Know Thine Enemy: Hawaii Comment Count

Alex Cook

hawaii osu

Some of the best uniforms in college football

The Lede

In the BCS era, only five programs from the non-automatic bid conferences made it into a big bowl game – Utah and TCU each made it twice and are now in Power 5 conferences, Boise State also played in two BCS (and one New Year’s Six) games and usually is one of the best mid-major teams, and NIU, with one BCS bowl appearance, has won its division in the MAC seven straight times. And then there’s Hawaii. After Greg McMackin left the program amid controversy relating to a homophobic slur McMackin used in an interview, Hawaii hired Norm Chow, who proceeded to go a combined 10-36 from 2012 until most of the way through 2015 – he was fired before the season ended by a new athletic director.

Hawaii reached its apex with that undefeated regular season and Sugar Bowl appearance* back in 2007, but the Rainbow Warriors have largely struggled since and are on their third crack at replacing June Jones, who left after that year to coach SMU. That 2007 team was amazing (and has a really well-detailed Wikipedia page, which is something I’m sure Michigan fans can appreciate): UH didn’t play the toughest schedule, but they won six(!) one-score games en route to a 12-win season behind Colt Brennan and Jones’s wide-open Run-and-Shoot offense. Unfortunately, Hawaii is far removed from those days, which seem like a distant memory.

Of course, the recent losing amplifies the underlying existential uncertainty that seems to follow Hawaii around. Their football program was rescued by the Mountain West after the WAC fell apart, but supposedly the unique (mostly financial) challenges of college football’s most remote outpost generate an undercurrent of rumors about the solvency of the program. There haven’t been any indications that the Rainbow Warriors won’t be playing football in the future, though attendance issues and extreme travel costs are cause for concern. Since the program has been around since five decades before Hawaii became a state, it seems unlikely that the program would ever be forced to drop down a division or quit football entirely – but I guess you never know.

*Georgia destroyed them, but still.

[After the JUMP, the scoop on UH]

rolovich jones

Left – former Hawaii QB and current coach Nick Rolovich / Right – June Jones.

So This New Coach?

Apparently hiring alumni starting quarterbacks is all the rage these days (it’s worked out all right for us so far), because Hawaii decided to give its head coaching job to Nick Rolovich, a former Rainbow Warrior who once threw for eight touchdowns in an upset against a then-undefeated BYU team in a season finale. Though Rolovich’s pedigree might suggest an attempt to return to the Jones-style pass-happy offense that saw so much success at Hawaii, Rolovich spent the last four years as the offensive coordinator at Nevada, a program synonymous with the Pistol offense, which was invented by former long-time coach Chris Ault.

After a brief career in European and Arena League football, Rolovich made his way up the coaching ladder at Hawaii: his first full-time coaching job was with Jones’s successor McMackin as the quarterbacks coach, and he was eventually promoted to offensive coordinator. He landed at Nevada in the aftermath of the McMackin resignation, and did well there with Colin Kaepernick’s successor, Cody Fajardo. Still, that his offense worsened every year (according to Bill Connoly’s S&P+) is a bit alarming.

Ultimately, Rolovich should – and likely will – have plenty of time to succeed. He’s inheriting a team that went 3-10 last year and finished 120th out of 128 FBS programs, and former coach Norm Chow didn’t seem to leave much that would indicate hope in the short-term. While Rolovich is a young, unproven commodity as a head coach, he definitely has the knowledge of how Hawaii operates as a program, which is crucial given its recruiting dynamics. His motto is “Live Aloha and Play Warrior” which seems pretty chill and is extremely on-brand.

Any Chance Against Michigan?

Nope.

We all have the associated fear that comes along with having once suffered a historic upset in the season opener, but there’s not much about this Hawaii team that would lead to concern. First and foremost, the game will be played at 6:00 A.M. Hawaiian time, a week after the Rainbow Warriors play a game in Australia(?) against Cal to open the college football season. The scheduling gods gifted Harbaugh four straight non-conference noon home games against teams located across the West to start his tenure at Michigan; as anyone who watched Stanford derp around and lose to Northwestern in a 9:00 A.M. PST clunker can attest, the much-famed “body-clock” is a real thing. Playing a Harbaugh team at six in the morning just sounds horrible, and when you consider that Hawaii is just starting a massive rebuild, this game has all the ingredients for a blowout.

The Rainbow Warriors were slated to return First-Team All-MWC defensive end Kennedy Tulimasealii, and he potentially would have been a great test for an inexperienced player in Grant Newsome, but he was suspended after being arrested twice this spring and there’s a pretty good chance he won’t play for Hawaii ever again (related: Hawaii is fifth in the Fulmer Cup standings right now). He would have been the player to watch in this game – now it’s probably running back Paul Harris, who will be facing a tough day against a ferocious Michigan defensive line.

Even though they may not be great on the field this year, the Rainbow Warriors always have at least one thing going for them (in addition to those awesome, throwback-inspired uniforms that debuted last season): their names. Hawaii is always in the elite tier of player names, and this year is no exception. So…

Best Names:

10. Malachi Mageo (LB)

9. Manly Williams (DL)

8. Keoki Kaiahua (K)

7. Ikaika Woolsey (QB)

6. Penitito Faalologo (DL)

5. Tumua Tuinei (LB)

4. Meffy Koloamangi (DL)*

3. Davasyia Hagger (TE)

2. Rojesterman Farris II (DB)

1. Makani Kema-Kaleiwahea (DL)

As I’m sure you can guess, there were some very tough omissions. Of course, this list is very deliberate and the process of choosing the names was very stressful.

*Meffy’s brother Leo is also on the team

hawaii football uniforms

Seriously, these uniforms are so clean

Last season, Michigan had to open the season on the road against a quality opponent in Utah. Surely it wasn’t a gentle way to break in a new quarterback, and Michigan wound up losing. This year’s opener couldn’t be much more different. As far as FBS programs go, Hawaii is one of the easiest possible draws on the schedule – and those kids are going to have to play an East Coast nooner seven days after playing another Power 5 opponent in AUSTRALIA. I sincerely hope that the Rolovich era goes well because he’s definitely a “Hawaii Man” (if such a thing exists) and it’s a very fun program during the good times. Whether it works out or not, it might take quite a while to find out, as this might be a de facto mulligan year for the Bows.

Comments

PopeLando

May 31st, 2016 at 3:51 PM ^

The very best part of that episode was when Leela is revealed as a woman and Zapp's reaction: "oh thank God"

No, the best part was definitely the deployment of troops: "The key to our battle plan is the element of surprise. So... surprise!"

No wait, the real best part was Nixon describing Kissinger's negotiating skills: "with that face, he talked his way into Jill St. John's bed. Enough said."

Dammit, that whole episode was phenomenal.

RHammer - SNRE 98

May 31st, 2016 at 11:37 AM ^

"There haven’t been any indications that the Rainbow Warriors won’t be playing football in the future, though attendance issues and extreme travel costs are cause for concern."

This set of concerns is potentially quite important; I believe they warrant a series of site visits by selected members of this illustrious blog community to confirm or deny the validity and efficacy of said concerns

WolverineHistorian

May 31st, 2016 at 11:44 AM ^

I thought they dropped the 'Rainbow' part from their 'Rainbow Warriors' name...but they've got rainbows on their away uniforms in that above picture...so, never mind?

I didn't even know that Norm Chow had been coaching them the last several years.




Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad

MadMatt

May 31st, 2016 at 4:06 PM ^

If you want a look at their normal uniforms, look at the photo of their new coach when he was a player.  The green and black combo is bad ass, and definitely evokes the sense of the Polynesian warrior spirit.  You should also see them do a Haka war chant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8qOZ5dKKTc

Really impressive.

As far as "I didn't even know that Norm Chow had been coaching them the last several years," apparently neither did his players, judging from results.  (Ba-dum-bump.  Hey I'll be here all week.  Remember to tip your waitress.)

Elmer

May 31st, 2016 at 11:45 AM ^

I thought it was Dan Marino when I first glanced at the photo.  

Should have noticed that the QB wasn't wearing Isotoner gloves.

Everyone Murders

May 31st, 2016 at 12:23 PM ^

Can't muster up much emotion about this game (grateful for the writeup, though).  This, however, goes here (and I'll be disappointed if this is not shown on the big screen at the game):

 

rindyn

May 31st, 2016 at 12:25 PM ^

If they would just get rid of the rainbow on the jersey and pants it would be fine.  It looks cool on the helmet bc it's a full logo and you know what it's representing.  The rest just looks like a power puff girl uniform.

AFWolverine

May 31st, 2016 at 12:31 PM ^

This game feels like it should be when you buy a new video game and they spend the first level in demo mode teaching you how to play. No real ability to lose, and game play is only stopped to provide you with the next step in how to play and win. The fact that our instruction book has Harbaugh on the cover is the death knell.

Tunneler

May 31st, 2016 at 1:37 PM ^

I asked him how he got that, & he said he was named after some dead relative of his.  All of the grandchildren got that middle name, even the grandaughters.  Lucky girls.

uferfan

May 31st, 2016 at 1:41 PM ^

Hawai'i would seem like a great place to play college football. Unfortunately, they have no money in their athletic deaprtment to pay for anything. A big reason for this is because their budget is eaten up in travel expenses for all sports.  

Regarding football specifically, their facilities are atrocious. They play in a dual purpose stadium (that has stands that are on gigantic rollers that can be moved around to convert the field from baseball to football- it's pretty crazy to see for such a large stadium). Their practice field is basically an open field that you might see at your local playground. Their weight room looks like they inherited a Curves or a Vic Tanny and just use their old, worn out equipment.

June Jones wanted back in to coach this Hawai'i team. The problem is that he left the state for SMU after some not-so-good off the field issues took place and I don't think he is welcome to come back any time soon.

I think that they'll remain a Division I school as long as they keep the football team travelling to the big schools for a paycheck (Ohio St. and USC last year), but I don't think they'll ever return to what they were under June Jones.

uferfan

May 31st, 2016 at 2:14 PM ^

He liked the ladies. Some of his actions got him into hot water. The islands are not very big, and word travels quickly.

The true UH fans wanted him back in the worst way. The athletic department and some others who may have felt wronged; not so much.

Several years ago, a UH professor named Joel Fischer wrote an open letter to the Honolulu Advertiser outlining the many issues that Jones had while at Hawai'i. I can scour the land of Google for a link (after I get out of work)- it laid out an array of problems.

Shop Smart Sho…

May 31st, 2016 at 3:04 PM ^

"The scheduling gods gifted Harbaugh four straight non-conference noon home games against teams located across the West to start his tenure at Michigan"



I know you spend a lot of time covering the basketball team, but shouldn't you be aware that Harbaugh coached the football team last year?

LKLIII

May 31st, 2016 at 3:45 PM ^

I know a lot of people complain about the 2016 schedule in that we have both MSU and OSU as away games.  But folks do forget about the mitigating factor that was pointed out here--no scary road game to break in the new QB.  Noon game against Hawaii at Michigan Stadium is about as good as you're going to get---plus the relatively smooth scheule for the rest of September.

At the very least this in my mind this brings the "tough schedule" meme back to "average schedule".  Somewhat tougher to beat an opponent on the road, but we're also significantly decreasing the likelihood of an early season letdown.

 

 

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