..so he could fit in anywhere Rolo wants him.
Wow, can’t wait till next season! I loved how he used the Lion King analogy. Oh, man that’s it! I’m wearing my Lion King t-shirt with Simba on it on the first game at Aloha stadium (pride rock). You rock coach Rolo! Hakuna Matata! No worries bu I get um!
“Does Pisa have any coaching experience Jeezy? Just wondering cause I haven’t seen much about him since retiring”
Pisa tinoisamoa has 1 year of high school coaching experience, as far as i know. it would be stupid to put him on staff. “We need experienced coaches because rolo will rely heavily on them! quick! let’s go out and grab ANY former UH player with little or no coaching experience and a first year high school coach with some positional coaching experience at the college level!”
i’m very curious as to how rolo will run the team, who will be the coaches, what kind of offense they are gonna run, etc. I also have low expectations for the first year because it will be a major transition and the schedule is pretty brutal. But a lot of the “he needs to staff his assistants with x,y, and z, becuase recruiting, and the offense and etc etc,” is funny.
none of us really know. yet we speak so confidently about it. but i would definitely like more information, preferably from ST or a star advertiser writer, about the offensive philosophy and the direction that rolo envisions the team going, but that will come out in due time.
Rolo has a budget of 800k to 1.2 mil to spread around between 2 coordinators and 7 assistants. This based on the 1.2 – 1.6 mil figures as reported being available for the entire coaching staff.
“…former UH coach who is with a traditionally good FBS program.”
Traditionally good.
Traditionally good.
Traditionally good.
Tradition
Tradition
Tradition
Stanford?
Nebraska?
Wisconsin?
Norte Dame?
Georgia Tech?
BYU?
Hmmmm. Who could that be?
Clay Helton is now permanent USC head coach. Quick call Tyson.
Saw Rolo on the news talking defense.
147. Stupid to put the best LB in past 20 at Hawaii on staff? Do you think assistant coaches just pop up with experience? How do u think guys like Jeff Ulbrich and Adrian Klemm get started? What kind of budget do you think we have? Yes there needs to be some veteran assistants but LB coach is a position where you can gamble on someone young with a big name like Pisa. Coordinators, O line coach, and QB coach are positions you want experience. I’m pretty sure a lb like Pisa knows what he’s doing when it comes to lbs.
GOOD EVENING, HAWAII!
More candidates for assistant coaches than the Republicans have fore presidential candidates!
Whoever Coach Rolo picks will be his choices and if it coincides with yours, great. If not, too bad.
ST on but seriously right now.
ST said traditional good FBS program. He didn’t say it was a Power 5 school.
“147. Stupid to put the best LB in past 20 at Hawaii on staff?”
depends if he’s a good coach. and it’s not even clear that he is, because he has no coaching experience to speak of at all. therefore, unless he’s actually an extremely outstanding coach and a can’t miss coaching prospect, it would be pretty stupid to just pencil him in at linebacker coach just because he was a successful college linebacker. i would feel the same whether it was pisa or if it was The Boz.
” Do you think assistant coaches just pop up with experience? How do u think guys like Jeff Ulbrich and Adrian Klemm get started?”
probably the same way almost all other coaches get experience at the college level: as grad assistants, defensive assistants, and so on, until they get promoted up the ranks.
What kind of budget do you think we have?”
must be a tough budget that we need to hire coaches with zero college or pro level coaching experience, even as a grad assistant.
” Yes there needs to be some veteran assistants but LB coach is a position where you can gamble on someone young with a big name like Pisa.”
why? what’s so special/not special about a LB coach that someone with no experience can take the reigns and do well and if he can’t it’s okay? i mean, what makes you think this guy can even COACH? great players don’t necessarily make good coaches. they’re different skill sets.
“Coordinators, O line coach, and QB coach are positions you want experience.”
do you know this as a fact? as in, in the world of high level football, LB coaches don’t need coaching experience for whatever reason, but coordinators, o-line, and QB coach are essential, or are you making this up because it SOUNDS like it would make sense?
Troubled by this statement by Coach. This sounds like the right attitude with all of the challenges coaching here, but it plays right into the hands of “do nothing” and “no support” UH Administrators and State Legislators. From the HHN report:
Another challenge facing Rolovich: Aging facilities at UH, long a concern among UH players and prospects.
But Rolovich said the UH doesn’t need fancy facilities to win.
“If a kid is going to choose to not come to this program and be part of something special because of the facilities, maybe he’s not the right kind of kid for us,” he said.
Hope it’s not back to bentos and sleeping in the dance studio for the team.
much is being discussed about salary for UH coaches and tossed around like play money
anyone feel that a UH HC must be buying a house in Kahala?
how many of us do not even come close to making the salary that an assistant coach will start with, but we live within our “means” — comfortable, well kept lawn/house in any Honolulu area — our castle!
if you make minimum wage and expect to eat steak and lobster 2 or 3 times a week — then, you will go broke — family life will leave a lot to be desired.
parents scrimp and save to send their kids to a “private school” — what’s wrong with public school? is it better to be tagged as Punahou or Iolani? or, is it what the child does with his/her education and athletic opportunities? what’s wrong with McKinley or Farrington or Radford or Waipahu or Roosevelt?
my nephew who lives in Seattle declined a baseball scholarship from Stanford — he’s 6′ 2″, about 200 #s and throws the ball consistently in the mid to high 90’s – he is waiting for Ubub to offer so he can live close to home — told him that he has more blood relatives living in Hawaii than Seattle – he said, “thank you uncle, but my parents and brothers/sisters all live in/around Seattle”.
“parents scrimp and save to send their kids to a “private school” — what’s wrong with public school?”
i know this isn’t your point, but to be fair, a kid really does have a lot more opportunities (educational and otherwise) available to him/her going to private school than public school. A bright kid will succeed in either environment, but private schools, at least the big ones, in terms of instruction, resources, overall learning environment, and curriculum, are much better than public school.
just a quick example: in public school, for the most part, it’s not cool to do homework. in private school, if you don’t do homework, skip class (you’ll get kicked out for this), and in general, act like a moron, for the most part, other kids will be like “what the hell is wrong with you?”
just from a learning environment perspective, there’s a culture of excellence and achievement in the classroom that public school lacks, and i feel like just that in and of itself is a major advantage.
…and this is coming from a public school grad.
traditionally good school with tradition could be Notre Dame…
Kim McCloud is a DC at Tulsa, I believe. Not a Power 5 conf, but aFBS school. Just a thought. Kim played at Radford with Kenny.
Nice interview with Coach Rolo on Channel 16 now.
Re: Learning environment
Private school vs public school?
The difference is in the student make up in class.
In private school, students in a particular class are there with classmates with similar academic skills sets.
In public school, there are a lot of students that transfer in from other countries with reading skills a lot lower than their current grade level. Students are placed in grade levels according to age. For example, some countries, schools are not mandatory. They move to Hawaii and they are immediately placed in high school because of their age.
Imagine your son or daughter is in the same class with one of these students. The teacher is then told, you have to reach ALL students through differentiated learning. Is the class level lowered to meet the needs of the ALL students? You bet!
On top of that, you have principals at middle schools who believe failure is not an option because they don’t want a 17 year old 8th grader. Does social promotion exist? It sure does.
504’S, IEP’s, ELL’s, differentiated learning all exist to meet the needs of ALL students. If you are given the chance to send your son or daughter to a private school, send them. There is no comparison.
Rolo just got the job a few days ago yet some expect him to already announce his staff? Geez, give the kid some time to work the phones and sell the job opportunity…
Derek: I think you mean Brian Norwood.
Derek, I think you mean Brian Norwood who played with Niumatalolo at Radford and is the Tulsa DC. Kim McCloud is Dino’s assistant head coach, he should just follow Dino wherever he goes.
#155. #157. Back at challenging opinions. In public school for the most part doing home work is uncool. Is this a fact or opinion?
155. This is Hawaii . U have have to do things a little outside the box sometimes. Ulbrich got. St coaching position right away in Seattle and got a ucla job after 1 year. If he has the same passion for Hawaii football Rolo has, he’s worth calling.
Most assistants we go after are going to be gambles anyway.
158 and 162. It’s talk like your respective posts that cause kids to feel inferior / superior. Public schools vs Private. I have seen first hand the hurtful words you spew have on children without the means to attend private school.
I have seen kids succeed and fail coming from either type of education. The number one thing needed to succeed is the will and drive to put in the work. Talk like yours is just ignorant.
Special teams is the only area where Hawaii has been good. The team has been under par in every other area including being able to keep up in the fourth quarter. People have commented that the team has been in shape, but the test is on the field, and that is on Beemer. I see only one coach to keep. What other area, other than special teams, has been good ? Even in the past few years .
Sorry DoubleB, 167, didn’t mean to change the subject. You are right of course. The will. A little bit of drive. And might throw in a caring teacher or two.
142.
When I first heard Laura Beeman talk, I thought: This team is going to win.
At the outset, she had a clear vision as to where the women’s basketball program was headed.
She had gravitas.
Public speaking matters.
This is why Maizie Hirono broke the Golden State Warriors-like streak of democratic governors.
Dana Takahara-Dias did not sound like a Division I basketball coach.
I hope Timmy Chang isn’t on Coach Rolovich’s wish list for the vacant quarterback coach’s job.
I think Jackson State is a pretty intriguing gig.
Smack dab in SEC country, you never know.
I worry about Colt Brennan. Is he qualified to be the QB coach, and does he have any sort of relationship with Rolovich?
Every time Tim Tebow threw a pass, I would get angry.
Brennan was better than him.
June Jones probably felt like kicking in the television.
Nick Rolovich-Calm, clear, aware, and focused. This is what you get when you talk to people and not at them. Nick Rolovich will be successful and get this team competitive. His head and heart are in the right place. It’s about time that we have an identity. Rally behind him and get those season tickets now NR is the first guy in last eight years who clearly has a plan that is all inclusive-like he said if you don’t want to “get it” you can always just go home. What a message for all of us. For me It took some time but even though not physically there-I will never leave in my own heart! GO WARRIORS!!!!
Watched the news conference yesterday. Nick seemed to have a good overall philosophy and I am sure the kids will play hard for him. My only concern is that one of the main reasons we hired him is his diverse pedigree in offenses and we find out that he will not be calling the plays and instead will be turning it over to an OC. His OC and DC hires in the coming days are going to be critical to the success and maybe the survival of the program.
Is JJ still available? (I know, all you JJ haters out there…..enough with the JJ talk right) hehe.
168. I wouldn’t say our special teams has been the only area Hawaii’s been good at, I really can’t remember the last time we returned a punt or kickoff for a TD. We’ve had good punters because our offense failed to sustain drives which in return gave our punters a lot of opportunities. I’m intrigued to see who our OC and DC will be. Rolo understands that he can’t do both OC and HC which is great. I seen someone mention adding Pisa to our staff, that would be great, open up the recruiting pipeline in San Diego and also poly’s all over because he is well known. and of course, hope that Vavae Tata is on the staff as well. Go Warriors!
“In public school for the most part doing home work is uncool. Is this a fact or opinion?”
anecdotal based on my 12 years of going to public school and five years working in that system. I’m sure other public school grads (and teachers) can confirm, in terms of learning environment, student motivation from top to bottom, attitudes towards classroom achievement, and so on.
i don’t think i’m way off the mark here, especially when talking about certain schools and school districts. do you?
“Public schools vs Private. I have seen first hand the hurtful words you spew have on children without the means to attend private school.
I have seen kids succeed and fail coming from either type of education.”
i know. nobody is saying that you can’t succeed in public school. please read what i wrote instead of emotionally and defensively reacting to what you THINK i wrote.
i already aknowledged that successful kids will be successful regardless. there’s nothing hateful or hurtful that was “spewed” about public school in my post. It’s reality. in private school, the best students are selected through test scores and interviews (and for the most part, these students come from middle class and higher socioeconomic backgrounds, which confers a bunch of advantages in and of itself). this in and of itself will obviously create a superior learning environment than a public school that is forced to take everyone.
private schools have far more resources available and the autonomy to use them as they want to. We’re talking money, high end laptops issued to each student, campus-wide wifi, air conditioning in every classroom, projectors, books, etc etc.
private school teachers are (at least in the big schools) paid more and also have much more freedom to design curriculum and implement new and innovative educational strategies in the classroom, versus public school which forces teachers to adhere rigidly to common core and basically teach to a standardized test. hiring standards, at least in the big schools, are more rigorous, and most teachers have graduate degrees in their fields, including phds.
if we’re measuring success by academic achievement (which most schools do), then yes, bright and driven kids will succeed in either environment and the top public school kids can absolutely compete and outclass the top private school kids. but when you look at the learning environments for ALL students, top to bottom, private schools outclass public schools by a large amount, even in terms of percentage of population going to college and ESPECIALLY percentage of students going to mainland colleges. the top 15-20% in any given public school is full of strong students. When you go to private school, in general, the ENTIRE student population would be the top 20% (or higher) in a public school.
certain schools like punahou are also KNOWN to be academically competitive within the school. kids comparing GPAs and test scores and wanting to outdo the other.
This isn’t a knock on public schools. when you have a private school that can self select, kick underachieving students out, and charge a lot of money for tuition, it obviously produces a better and more rigorous classroom environment. parents aren’t stupid. they’re not gonna throw $30k+ for a high school education if there’s no significant differences between a private school and a public school.
Please no Colt Brennan for any UH coaching position. He is an absolute train wreck. Chang would be much more qualified and I would really like Morrison to come back but he is set in Texas where his daughter and granddaughter live.
New post: http://hawaiiwarriorworld.com/?p=34658