Punahou's Shutter to UH; Notre Dame to Hawai‘i Bowl
It was a quite a weekend for Punahou quarterback Cayman Shutter.
Friday, he passed for 400 yards to lead the Buffanblu to a 38-7 victory over Leilehua in the state Division I championship game.
Last night, he accepted a football scholarship from UH.
“I’m going to be a Warrior,” Shutter told The Advertiser today. “It was always my first choice.”
Shutter had committed to New Mexico during the summer. But that was before UH had made an offer. When New Mexico decided to change coaching staffs, Shutter called the UH coaches to see if they were still interested.
UH had to wait to make sure it had an available scholarship before making another offer to Shutter.
Here’s Shutter’s highlight video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKH-BHuADmo
* * *
Yep, it’s true. Notre Dame has accepted an invitation to play UH in the Sheraton Hawai‘i Bowl.
* * *
Of all of the setbacks this season, last night’s was easily the most disappointing. Cincinnati is indeed a good football team, but for the Warriors, there was a self-inflicted feel to this loss.
John Estes compared the loss to the one UH suffered in the 2006 regular-season finale to Oregon State.
That one preceded UH’s victory over Arizona State in the Sheraton Hawai‘i Bowl, and led to the Warriors’ 2007 BSC season.
That certainly does not mean the same scenario will repeat. But it does mean that disappointments come with expiration dates, and that there’s a reason Greg McMackin crafted the 48-hour rule.
* * *
Happy birthday to Derek Inouchi, the excellent sports media relations director.
I’ve dealt with hundreds of sports programs the past 28 years. Trust me, Derek is one of the best at what he does.
First?
Where is everyone?
second? sorry always wanted to be first but second is not bad
MAHALO WARRIOR SENIORS!11
We played well. We’ll rebound in the Hawaii Bowl.
Go Warriors!
Happy birthday, Derek!!!
happy birthday Derek…. Mahalo for being a great guy to communicate with
If offered, would Rolo jump at the chance to coach at Udub,
or any other bcs school? Like, right now ?
what you think?
Good morning and aloha to all the tsaikos. I just have to get this off my chest now that the regular season is over. Whoever is calling our offensive plays is sure doing a lousy job; game after game; stupid plays…arrrgh. Hope next year is better.
What disappoints me is that Mac still has not taken care of all the penalties. It really bothers me when I see the team leaders making them.
Morning
Top 10?
RYAN EASTMAN, congrat for great true frosh season. I honestly feel the outcome of yesterday’s game would have deferrent with you in the game.
We were sitting pretty last night and then it came apart… Tough loss to swallow? Waqs not on blog last night will catch up later today. I didn’t understand the jumping on opposing player personal foul last nght, could anyone explain. That is the first time I heard of that. Isn’t that what happens when you jump to try to block a field goal attempt or in trying to stop someone from getting into the end zone???
carried over from yesterday’s post:
Boy that Breaking News is pretty contradictory to what the ESPN Blog is saying about a half-hour ago
As far as why Hawaii should “settle” for a mediocre ND team in the HB? The Bowl is separate from the UH program, Dave Maitlin has got to do what’s best for his kuleana. ND’s “football alumni” will travel here with way more fans to put BIS than any other choice still on the board.
And that’s a good thing for all of us because, as Bulla pointed out, there are lots of empty seats on the flights to Hawaii now.
I’m sure all the “Irish-themed” watering holes in Hawaii would love it!
Sometimes the best way to respond to a tough loss is not to respond at all. This loss still stings and whoever the Hawaii Bowl opponent they will feel the sting even more. You can pretty much count on that. The layoff period will brew and will be unleashed in a redemption game from the likes we’ve probably never seen before in a Warrior team.
WWT, get used to the national statistics for the Offense but also pay attention the the Defense as we will creep up nationally. We will be a top ten Defense, there is no stopping that. It IS our new brand so get used to it. – trust me, when Cincy goes back, they’ll tell the Big East “those boys can play some defense” not “their offense was hard to stop” We will win, just not as flashy. The “we must protect this house” persona applies. Once the fans buy into it and accept it coaching staff will not feel the Offensive pressure week in and week out. I’m converted, I like the brand and if the coaches can instill akamai play into it, it will be feared. I hope Coach Mac and staff will be able to brand the Offense in the offseason and stick to that brand no matter what. So be the Brand, Commit and Execute next season.
Koakane,
Wow!
No need one wake-up call, eh?
OK…the HA website is reporting that Notre Dame is IT !!…For the Hawaii Bowl!!!
GO Warriors !!!
I’ve been very disappointed with Ron Lee’s play calling in the 4th quarter this whole season. Things really need to change with the offensive philosophy or we can look forward to more losses like this in the future.
Lots of guesses at this point.
Form the same blog updated:
tio 20?
Top 25?
So who won the blog contest?
Good Morning Tsaiko Family!
too early 4 me.
tio=top
SJSU still a consideration for HB – thats pretty bad
d1 still not a happy camper after last night lost. 🙁
going need mucho kope and much tsaiko therapy. see you at the kope hour prayer session in about 20 min.
any one needing some morning get it off your chest come to Nancy’s in waipio and join us.
good morning tsai-ko faithfuls and best wishes again to curveball.
morning=therapy
D1- I agree. Hawaii Bowl needs to sell seats. Better to get a loyal fanbase that fills seats. Having two teams with everyhing to gain in esteem by a win would be a good thing too.
Congratulations to all of the Seniors on a good season!
It has been a joy to watch this team after all the controversy at the end of last season. You should be proud of all your hard work! Wins, losses, records and awards don’t mean that much in the end. It is the memories that you made this season with your teammates and the fans that will be etched in your mind when you think back on your final season at the University of Hawaii. Thank you for sharing this with all of us!
Ukuleleboi says hi and thanks!
He leaves on this next flt. and I’m on the next.
This flt. looks pretty full- that’s a good thing.
Koakane – have a good kope- prayer meeting!
MAHALO to gentleman BG ( and ailing Betty- get well soon!) for your kind hospitality!
koakane – No go Therapy! They are not going to have your coffee ready for another hour… 😆
Thanks for the little gifts Liz!
Have a great flight home and we’ll talk to you later!
for one brief shining moment …
Bring on the Irish!
Thank you Seniors for your dedication and hard work!
I think our OC is a great guy. He’s a great coach, and as loyal as it gets. But being a great coach does not mean you’re a great OC, which is much more. Mack needs to take a step back and reassess this situation. It is utterly frustrating to have the same issues happening over and over again.
Cincinatti wasn’t even ready to run a play in the waning minutes, expecting UH to call the time out. They were bewildered as much as we were that the timeout wasn’t called. early xmas present?
We have a tweener QB/Fullback, lets utilize that and QB sneak it up the middle for a half yard gain, avoiding the safety at all costs.
Brutal game. This wouldn’t have been so brutal if we hadn’t started the “overrated chant” with 12 minutes to go…. unless, of course, it wasn’t being directed towards Cincy.
BTW I have about 36 more hours to gripe…
Aloha Tsaikos everywhere….
Ok, I’ve let it get to me all night, actually, all season. I even woke up at 3am thinking about it and telling myself to “let it go.” But, I just can’t. I voiced my opinion back when Mack was naming coaches and their positions and I still stand by my words and even more so now…Ron Lee is NOT the one who should be making the calls. He should be in hiding this morning and feeling that he is the one that failed the team. He is the one that lost it for the team last night.
Aside from the personal fouls (c’mon boyz…you’re smarter than that…play smart) this game could have been won had Coach Lee showed some COMMON SENSE. You don’t have to be a football genius to know that you don’t call those type of plays at critical times…forget even talking about the time management issues. I’ve seen better offensive calls made by pop warner coaches!
During the game, I was being somewhat critical of Alexander’s lack of enthusiasm and inability to instill visible confidence in his teammates at crucial times, but when you see it on TV, you can see the lack of confidence in his and Rolo’s eyes and now I am certain that that comes from the plays they are being given to them from Lee. I truly believe that Rolo and Alexander have a better grasp on what would be the right play to call.
Coach Mack…stop the madness before Lee destroys you too. It’s enough that he blew it for the team and the seniors last night. Don’t let him do it to the future too.
Thank you, I feel better and I still have 30 more hours left…
As Ferd wrote in his column in this morning’s paper, it’s bachi to start getting cocky with a lot of time to go. The “overrated” chant started way too soon – never give an opponent a reason to get up when they’re down. The pick-6 was the turning point of the game. UH’s offense never passed the 25 yard line in the 4th quarter. They just couldn’t respond. Unfortunate but hopefully a learning experience.
The MVP of the game was the Cincy punter. He was responsible for at least 12 points by pinning UH down inside the 10.
Also, what did Cincy’s defensive line do in the 4th quarter that created so much havoc? They did things that they didn’t do in the previous 3 quarters.
You can bet the Orange Bowl and the BCS is happy that Cincy won. Can you imagine a 20-something ranked Cincy playing a 20-something ranked Viginia Tech.
Ron Lee is a joke, some of those calls were ridiculous. Brian Smith needs to be questioned too. Mack better grow some cajones and consider getting some better offensive minded coaches in here. Clock Management is horrible as well.
‘scuse the interruption. Can anyone see if the redskins game is on regular tv this pm? It got moved from an early timeslot to the night game on the east coast.
If Rod Flemings and his boys can pull off the victory at Illinois then I’ll forget last night all together….
Kymry texts that the Redskins game is at 3:15 on KHNL. Mahalo!
Kona Girl; re #35
If offered, would Rolo jump at the chance to coach at Udub,
or any other bcs school? Like, right now ?
what you think?
Loose cannon: Of course he should, it would be a great career move. I think he has great coaching potential. Typically, it’s difficult for someone in his position to be taken “seriously” because he was a player for the Warriors too. Sometimes when you go from player to coach of the same team, people think that that’s why you got the position and tend to overlook your actual coaching abilities. I would like to see Rolo on our sidelines or in our box for years to come, but would also be very proud of him if given the opportunity to build his coaching career.
Estes is spot-on, to a point. This game did have the feel of OSU ’06, but one big difference being that Hawaii was in_very_ good shape, up 2 TDs and in possession of the ball at the start of the 4th quarter.
In-depth introspection may have to wait until the offseason. 8-6 (if Hawaii wins the bowl game) is a good start to the McMackin era, but no doubt there’s a lot of changes and corrections to be made. After the freshman year, the criticism will be more pointed and more justified.
morning tsaikos
after the bowl game is over. i hate to say this but, i think Coach Mack should consider…at LEAST CONSIDER looking at the pool of coaching talent that is available ala: former staff from Auburn, Tennessee, UW, Clemson, Purdue, Kansas State.
If after he reviews the season and finds these mistakes are too costly and inexcusable, he should not close off his mind to finding talent elsewhere. His first job is to the success of this team and not the blind backing of his staff. If he decided to change his staff around, I along with a lot of people would not see it as a failure from the beginning, rather an earnest effort to make good and seek a better future.
There is an abundance of talented, seasoned, and knowledgeable coaches out there. CHANGE we can believe in? hehe
Go Warriors!
I don’t think Rolovich would be taken seriously because he’s seen as a “run-n-shoot” QB coach, and a 1st-year coach at that. Anyway, I would think he’d stick around at least through Alexander’s senior year. It does seem that Alexander is grasping the run-n-shoot much more quickly than expected, and when you add to that his size, scrambling ability and massive arm strength, you’ve got a guy who at least has an outside chance of turning himself into a NFL prospect next year. That would be a great credit to Rolovich and his resume for the future.
That and hey, nothing wrong with coaching in paradise.
Notre Dame in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl would be awesome. Who cares if they’re not such a great team? They still have the name recognition, and between Notre Dame and Cincinnati, the Warriors will have another chance to evaluate where they stand in the college football world.
That and the game would bring a high probability of a sellout crowd.
QUESTION: When and in what section of the the Stadium did the fans start chanting “overrated”? Sitting in the South End Zone – E Section – surrounded by screaming fans when Cinccinnati had the ball made it impossible to hear anything understandable from the other end of the Stadium especiallyh when the thunderstix were in going at it in the mauka side and the noise was bouncing right off us sitting directly across from them.
As so many have said in the post-game comments last night and up to now, although Cincinnati is in the WIN column, this game was given away by UH – and primarily by the coaches. However, unlike many of you who want more passing, as someone who is relatively new to the nuances of this game, I think that game leads are created and then protected by developing a powerful running game. A Colt Brennon will only come along once in awhile.
As for the number of seniors and the number of juniors leaving over the next couple of years – there were 120 names listed in last night’s program – some of whom rarely played except in practice. However, divvy up that number by four and what we’ere losing this year & next is just about average.
Another questions: Why wasn’t the Beast recruited to play here in Hawai`i? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have his talented skills playing here?
Final couple of questions before heading off to do a kazillion chore before Sunday evening church: What seasoned BCS- or NFL- level associate or assistant coaches would you bring on board? I understand the need to bring a local coaching staff to recruit local players, but at some point, shouldn’t teaching/coaching skills count for even more? How do we recruit these types of coaches? And how much would it cost to do so – and that means the cost of housing for them & their families.
This was an extraordinarily tough year for the entire University of Hawai`i at Manoa as well as the Athletic Department. and the entire football program. Unfortunately, the economy is going to make it very difficult to do things the same old way so maybe it’s time to start thinking & moving in a different direction.
The last 10 minutes of the game last night was awfully hard to watch. I feel really bad for the guys. They put such a great effort together and then just let it all slip away.
The really disappointing thing about this season is that despite all the team went through in the off season and training camp and with the key injuries — Blaze not playing a down, etc, this team SHOULD have been 10-3 with two BCS conference wins. This isn’t even “if Graunke hadn’t messed up…” or “if Blaze wasn’t injured…” etc. With the personnel that played. With the same injuries, etc. They should not have lost to SJSU, Utah State, and Cincy. They just plain gave those games away. Florida, Oregon State, and Boise State were just better teams and it is easier to take a loss – even a blowout – to a team that is just better. As long as you come out and compete and don’t give up it is all good.
Those three losses that they let slip through their fingers are the hard ones to take.
One more game and plenty of time to correct all of those bad mental errors. Next year is looking good. There are problems, but they are mostly mental. The guys saw last night that they could compete with a BCS league champ. That should improve their confidence.
Being a outstanding technician does not translate to being a outsanding leader with excellent strategic skills. Like promoting a clerk into a supervisory position.
That being said, I like GEN Shinseki’s quote from his farewell speech when he left the Army ( stupid Rumsfeld ):
” You must love those you lead before you can become an effective leader.
You can certainly command without that sense of commitment, but you cannot lead without it.
And, without leadership, command is a hallow experience, a vacuum often filled with mistrust and arrogrance”.
This is a very interesting statement because when I met GEN Shinseki when I was a junior in high school, he appeared to be that brilliant, but arrogant Freshman. He has learned a lot since joining the Army and his varied experiences throughtout his military career.
Anyone out there who wants to be an excellent leader, regardless of vocation, take the above to heart and nurture it until it becomes YOU.
And, remember, the difference between Outstanding and Exceptional is “attention to detail”.
I’m going to the Hawaii Bowl, and excuse my selfishness, but I don’t want to see Northern Illinois or any Team with compass points in its name; no SJSU, ASU (kinda moot point), Buffalo (although they’re not a bad team, but won’t bring the fans), or any other team projected on sports sites. I want Notre Dame…I don’t care if they’re 6 – 6. They’ll bring in the fans, the money, and the excitement like no other team, since the PAC-10 won’t be coming. Come on NCAA give us Warrior fans something to feel good about and really look forward to in this Sunday of the mourning after.
And another thing…Coach Mac, please find another way to reinforce to the players that those personal fouls cost them games.
It takes a very strong person to be able to control their emotions. It’s called discipline, which needs to be instilled in the players. Controlled rage is what wins fights, wars, and games.
UH has scored a total of 52 points in 13 games or an average of 4 points per game in the 4th quarter. Like Coach Mack says…”we didn’t finish”…
4th Quarter Scoring against
Florida 10 pts
Weber State 7 pts
Oregon State 0 pt
San Jose State 0 pt
Fresno State 0 pt; 3 pt in O/T for W
LA Tech 0 pt
Boise State 0 pt
Nevada 14 pts.
Utah State 7 pts
New Mexico State 0 pt
Idaho 7 pt
Washington State 0 pt
Cincinnati 7 pt
And sometimes even….love.
Mr. A-house,
You wen grad from Kauai HS? My dad did too…he was born in 1945…three years older then Ret. Gen. Shinseki….
Small world..
Mr. A-House,
Father is Francis….middle sister is Kathrine and youngest is Frida…my grandparents used to run a sporting goods store in Kauai during that time.
I hope the team is able to get over this win pretty quick because there is the Na Koa dinner tonight. We can’t have hanging heads at this party!!
Happy Birthday to Derek!!
XxFaithxX:
Yes, I did, but don’t know your Dad. He is same age with the “older” of my 3 younger sisters – Sharyn.
Yes, indeed, small world!
Amen, to that Stretch.
Coach Mack said “we did not finish”. Most important question is WHY?
BTW, if I wanted to listen to excuses, I would find me a losers club. Winners will state the “reasons” why!!!
The “empty” feeling continues, but it’s not as bad as the San Jose and Utah State games.
Should be over this by the time we head out for the Na Koa banquet tonight.
Warriors will lose a lot of seniors, but there is a lot of “potential” waiting to replace those who have completed their collegiate football careers . Many on the defensive side have already tasted playing time and need the Coaches and soon-to-be seniors leadership to forge ahead. Com’ on Coaches, step up and be LEADERS!!!
One thing many fans would like to see is more playing time for the “reserves” to prepare them for the future – four downs here and there to rest the starters. If these four downs actually loses games, then, IMHO, something is a miss.
Welcome, Cayman!!
Congratulations and study the play book!!!!
Exciting game. Congrats to the Seniors and to Cincy too. They were tough. Things happened on both sides. The obvious mistake was to put the injured Libre in a position where he has fumbled before – but in the endzone.
What happened to Jake Huen? I thought I saw his name on a tackle last week. Is he or is he not redshirting?
Reason why IMHO, i think the run and shoot is all but over for us. We do not have an effective “variation” to the shoot. there is no “master mind” on the current coaching staff to engineer a new angle or scheme to the run shoot recipe book left by the previous chef. Shopping for offensive ingredients needed to make the shoot taste good will be hard to get as those ingredients will not want to come here as the grounds will not be as fertile to the NFL as other schools are due to a bad offensive system. If i was a farmer, I’d be changing some of my crops.
Folks, we have been in a offensive recession for 2008. There is no BCS bailout money this year. what will happen when the recruiting budget gets stressed? You start to see the gloomy forecast. Former QB’s make great OC’s and if well seasoned, great HC. Better start chef Rolo now though because another year in offensive recession and this whole administration could be scrapped all together after their third year.
The only reason I say that is there is a former QB honing his offensive recipe at the Naval Academy that is waiting and a AD / State that would love to have him cook it up.
Ok, so we got Cayman, Steele , and Corey…Shane too
Its time to groom the future Warrior QB’s…..Coach Rolo and Ron……Three better then average HS QB’s….and one that has been in the system for about 2 years….earn your paycheck time.
it’s good to see that he still wanted to come to Hawaii after Ron Lee’s performance last night.
Postmanke, Are you suggesting Ivan Caspers return to be OC?
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20081207/BREAKING02/81207037
hmmmm…. i wonder if this is opening a Punahou “pipeline”??
Hey, UH might end up with both quarterbacks from Friday’s game. Andrew Manley, who will be a senior next year, already has received a UH offer.
I was mentioning to others that Manley would be in a good situation here in Hawaii. When he comes in, Rausch would be a Senior. He might be able to get a few years of playing time if everything works out right.
USC is starting to recruit manley……who knows who else is too…main thing…as we have learned with the Manti fiasco, is that UH was/is the first to offer, unlike the 24th or 28th in Te’o’s case..
Not football related but discussed here before…
Congratulations to Michelle Wie who made the top 20 at the LPGA Q-School. She EARNED her way on to the tour. Let’s hope this is the start of a successful LPGA carrer
Also, manley will have to compete with 3-4 other QB’s already in the system….is he “man” enough to try that?
The big problem is Hawaii loves to sign too many QB’s. JJ always signed 6 or 7, they would just sit on the bench wasting a scholarship then transfer in a year or two. We need to get better linemen. Go out and get those 6’4-6’6 lineman to play tackles. All we need is 5 QB’s at the most. Shutter is good, but he may be another guy behind Rausch, Funaki, Steeele, Neilsen, and Alexander. We need tall tackles with long arms. The 5’11-6’0 linemen we have now are tough guys, but too small against the good teams we’ll play next year.
I hope some of those JC guys who were visiting gave their verbals to UH. We need guys who can step in and play right away on Defense. Rone Lee’s playcalling is questionable at times but our recievers as a whole are mediocre at best.
Good afternoon Tsai-kos!
For some reason, my first post didn’t go through.
I agree with almost everything said here, so I won’t repeat it. UH has shown that it can play with top teams for 3 quarters, but not 4. I think that once we do it and beat a top team, they’ll do it whenever the opportunity arises.
My first Tsai-ko gate was a blast. Great to meet d1, al, BG, Ronnie, Hiflyer and others for the first time. The Marines we invited over were great. But somehow, being called “Ma’am” made me feel old. I finally met ST at the post-game t-gate.
Have a great time at the banquet tonight.
Oh yeah…
Happy Birthday to Derek Inouchi!!
Okay, all finished being upset about last night’s game. I just have to believe, given the circumstances, everyone tried their best. It just was not meant to be.
Welcome to the Warrior family Cayman!
Whoo-hoo!!! Things are looking up.
Big mac
Hawaii dosent have enough QB’s
Is Mac to “nice” to be able to make coaching changes?
Happy Birthday to Derek!
hope to see some of you guys tonight at the banquet.
ND!!!
Offensive line has been inconsistent. The techniques and fundamentals does not look quite the same as past years. In turn breakdowns creating more sacks than years past although not all is due to the offensive line being at fault. Penalties and procedure calls on the offensive line also seem more this year than any?
I hope these comments are taken as constructive criticism that may need to be looked at. We all know that these players go all out to do there best but if they are being taught things that are not giving them the best opportunity to succeed than there is a training concern.
Congrats to Davone Bess and the Dolphins. Bess was the leading receiver with 9 catches for 74 yds, long of 15. Only 1 TD in the game. snore….
Was Cayman named after the islands? Interesting name.
I wonder how many will mis-spell his name as Caiman as in the reptile.
Has the NCAA confirmed Notre Dame in the Hawai’i Bowl? That will be an interesting game.
The Warriors must prepare!
After last night’s game it’s nice to have the good news about Cayman Shutter committing to UH, and to possibly have the other QB at the game coming to UH as well is terrific.
Great news too about Notre Dame probably coming to Hawaii. That has to be the best “traveling” team available. The tourist industry sure needs the business.
ND is confirmed!!
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20081207/BREAKING02/81207019
That should brighten a lot of spirits of players tonight!!
Happy Birthday to Derek Inouchi!
Great Bible Study with other Tsaikos at Nancy’s.
C’mon NCAA, approve the Fighting Irish trip to the Hawaii Bowl!
Hope all have a great time at the football banquet tonight.
Mahalo to all the Seniors.
Time to put up Xmas stuff.
laters…
d1 – lucky you get the tickets already. It’s going to be a big crowd.
Whoever never get the tickets yet, make sure you get them soon!!
Great News!
Welcome Irish!
GO WARRIORS!
stretch,
you are right. the whole mood of the banquet tonight will be much different.
Stretch,
You are correct, sir!
Looking forward to a great day on Xmas Eve!
Almost forgot to mention:
Nice meeting other Tsaikos for the first time yesterday.
jm2375 and North Shore Fan and his wife.
Thanks for the great PBS, North Shore Fan! Ono ono 🙂
I think you hanging around the Marines too much… Sir??!!??
BTW – that Pitt interception for TD was HUGE!!! That is my D for Fantasy!!
Do you think Hawaii will be favored over Notre Dame? I think they will be favored by a point or it will open at pick ‘um. What’s your guess?
Just wanted to thank Onarock for the football ticket.
A disappointing outcome, but a very fun game to be at. The atmosphere at the stadium was the best this season.
Go Warriors.
Men’s BBall team will have a HUGE challenge against them. Right now 23.5 pt underdogs against the Fighting Illini
I’m over the loss.
NOW LET’S GET CHARLIE WEIS FIRED!
Notre Dame 2008 Schedule/Results
DATE OPPONENT W-L RESULT
9/06 San Diego State 1-0 W 21-13
9/13 Michigan 2-0 W 35-17
9/20 @ Michigan State 2-1 L 23-7
9/27 Purdue 3-1 W 38-21
10/04 Stanford 4-1 W 28-21
10/11 @ No. 22 North Carolina 4-2 L 29-24
10/25 @ Washington 5-2 W 33-7
11/01 Pittsburgh 5-3 L 36-33 OT
11/08 @ Boston College 5-4 L 17-0
11/15 @ Navy 6-4 W 27-21
11/22 Syracuse 6-5 L 24-23
11/29 @ No. 5 USC 6-6 L 38-3
DATE OPPONENT TV TIME (ET)
12/24 vs. Hawaii (7-6) 8:00 PM
Stretch – you so high mucka-mucka, no can visit us down at the Cabanas, even for the post-game t-gate? You should’ve brought some of your food. Kekoa said you had crab legs.
Just think how we would have felt after last night’s game if our bowl berth depended on it. The hurt would have run much deeper.
At least the team still has a chance to end the season on a positive note.
Go Warriors!!!
HAD is the operative word, all of it was eaten!!
Rose Bowl
#8 Penn St vs #5 USC
Orange Bowl
Virginia Tech vs Cincinatti
One of the Cinci players still wearing a Orchad lei on the BCS show
damn bearcat clown wearing an orchid lei on the BCS show….
oops, orchid
Nice tans on some of those cats
Orange Bowl doesn’t look like a “Premier” Bowl game. One team with 4 loses and the other with 2 (should have been 3)??
Much rather see a Boise St vs Vtech
VT w/ loses to East Carolina, Boston College, Florida State and Miami. Does that sound like one of the Top 10 teams in the country?? The was the BCS is set up is crap!!
Grrr…. 👿
The story on this BCS show coulda been a whole lot different if Hawaii had hung on last night!
Sugar Bowl
Utah vs ???
Sugar Bowl
Utah vs Alabama
‘Bama!
That’s the end of the Utes’ run!
Fiesta Bowl
Ohio St vs Texas
National Championship
Oklahoma vs Florida
Texas Tech (11-1) and Boise St (12-0) are out in favor of Big East Cinicinatti (11-2) and ACC Virginia Tech (9-4) hmmm…. good thing Obama is the President elect.
kinda miss those beignets at Cafe du Monde
Along w/ Texas Tech, and Boise, TCU, Oklahoma St, Georgia Tech, Oregon, Georgia, BYU, Pittsburgh, Michigan St, Mississippi are all ranked higher in the AP poll than Virginia Tech.
Howzit Tsaikos everywhere.
Ok I admit, I still habut!!!!!!!!
Best news today is that Notre Dame coming to be my XMas present to myself. Yeeee haawww!!
And another best news is that Shutter is coming to UH!
Super great news. Welcome to the Warriors, Cayman!
So now I gotta repeat what AHouse said. The difference between exceptional and great is “attention to detail.”
And I agaree with Not an Expert at 82. I too have a training concern regarding the Oline.
Kona Girl summed up my feelings quite well.
The bottom line is: THE COACH HAS GOT TO MAKE THE CALL HE IS BEING PAID TO MAKE. THIS IS NOT P.E. FOOTBALL. THIS IS D1 FOOTBALL. THE BEST OF THE BEST HAVE THE BEST DOING THE JOB AT THE SEVERAL KEY POSITIONS.
To be the best in my book, you gotta make me believe you are the best at what you’re doing. We deserve to feel we are a big time D1 program, not just a D1 program
What this team needed was better conditioning. Address this problem and you wouldn’t have a manifestation of stupid penalties, mental errors, turnovers, injuries and a lack of scoring points in the fourth quarter. This lack of stamina and endurance is never so apparent on the OL. As a unit they led the nation in allowing sacks (or close to the bottom…#118 or so). Having given 50 or so sacks in 13 games an observer like myself can see that they hold their own pretty much the first 15-20 plays of each half and then succumb to tiredness and don’t play to capabilities there after. Look at the films even against Florida, OSU, and BSU and the OL does look representable for when they are fresh. As a unit I’ve heard that this years and last years OL was the best in the school’s history from the current and former coaches. And this may or may not be a stretch…but we surely gave away a lot to our opponents by having our OL not being in top condition. As a point look at other team’s OL players, especially from the SEC and the Big 10 and look at how their players don’t seem to carry a 50 pound sack of rice over their bellies like some of ours do.(note-should include some of the DL being out of shape, too).
So the question to Coach Mack. “Is their a correlation, directly or indirectly, to a player being tired that contributes to the stupid penalties, stupid plays, missed assignments, yielding sacks and giving up big plays and not being productive in the fourth quarter because of tiredness and lack of conditioning”?
“And are you of the opinion that your team is not as well conditioned as it should be”?
“And any thoughts of going back to the afternoon practices next year as such where the temperature is 10 degrees warmer in hopes of extracting a better conditioning regiment”?
The BCS should at least eliminate the automatic bid
Good afternnon, Tsaiko-Nation and Tsai-Meister.
O.K. I’m over the loss. We can not forget, that this team has just recently started to find itself. They have not quite learned yet, how to win tight games against Championship caliber teams and Cinci was that. Their defense was great, except in the third quarter, where we did to them what they did to us.
The overrated chants really got them fired up, (thanks, fans), but we still held their O.
The pick six changed everything around, you can’t blame the coaches, you have to watch game film to know if it was play calling or execution.
In many ways this team reminded me of 05, plenty of similarities.
ND coming is great, it’s still a name brand. Anyone thinks that Navy cared if they weren’t as good as in the past, after they beat ND?
This has been a Cr*p-tastic year for many.
Boise gets the boot toe up the arse for finishing undefeated, and Hawaii does the rollercoaster ride with wins and losses, with penalties still abundant during the last games of the season, where everything should be polished as shiney as a mirror.
The last Cr*p-tastic year for many was during the 9-11 era. The year of the Monkey if I remember right.
No amount of play-calling expertise can make up for a lack of pass blocking.
That’s the only way they can “take care” of their own. Just like the refs last night, they had to “take care” of Cincinatti.
Aloha Tsaikos: link is to some of the pics from yesterday’s Tgate
http://picasaweb.google.com/808Cruiser/120608?authkey=yf3OH8mzT6I&feat=email#
Lets face facts. Our “coaches” let our players’ down. The team wasn’t prepared to play the 4th quarter. We were cruising along, like we usually do in the late 3rd and 4th quarter, until we (the fans) irritated Cincinatti, and then all hell broke loose. our players played timid, scared. We didn’t have Clint Eastwood at the helm. We didn’t have a player who took charge. And the reason we didn’t have a player who took charge is because the coaches never recognized a offensive player as the person to take charge. and how can you blame Alexander when the bosses are second guessing him. Face the facts. we gotta get way way better on offense.
i’m for keeping the coaches. I just wanna yell at them alot right now, so they feel what I’m feeling, which is reallyl crappy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I feel there should be some kind of affirmative action rule for the mid majors.. BCS conferences get an auto bid only if no mid majors are in front of you in the rankings. But there is the blockage. “BCS conferences” why even create that? greedy..
roysan16,
imho It wasn’t conditioning. It was the MIND!!!
It was the lack of the killer mindset that sank us..
We did not finish them off. We took the literal rope off their neck. The change in momentum was due to the conservative approach to finishing the game. Thats been our way almost the whole season.
Thats one thing we gotta change next season, imho.
Right on BHF2-
Clear cut perspective.on the management p.o.v.
I realize Head coach can’t do everything right in the first year, especially with rookie coaches on the D-1 levels in new posistions, but time for some new training on the higher levels.
I love Lane’s comment after the game about how they played to conservative. The players realize this and I’m wondering if the coaches do as well now.
and since I’m on a rolllllll…..
Jim Donovan,
what about Mr. Bolla? You gave him this year.
You could have predicted the outcome. But the outcome is not what I’m most griping about. Its the fans’ perception about his commitment to the ladies. AHouse said it best. To be excellent at what you’re doing, you gotta love what you’re doing. Hard to say he’s loving what he’s doing with all of last year’s baggage hanging around his neck. And the word on the street is he is dragging down the girls. Are you hearing the same thing?
What everyone on the Hawaii football team did still got us to 7-6. There were many, many mistakes made along the way, and correcting even some of them will still translate to big improvements down the road. Honestly, I had no complaints about the offense when we went up 24-10 on Cincinnati. If we can finish the ’09 season better than 7-6 (or 8-5 if you want to give the super-tough schedule this year extra weight), I think it’s fair to say the program is moving in the right direction. There’ll be a fresh set of challenges next year since we’re losing so many seniors on defense.
Of course next season I expect a more solid O-line that doesn’t have the same players committing penalties game after game, dramatically reduced personal fouls, etc.
Fighting Irish playing at the Hawaii Bowl?! Right on!
See whoever is going to the Na Koa Banquet. Time for me to get ready.
Poinsettia: Boise State (12-0) vs. TCU (10-2)
Humanitarian: Nevada (7-5) vs. Maryland (7-5)
Hawaii: Hawaii (7-6) vs. Notre Dame (6-6)
New Mexico: Fresno State (7-5) vs. Colorado State (6-6)
Independence: Louisiana Tech (7-5) vs. Northern Illinois (6-6)
I think I better go take a ride. Don’t get me wrong. I am rooting for Coach Mack and his gang of coaches! Like cooking really great Portuguese Bean Soup, the best takes time. But its also true, you gotta put together great ingredients too. And the chef’s gotta not be afraid to use the knife to chop things up. And a great chef has to show flair. Presentation is part of the finished product
Like I said, we should aspire to be a top tier D1 team.
The Warriors are Hawaii’s team. They represent US!
espn discussion about Hawaii vs Notre Dame matchup
oops
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDDtn9Fp1Zk
Big Wave Dave and WD,
mahalo for the kind words for ‘the beast’. we just landed and are getting ready for church but i wanted to thank you and all the Tsaikos for the support for Ryan.
the radio announcers for the FCS Quarterfinal game in Missoula MT, mentioned the loss of ‘the beast’ had a direct impact to the game. Two months ago when WSU beat Montana, ‘the beast’ had a great game at the NG position.
he will be home by the end of the week, we’ll do a cattle call next week, and no worries. he is all good where he is at, he is on track to do great things for Weber State and they love him over there. Being selected by the 9 conference coaches for Honorable Mention as a true freshman for the Big Sky Conference Post Season Awards is something he earned by himself. he just didn’t fit into the scheme of things for UH when Reinbold and JJ left town, no worries, he’ll play at Aloha Stadium in 3 years at the Hula Bowl….haha.
Now, for the Warriors….redeem yourselves on national TV against Notre Dame, plain and simple.
GO WARRIORS
enough
Thanks for the vid, chawan_cut.
Of course they talk on and on about ND without going much into how each of the teams match up, short of Mark May’s comment about how tough it is to play on the island.
Oh well. Hopefully we can serve ’em up with another bowl loss. We’ll see.
I was on the phone with my brother for about half an hour earlier today dwelling on last night’s loss. We both agreed about many of the issues that have been rehashed on the blog since the game ended last night.
But we are both aware that this team has good talent returning and can improve on their mark from this year. Surely there were mistakes made but if the team as a whole (players, coaching staff) can learn from those mistakes, 2009 looks to be good.
We have one more game against a .500 Notre Dame team. There should be a good crowd attending the match. Maybe a sellout? Naaaa…..that’s being too hard on the Bowl.
The O-line has been suspect since the Sugar Bowl, and they still are after 13 games. I don’t doubt they play hard and it’s obvious they get frustrated when their weakness is outed and they start getting personal fouls. In their defense, they were progressing from game to game and they actually did well last night for a few plays when they had only Cincinnati’s front 4. But when the secondaries started to also blitz, our O-line couldn’t handle them. Alexander didn’t have enough time to go through his reads ’cause he was too busy running for his life. The coaches should’ve countered. Maybe they did, but it just wasn’t that obvious. Where are our O-line recruits? Who are waiting in the wings for us? Maybe instead of recruiting more O-lines, we can make an offer to Cavanaugh he can’t refuse since he’s always in the state anyway. Here’s a fun question, who would you choose for your all-star Oline from former and current UH players?
The person who won the game last night was Cincinnati’s DC, who made the timely adjustment after the long pass to ML for a TD.
since cayman got the qb scholie, where does that leave shane austin and jantz steele? two walk ons, shane in the system for two years, jantz for one, cayman, only in HS….are the measure ables indicate that cayman has a better up side than the two already on our roster
next year, Alexander, Rausch, Funaki, Steele, Austin, Nielson, and Schutter, three seniors unless Austin will also be a senior. Nielson, schutter and maybe manley in two years…
Next year, unless we pick up some other QB or I forgot to list someone, this will be our depth.
Alexander – SR
Funaki – SR
Rausch – JR
Austin – rSO
Steele – rFR
Nielson – tFR
Schutter – tFR
Great website, I love reading through blogs and will be sure to look for updates on your site. Keep up the good work.
I am in agreement with the individual who said that the run and shoot as designed by JJ is gone. It went with him. Our folks just do not have the same mind as JJ to do exactly what he did.
face it, we’re not the same and that o-line is looking bad and really the play calling is just as bad because at some point something is missing: the JJ ingredient. That decision to run wide from the end zone was absolutely crazy. If you do that you have a stud t-end and bring additional blocking to that side. That running back was absolutely naked.
As p__ed off as we may be for the really bad losses we’ve had this year, coaching is really a business. If Coach Mack wants to keep the coaching staff intact that’s his call. If he wants to keep the responsibility as it has been for special teams (kick off coverage is really terribly inconsistent and blocking for field goals and extra point remains an adventure), offensive play calling that’s on him.
Mr. Donovan just has to be a better boss and if his employee continues to support flawed elements of his staff, it would then be Mr. Donovan’s business to address that.
We cannot all be monday morning quarterbacks, no matter how p___ed off we are for what appears to be obvious correctable errors.
I do like the suggestion of getting coach Cav back; even if that means making him the second in command of the staff and compensating him accordingly. Without an o-line that knows what it’s doing it’ll be a long year. Oh, and I still believe that we should have a t-end, particularly if the decision is going to be to run more.
Welcome to The Warrior Beat Jenny R.! Please post more often and share your insights. Are you on Oahu?
The South Bend Tribune points out that Hawaii’s top recruit did indeed figure into the decision to play here on Xmas Eve
Too many penalties – lack of discipline – coaches fault.
Comments from Irish fans seem to be leaning a little against the team coming.
Objections raised range from being “undeserving” to “shameful” that they are playing on Christmas Eve.
Understandably, some of their fans are a little off the mark about their perceptions of Hawaii.
sad to see undisciplined play. offensive coaches need to get a clue. they played not to lose and lost!
This guy evidently doesn’t get out much
Will defer to (J)J for confirmation on the Holy Day of Obligation part…Mrs. d1島 doesn’t think it is.
But, hey, they asked the players and they said they wanted to come to Hawaii. I guess they really haven’t lowered the academic standards!
Aikaukaunau…
Hope the 48-hour rule was suspended for the duration of the banquet tonight. 😉
Not a good day all around. On the field. In the stands. And even the play-by-play broadcast on the radio.
The first two are not professionals and are excusable. The fans inspiring the other team’s players by chanting “overated” probably served as an impetus for the other team comeback. The players, jokingly speaking, also laid an egg by having 19 unanswered points scored upon them. But in my opinion the biggest hens of the game are the radio people.
BC and RK had probably two revelations that they wish they can take back, for they are the professionals.
With around 8 minutes left in the game. BC goes on to say, “I had this feeling the Warriors were going to win”. He alludes on the air how he saw this rainbow in the early morning and had this feeling.
Hearing this I wanted to cringe. And said a little prayer in hopes that my superstitions would’nt come to fruition.
RK on the second to the last play of the game says, as the other team attempts a pass into the end zone resulting in a pass interference penalty as “not a bad thing”. Huh? Not a bad thing? You mean…what exactly as not a bad thing? Or to whom because it surely didn’t help UH’s cause. Perhaps the ones that took UH and the points…maybe.
So if there was ever a day we were the laughing stock on the field, stands and on the radio this is one that will be easy to remember.
Poor play calling, the unbelieveable QB shuffle, poor O-line play, rotation of Rb’s, starting with the QB under center and then not at all, poor special teams play (KO, punt return -all night last night- and KO coverage-they started on the 40 yard line all night), undecipled roughing penalties after the play, players arguing with the coaches on the sidelines and not being able to get the ball out of the shadows of their endzone all says we need a new O coordinator or new O coaches. The key to Mac’s success with O coaches, is whether his coaches are considered for open head coaching job by other colleges. If they are NOT, then maybe he has the wrong personnel in those positions!! IMHO the time for change IS NOW….if Mac is going to do anything.
undeciplined = undisciplined
Welcome to the Warriors, Cayman Shutter!
Great job by everyone involved for getting Notre Dame for the Hawaii Bowl! Notre Dame is probably the only school available that wouldn’t care that they would lose money by going to the Hawaii Bowl…Notre Dame gets so much money from the NBC contract, etc. Notre Dame’s fans travel *very* well, and I’m sure that they will have a lot of alumni spending Christmas in Hawaii…it could be great for Hawaii’s economy!
Notre Dame is pretty ideal for the Warriors. They attract a *lot* of media attention, so the Warriors will get a lot more attention than they would have if they played Western Michigan or some other school with a similar profile to Western Michigan. And the attention that Notre Dame gets is NOT because they are a good school…they are very beatable, especially for the Warriors at Aloha Stadium. A win would give great visibility to UH, and the TV ratings will be high thanks to Notre Dame.
I don’t want to say much about certain aspects of the game until much later…
95% chance this is NOT going to happen as they’ll probably get a pass during this transitional year. He’s been praising his staff all year long for the good job they’ve been doing and despite how ugly it was, reached one of their main goals, a bowl game. If these macro issues continue in the 2009 season, then the issue may get forced in his 3rd year.
McMackin says “We’re a good football team, but not good enough to finish. Hopefully we’ll learn something from this and be able to play better about the bowl game.”
Hmmm. 7-6 is not my definition of a good team and not being able to close the deal does not rest solely on the players. McMackin and the coaching staff have to do their part and; it is not like it was the first time this happened. This is why some of us were critical early on about the coaching such that the issue would not manifest itself through the rest of the season which for certains things, it has.
Alexander said “We (bleepin’) gave away the game” while Malcolm Lane said “”We got too conservative.”
Going conservative and letting off the gas pedal too soon has been a hallmark of this team where it kills the rhythm of the offense. This team does not have the personnel this season to effectively run the ball as a way to run out the clock. The offensive line woes add to that problem. UH still needs to be able to pass first to open up the run and the short passing game and screens can still work like running plays. It keeps the opposition honest. Of course, the playcalling sequence matters depending on field position.
Additionally, when the same issues with personal foul penalties, clock management, etc keep happening after 13 games, how much longer is it going to take them to learn from those mistakes. It’s like watching someone who keeps burning their hand on a hot stove because it takes them several tries to realize that fact.
McMackin said “I don’t know if we gave it away or they took it away.” Geez, does he need to even ask or is he really too slow to see in realtime with his own eyes and needs to go review the game film to come to the same conclusion that most everyone else witnessed live, that they gave it away? Even his QB said they gave it away. Makes me wonder what else he can’t see during gametime.
I keep hearing him say “we need to get better as a team.” I would hope that would include improving the level of discipline and control. Obviously, the off the field punishments aren’t working. Maybe coach needs to just start sitting players to send a strong signal that it won’t be tolerated.
As for Notre Dame, they are a 6-6 team with talent but a coaching staff that have not been able to take full advantage of that talent. Sure, they are currently ESPN’s whipping boy in how they are made the butt of jokes (at Lou Holtz’s expense) but it is not going to be an easy game for Hawaii because the level of talent they have is still enough to beat Hawaii. Because of Notre Dame’s lack of success in recent years though, a win won’t get UH much kudos but a loss would be somewhat damaging.
Winning the Hawaii Bowl good set up to 2009.
My only disappointment this year is the penalties. Do they know that because the team wears black they don’t have to be like the Oakland Raiders. It’s going to be really sad if Hawaii moves up from #4 Nationally is penalties to #1 after last night. Selfish, undisciplined & no class players should have to pay, then don’t let them play for a game. #50 last night on the kickoff return team hit a Cincinatti player in the back about 1.5 to 2 seconds after the play was done. In the back, real brave & real stupid, cost the team 15 yards for the PF.
Nice photo of Bess running with the ball and stiff-arming a defender on the front page of the Dolphins section here.
Sorry, “in” penalties to #1.
Article about how Samson could lose his job. It is always dangerous when new management brings in players that they coached at previous places.
It is great to see how the South Florida media has taken to Bess. Ted Ginn was taken with the #9 pick in the 2007 draft and Bess was not drafted!
I dont get the 48 hr rule for the last game of the season as there is no previous game to move on to next week. – imo, just silly.
Also the “don’t embarrass the program rule” does apply to play calling right?
Silky Voice…well said:
“Additionally, when the same issues with personal foul penalties, clock management, etc keep happening after 13 games, how much longer is it going to take them to learn from those mistakes. It’s like watching someone who keeps burning their hand on a hot stove because it takes them several tries to realize that fact.”
I remember a coach that immediately benched any player who got a personal foul…no matter what position or how important a player they were. I’ll tell you, it sure decreased the number of personal fouls committed. Between the peer pressure and no playing time, it made the players more disciplined and they played smarter…especially the key players!
A few thoughts about all the complaints about the coaches.
Yes, there were mistakes. Yes, there were too many penalties. Yes, there could have been better play selection.
But, I think this is what we are stuck with.
All these people who are calling for Ron Lee to get the boot, I wonder how many of them were the very same people who were calling for Ron and Cal to be named head coach before June Jones came. Amazing how fast things change.
Even if we did get rid of Ron Lee, who are we going to get to replace him? Good OCs are not just out there for the taking. With all the money UH decided to pay Mac, how much money is left to get a good coordinator? Getting a good coach to come to Hawaii is kind of like getting a good recruit to come to Hawaii. Most of the time, it isn’t going to happen. We don’t have the money, the facilities, the conference, etc to tempt a good coach to come over here. We got lucky with June Jones.
So basically we are stuck with what we got. Let’s just hope they can learn from this season and not make the same mistakes next year. Hopefully JJ left enough knowledge here for them to work with for a while.
On a separate note, it is truly amazing how much things can change without the original creator of the system. Just think of the shovel pass. How many times did we use that under June Jones to run clock and act like a running game. This year, it seems like we can’t get a single shovel pass to work. Is it really so hard to teach?
…. Last thought… It’s sad that we can’t get more people in Hawaii to support the team. We were 7 and 5, coming off some great games, playing the 13th ranked team in the nation and we can only get 35,000 to the game.
Hawaii will never truly be “big time” because the fans don’t support them…
Anyway, it was another fun season. Looking forward to the bowl game and next year. Hope always springs eternal for “next year”
No matter how much the loss last night hurts, which is prompting many to point fingers at the coaches….Coach Mac and the Warriors are in a much better position than JJ and his horses in Texas. At the beginning of the season, not very many people believed that we could end up with a winning season, let alone go to a Bowl game. But here we are….
Not so, Grasshopper. Christmas Day, Sundays, All Saints Day, Assumption, and a couple of others – hey, it’s been 59-60 years since I was in a Catholic School – unless you count Fordham, but that was 49 years ago!
Sorry – missed a sentence – CHristmas Eve is not a Holy Day of Obligation.
I see a lot of criticism of the offensive coaches. Some of it certainly has merit. For me, I put the responsibility on the man at the top of the decision tree. Any team and staff tends to take on the personality of the head man. Please remember that I love Coach Mac and Mrs Mac. They are great people. Had he not been available and took the HC job, I can easily see us near the bottom of the WAC as many people predicted we would end up this year. I long noted a comment by JJ when he talking about game planning for various teams. He knew right away what kind of offense a team would run if the HC came from the defensive side. He wasn’t talking about the schematics of the plays that would be run, he was talking about the philosophy and tendencies. What a team would do on 3rd and short. What they would do inside their 10. Knowing stuff like that gave a decided advantage to the UH defense. At the same time, opponents never knew what Hawaii was going to do because JJ was always a threat to go for the long ball when he was backed up inside the 5. I believe that we’ve lost that tactical edge (military folks know what I’m talking about) because Coach Mac depends on the very good defense to keep the game close. With that mindset, the philosophy is automatically conservative and predictable. It becomes a vicious circle as this type of thinking results in more short yardage situations and the defense begins to mass closer to the line of scrimmage because we’re no longer stretching them vertically. Soon, we’re no longer the attackers, but defenders. When that happens, an offense has lost the war.
BTW, I don’t see Cav coming back in the near future. He likes the staff he’s on (or so it’s been said), he’s comfortable in Corvallis, and he’s nicely compensated in a place where the dollar goes a lot further than Honolulu. And Mrs Cav’s life was saved by a donated kidney from an assistant coach. Folks, we talk about assistants being available in the market place. At the same time, we have to take a realistic view and see ourselves as others see us. If you’re an established D1 coach, what does Hawaii offer? Are we a power house in an established region or are we out in the middle of the Pacific? How does the pay and benefits match up? What about the facilities? I think the realities soon shrinks the available pool. Add in that Hawaii runs a unique offense and the pool becomes miniscule. For those that think that the RnS went with JJ, I beg to differ. It would certainly be a fairer comparison to wait a year or two to see how the present QB’s develop and we play a more typical schedule. Look at the overall statistics for JJ and they were very good, but not the fantasy league monster until Colt showed up. Timmy did not have a 60% avg completion rate during his career. Rolo went ballistic over 3 games. Look at similar circumstances. When Urban Meyer went to Florida, Utah stumbled a bit, but are doing very well with vitually the same spread option offense. When Paul Johnson left Navy, they didn’t miss a beat. So, I’m not buying that the RnS is gone…not yet. Many people are saying that they want a more conventional offense, but forget that doing that puts us head to head with the big boys for talent. The offense that Navy runs, Georgia Tech runs, Texas Tech runs, and we run, are unique enough to enable us is to compete with teams with better talent. To forget that basic premise to put ourselves in a position that has our butts exposed to a cold wind. Let’s not forget our history before JJ arrived or we will repeat it.
OK. That’s a week’s worth of posting for me. Time to prep for work tomorrow.
Wanted to add that the HC, staff, and down through the team are all projects in the making. The good thing is they are all progressing and getting better. There’s also room for a lot of improvement. Based on their history this year, I have confidence that things will continue to improve. If that happens, I’ll be a happy camper.
Hawaii will kick ND for three quarters. ND will try to make a 4th quarter comeback but will fall just short like they have been all year. Te’o will then go to USC and the NFL. I hope a couple of big O-linemen in the mainland watch the game and sign with us for 2009.
And finally…prayers still, for Kristin, that she have the grace of God upon her. That there be no fear or pain…only comfort.
WWT,
Rolo will make an excellent OC. If he calls the plays like the way he played he will have no trouble. Former QB’s understand tempo. They will call the game in a way that promotes tempo and flow. He will be fine.
We could have been lucky again with Gilbride. – oh by the way, who looks to be on his way to 2 consecutive Super Bowls. Syracuse is about to hit the lucky jackpot. Gilbride, like JJ is genius at exploiting corners. I think that is what intrigued JJ the most to the college game – he knew that college corners aren’t good enough to cover his system and believed he can take any team and turn them around with his belief. – Genius!
It’s time for some brevity…
(from NPR blog)
Trying to be realistic here, take away the last two years with Colt at QB and we weren’t exactly world beaters and the two best years we’ve had, Big Mack was on board.
Have we become so spoiled so quickly that we can’t see straight anymore? We had sudden and devastating changes in our program, our team was completely written off nationally and a 5-7 record would have been considered successful. Now many of us are calling for coaches heads? Yet we put only 35,000 in the stands for a nationally ranked team? Hawaii fans are the most fickle fans.
Our receivers this year are good back-ups at best and we have brand new QB’s. The judging should at least wait ’till next season in order to be fair in assessing where we’re going.
Let’s take a deep breath, step back from the Kool-aid and be happy we have the Hawai’i Bowl to go to. We will be good and the run and shoot will be humming soon enough. We have some great receivers in the pipe line coming up.
Aloha Taikos Everywhere!
It was a great game last night and now I’m looking forward to next year already.
Saw a pretty good size dude with “J Sula” on his jacket prowling the field last night before the game.
BG Good obervations. Me thinks we give a new coach 3 years to instill his philosophy and system. Afta dat!….heads should roll!
Last night was my first T-Gate and my wife and I totally enojyed meeting all you Tsaiko’s! We would like to thank you all for your warm hospitality and good conversation and good eats!
We won’t be ble to make the Aloha Bowl because of work commitments but We would like to wish all of you a Safe & Great Holiday Season!
O&O from the Northside!
NorthShoreFan – great to meet you yesterday. Da PBS was ono and just what was needed to soothe the soul after the loss. Hope to see you next year!
Just got home a little while back from the Na Koa dinner. First off, I hope that Aaron is feeling a lot better.
Captain’s Award
John Estes
Solomon Elimimian
Adam Leonard
Keala Watson
Warrior Club
Offense: John Estes
Defense: Solomon Elimimian
Special Teams: Tim Grasso
Scout Team Award
Offense: Shane Austin
Defense: Alasi Toilolo
Special Teams: Ryan Perry
Ben Yee Most Inspirational Award
Jake Ingram and Ryan Mouton
Scholar-Athlete Award
Kealoha Pilares
Alec Waterhouse Most Valuable Player Award
David Veikune
OOOPS!
Liz ..mahalo for the goodies and the sticker! Was great to meet you.
Hard to pin it all on Ron Lee. Coach Mack mentioned that he told RL that he wanted to run off some clock in the previous game against Wazoo. Seems to be the case whenever we’re up late in the game. So it becomes pretty predictable….run on 1st down. Short or no gain. Run on 2nd down….makes it 3rd and 5. Pass on 3rd down….about a 25% chance of making the 1st down. Punt the other 75% of the time.
If we can see this, don’t you think the opposing DC can see this. Predictable play calling with a suspect oline will make it a butt-squeezing 4th quarter. Don’t think we should be taking our foot off the gas unless we’re up 21 or 28 points. Till then you do what got us there and keep the foot on the gas pedal and the opponent’s throat. It didn’t bite us against Wazoo but it obviously came back to snap us in the rear last night.
Congrats to David Veikune…a very deserving MVP.
Ted,
Nobody wants anyone to lose their jobs. But some rearranging of personnel and responsibilities will be strongly evaluated very shortly. I like the new Defensive brand of football this team is evolving into. A little more balance on offense and we win 9, 10 games a year. But, like you mentioned we need to be realistic. In terms of coaching we are not dealing with the sharpest knifes in the drawer. hopefully the learning curve will be less than 3 seasons.
jm2375…luved the conversation, company and warm welcome. We’ll definitely be there next season! Can’t wait!
The Warriors fought to the last and overcame so much growing pains this year. I can see them challenging and winning the WAC next year. Coaches around the league didn’t expect much this year but the Warriors exceeded expectations.
Be proud of the team Tasiko’s! ONE SNAP AND CLEAR!
Hey, we gotta learn how to do the Ha’a next year!
Props to David Matlin for getting ND here. I’m sure every other bowl would rather have ND than someone like Norther Illinois. Who cares if they’re 6-6…they’re bowl eligible and they’re Notre Dame. That means they’re still loaded with 4 and 5 star athletes…and their schedule is a bit tougher than a WAC conference schedule. We’d have to play the improved version of last night’s effort to get by the Fighting Irish.
I also think we need to practice our 2 minute offense. It doesn’t look anything like the way Tom Brady the Patriots run it.
stretch….what happened to aaron? kia?
al – it was Aaron, Ronnie’s son. He had an allergic reaction to the food that was being served.
when we got to 24-10, i turned to the boy and said, “we need another score to put them away”.
atypical loss for us this year. we didn’t finish as coach said. we need to learn to bury the opponent. we could have easily been 10-3.
officiating seems to be uneven, to put it mildly. perhaps we need to be picking up opponents after we knock em down to shed the “bad boy” image that we tend to have.
i love this team.
is he okay?
seafood?
forgot to mention….i think shutter is a great pickup. i like his poise, leadership, quick arm, accuracy, etc.
he and nielsen will compete for years.
okay, I’m going rogue.
i wanna thank all you bloggahz fo da aloha last nite. met alot of nice peeps. an i especially wanna tank my cuz
BigHilo for givin me da opps to meet all yu Tsaikos.
you shudda seen Shrek tonite. da bugga can sing.
okay, i gotta moe moe cuz somewhere in da world is 4 am.
As difficult as it was to accept some of the calls last night, one of the things that most impressed me was the way our boys responsed to the questionable calls by just continuing to make plays. One thing for certain…everyone played their guts out last night.
Al,
I watched the game tonight and think that if you would watch the game again closely (I rewound many, many plays) you’d conclude that the officiating of this game was better than pretty much any of the WAC games…of course, saying that Big East refs are better than WAC refs is not saying much.
So many of the personal fouls were BLATANT and *right in front of the ref*. Those will always be called. There were a couple of others that could have been called too, UH was pretty lucky. For example, one play was completely over, all players had long stopped moving, and an OL for UH jumped over the pile at full speed to try to hit someone…good thing he missed everyone or that would have been another penalty!
The biggest call of the game that could have gone either way was the fumble challenge. The ruling on the field was that it was a catch and fumble, and using slow motion in HD it seemed that was the correct call to me. In order to overrule the (WAC) replay official had to have conclusive proof to overturn it, and unless there was an angle we didn’t see (unlikely with how many angles ESPN showed), I don’t understand how the WAC official overturned the ruling and called it an incomplete pass. The Tsaikos blogging during the game outright said that UH got away with one there.
Did you notice that for a good part of the game Cincinnati had more penalties called on them than UH? And personal fouls like the one on Sol were way too blatant to not call. The biggest questionable call against UH was on Tua on that FG attempt…but he did not jump up and down and he did cross over the line. As someone pointed out in the game blog, that has been a point of emphasis this year and that penalty has been called in other games this season–just not UH games.
I expected to feel much worse about the refs after reading comments by people like Stretch who said that the refs tried to give the game to Cincinnati. But if that was the case, they would have done things like not overturned the fumble ruling and called a few more holding penalties on UH’s OL.
In looking back and looking at what we are doing in recruiting, we will build a better offense in coming years– we need to. You won’t win in modern football without a high scoring offense because successful teams have high scoring offenses– 30 points is what coaches now count as the bare minimum to beat an average team let alone a good team. Look at Oklahoma, Florida, Texas, Texas Tech, all have wide open offenses that can score a lot of points and dictate the tempo of the game, build leads, and come back from behind.
Stretch: Didn’t even notice that. Hope he’s okay!
To the ladies who wanted to read the story about the volleyball aunties:
Aloha aunties: Strands from the heart
It was a really nice banquet. Admiral Timothy Keating was the featured speaker, and he made a very nice speech. Saw Coach Les Murakami several times tonight. And no, I did not buy a $5+ soda during the cocktail hour. 😛
I was personally rooting for Francis Maka as scholar-athlete. Go math majors! Speaking of which … If anyone is interested in the Putnam Exam, which is the test that I took yesterday, here are the problems and solutions:
http://www.unl.edu/amc/a-activities/a7-problems/putnamindex.shtml
I actually got the right results to A2 and B1, although I’m not sure if my explanations are right cause they don’t quite match what was given. That would be so cool if I get significant points for what I wrote. Then again, I’d gladly take 1 or 2 points for each, just for getting the right result. 😀
OK, right now, Na Koa better sign up Robert Kekaula as next year’s banquet speaker.
Tonight’s event really lacked … what’s that word? … oh, yeah, entertainment.
I think they could have combined the fourth-year letterwinners and seniors into one presentation.
And it should have been a highlight video featuring the big plays and the big hits, not a review of the season. There were six losses. Nobody needed to rehash those. Show the big pops, play loud music and, please Mr. M.C., tell a joke or two.
Other than that, we had a lovely time.
Anyway, I’m in a strange position of not thinking that the refs were as bad as some other people obviously do. So, I’m going to leave the blog for awhile and let others vent.
Tonight wasn’t a fun night for me. I forced myself to watch the game closely and rewind so many plays. And then after I was done Lori and I watched and comforted Katie as she passed away. Bad night.
Postmanke (193),
I think you won’t have to wait three years, Mark my words, you’ll see a vastly improved team next year, in all phases.
Ok…who was the M.C.?
Re: Fumble?
We spoke with the replay official after the game, and he said the field ruling was that it was an incomplete pass. That could be challenged, but it’s a very difficult ruling to reverse. The rule of thumb is three steps equals a catch. The receiver cradled the ball on his hip, but did not take the three steps before being popped and fumbling.
MC Blangiardi.
The Refs where certainly not the reason we lost.
Garret,
the referee explained that the ruling on the field was incomplete pass, not fumble. the call was not overturned, although I thought it did look closer to catch and fumble.
I guess he better keep his day job.
we are talking about the same play? Libre’s “catch”?
3 steps? I thought the receiver just needs to make a “football move”?
I don’t want to dog the show, because the MC is really very funny and witty. We know that. We’ve seen his telecasts before. And he knows football.
The thing is, he doesn’t know this team. He doesn’t know the players It’s not his fault. He’s running the top newscast at 10. He’s not on the road. Or at practices. But you need someone who is. And, most of all, you can’t butcher names. Not at a banquet.
We lost because of the pick-6 completely changing the momentum, followed by panic playing. Heck, we did the same thing in reverse in the third quarter. They don’t just lye down for us.
Blangiardi was a nice guy, but I think Kekaula would have been a better MC. I didn’t attend last year, and I understand Kekaula did it last year. But yeah, Blangiardi was not very entertaining. He did a good job of keeping us on time, despite some long speeches.
And yeah, it was a nice video on KGMB’s part, but don’t show us the losses. I thought that was really weird. Kinda deflating to end on the Cincy game, no?
ST and el guapo,
Thank you for the clarification. Thus, my point was wrong above on the replay. I thought that the announcers said that it was ruled a fumble. I’m sure that was just my mistake…
Oh, I thought it should have been a fumble. But it was a two-step protest: Was it a catch? And then, was it a fumble? There had to be indisputable evidence that it was a catch. By bringing the ball to his hip made that slightly, slightly debatable. Or so we were told.
It’s a game, there is always a measure of luck involved. We had it in the third, they had it at the end. If Alex throws the ball three more inches to the left it’s a completion, instead of a pick-6 and everything changes.
The replay official was a WAC official? Why a WAC official instead of a Big East official to round out the bunch. If so, that’s explain the aloha shirt.
In July, the local media went to a rules/video seminar at a referee’s house. At the time, we were told that those calls could not be challenged. But after that seminar, it was stated that those calls could be challenged, although, I think, there was a higher standard of evidence was needed to overturn the initial ruling. Or so we were told.
Florida Ted is correct.
The pick-6 changed the game. In a one-touchdown game, the Warriors couldn’t bring the house on blitzes.
At the same time, Cincinnati could argue that it did not have its leading receiver since the opening drive, and that it won it with a backup quarterback running the offense.
darren….i agree with you 100%. they played hard last night and left it on the turf. that first half was amazing in that, inspite of getting our butts, we were only down a td. that third quarter was about as exciting and electrifying as ever.
three small things cost us the game. tipped pass that lands in the arms of a db. that wasn’t a pick six but rather a tip six. a running back instead of turning up field goes wide and is stripped of the ball. a two inch separation of tipping a pass falls complete and the safety misses a tackle.
arrghhh.
UH certainly had its chances.
But, hey, in the grand scheme, the game didn’t matter. Cincinnati is going to a BCS game. UH is going to play Notre Dame.
Win or lose, that would have been the scenario, anyway.
garret
unfortunately, my recording of the game went blank. mack said tonight on the lc show that on one personal foul call the warrior was pushed into a bearcat and flagged. he felt there were other ? calls.
there were some that looked like those where the last person caught with his hand in the cookie jar is flagged.
Looking for a Tim Carey type performance from GA vs ND. Carey didnt have half the support GA has so maybe just half the performance will do. This time we beat em.
what i do like is that mack knows that our glaring weakness is overall team speed and that he is addressing this in his recruiting.
and speaking of which….any more recruiting news on the night after the biggest recruit pre-matriculation of football student-athletes?
steve tsai,
playing the “what if” game. IF we were in need of a new Offensive Coordinator and looking at the huge number of “jobless” coaches out there i.e. UW, CLemson, Auburn, Tennessee etc.
Whom do you think UH could benefit from looking at?
you may not get this post…kinda late. i will prolly carry the question over to tomorrows post.
thanks!
so did we also get lee aguirre, aaron brown and zach masch? i hope so.
it must be getting late. i had to read #231 twice. i kept reading it as jim carrey….and thinking “jim carrey??”.
notre dame is a great game. don’t know how it would have felt if it were northern illinois????
i should have bought a dozen tickets.
haha Can the University of Hawaii afford Dan Mullen as OC?
letsgowarrriors
perhaps that story will be told in an hour or so. then again, that story could be told in a day or two.
i may be alone on this, but, i think last night’s game did not hurt our recruiting chances. just to experience that third quarter would have been enough to excite someone over say, idaho.
besides, who really thought that we could hang with the #13 bearcats?
well i did
lost in the shuffle…..congrats to the now humble michelle wie.
Iwonderwhytheyhateme:
from what I know, if they were to ever hire anyone, it would be someone with ties to Mack. he wouldn’t get somebody with no connection to either himself or Hawaii.
But, no, they’re not looking to replace anybody.
It seems that there is a lot of fans calling for Ron Lee to get the boot, I myself am not ready to make that call. For one thing I want to know how much control of the play calling he has? JJ had it all. Also he does not have the same quality of players to compare to the previous JJ teams. Also trying to compare him to JJ is not to bright, they are two different kind of coaches, Ron Lee could improve but I doubt that he will be able to reach the level of JJ. For one thing he does not have that “Gambler” approach in the play calling. Don’t get me wrong there have been many of (JJ) calls that had me scratching my head, but he believed that we could score from any place on the field, I don’t think Ron has that confidence in the system/players yet, will he only time will tell.
7-6 season I can live with that for this year. But for next year I don’t know about that?
I kind of agree with a few of you that the telling season will be the year after next,
Over all I think that the biggest thing Ron/Mac need to improve on is the killer instinct, when you have them down keep them down, if you go back to the previous two season you will notice that JJ never pulled his starting players or changed his playcalling until he had at least a 30 point lead.
With all that has happened in the last 10 months (esp the first one) I think the team did a fantansic job, to all of the seniors “Thanks for the Memories” I hope for all the best for you guys.
the bearcats are #12 now.
before i fall asleep (can’t sleep tonight for some reason), I just want to say Condolences to Garret and family. I’m glad that you were able to spend some time with Katie after you got back home and that she was surrounded by loving hearts when she passed away.
Still praying for those who ail and sending aloha out to all!
Nitey nite,
Liz
To all the whiners out there
Coach Lee is in his first year as an OC, cut him a break
Call playing/performance will improve next year as the
players/coaches will be in the system for the second year
GA will also improve as he gets more reps with his receivers
Once “natural” tackles are in place of our present four guards
and a center O-Line, the offense will open up.
Coach Lee is not being replaced and how in the world can you put Rolo and UDUB in the same sentence? Maybe in the future,
after he developes a record setting QB on his own.
yup lv. you are right.
next year’s team will be faster i believe. we have a lot of redshirts ready to cut loose next year.
what happened with lwj?
Condolences to Garret and Family.
Losing a good dog is like losing a family member
Remember the good times
Is LWJ hurt or just a bust?
Did Richard Torres play?
Awards for Estes? young man had how many stupid personal
fouls this year?
Including the Cincy game?
btw this officiating crew called a very good game in spite of the clock.
only wish they got a handle on the rough stuff earlier
ok time fo shower and head fo the clinic
aloha
Garret – my condolence to you, Lori and girls on the loss of Katie. God bless. May He comfort you.
A good morning to all!
Garret and family . . .
Sorry to hear about Katie. She still lives in your hearts!
Thank you all for the condolences. I just told Faith about Katie as she was leaving our home to go to school. That was sad…
Al,
I do agree that one personal foul call was completely blown! The UH player didn’t even hit the UC player hard, but either hit him off balance or the UC player did a good acting job. I thought that the rest of the calls were justified from what I can see…I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them were retaliations that were caught, but when the retaliation is in front of the ref that will be called!
The thing is, the Warriors were playing with an edge all game and other personal foul calls could easily have been called. I do wish that the refs had gotten control of the game, but they had called some personal foul penalties in the first quarter…and if they wanted to get control of the game the majority of the personal fouls would have been called on UH, which would not have been good!
Still, Big East refs seemed better to me than WAC/MWC/Big 12 refs that we’ve seen this season. Maybe the mixed crews that work WAC games make it hard for cohesion while the Big East refs are used to working together.
I do not support firing Ron Lee after this season. I agree that the coaches should be judged over a period of time that includes recruits that they had a hand in picking, not in a one-year transition period.
I do think that Mac has a more conservative philosophy than JJ, which is expected from a defensive-oriented coach. He seems to have a lot in common with Coach Tomey in that regard, and Coach Tomey did well at UH and has done a great job at SJSU. If the defense is considered the strength (which Mac has made clear it is), then avoiding turnovers and playing the field position game becomes more important than in the previous seasons under JJ.
Congratulations to Michelle Wie! She took a lot of criticism in this blog in the past, but earning her tour card the hard way instead of just taking sponsor’s exemptions is a good way to earn respect.
Good morning Tsaikos everywhere.
If I’m going to criticize anyone, I’ll start with myself.
I am truly sorry that I joined in the chorus yelling
“overrated”. I did it even though I had second, third and fourth thoughts about joining in the taunting. I apologize to the team and I apologize to my friends. The big thing is this: I will do my best not to repeat that mistake.
But it was kinda hard to change the mob mentality from a single seat in lower section C orange when the chanting started in the middle of the makai sideline area, as near as I could tell.
Good morning Tsaikos everywhere.
I also apologize for my mistake in joining the chorus of bachi makers.
And I join Silky Voice of the Gorn in his analysis.
BUT….
It takes awhile to train an old dog new tricks. In this case, we got alot of old dogs, and some young dogs. They’re all learning somewhat new jobs. They’re humble, mean us well, and I BELIEVE they want what I want… a great UH football program.
So I say to Mack, Ron, Rolo, Stutz, Brian: great effort on the O side of the ball. keep it up. go recruit some supah big bradda from some secret place, keep the newz to yourself till you get da bugga in da bag. and mostly, KEEP TRYING TO IMPROVE. you know what
Bess did, he studied and studied samoa. he’s spending lots of time with Pennington watching film together.
thats the secret. LOTS OF WORK! LOVE YOUR JOB!
I join in congragulating all of you for a great 1st season.
And when I said all, I meant ALL.
to all of us, I remind myself that Ron and Rolo follow Mack’s directives. I know Mack listens. And I know they are all for all of us. its just my opinion: next season, put Rolo upstairs. my sense is he’s more suited to scheming for the offense. That said,
Las Vegas, Pomai, Garret, good posts.
But , I’m over it now! Snap and clear. One for all. All for one.
Bring on Notre Dame. Yeeeee ha!
Go Warriors.
Just heard ESPN radio this morning “If ND loses to Hawaii that’ll be really embarrassing for the Irish since they aren’t a BCS team. Losing to Syracuse is bad enough, but HAWAII…” Discuss.
Great Morning All!
Garret,
Sorry to hear about Katie. In talking to Ronnie this past weekend, it sounds like she was a great friend.
Ronnie,
It was great to see you again and to meet your boys. I hope Aaron is okay. Have a safe trip back to the mainland (not your home 😉 )
Congratulations to the honorees from the banquet last night.
99club,
Howzit!
Checked back on the South Bend Tribune site’s story about ND coming and the comments are definitely turning more negative about the trip to Hawaii.
LOTS of Charlie Weis Haters in Irish country. A loss on Xmas Eve will really fan the flames for his removal.
It’s amazing that a $20M buyout doesn’t seem to faze a lot of the fans who are posting comments! It must be nice 🙄
Aloha Kakahiaka!
COLT watch:
http://vimeo.com/2456525
Cooley comment:
4. In the off season do you enjoy staying in the Washington DC area, or do you want to get out of town for a month or two? Where do you go?
I live in Leesburg VA. I think everyone saw our house on the news. I love Virginia and really anywhere else around D.C. The people are great here and I have no reason to live anywhere else. We do take a vacation every off season but the only one I want to make a tradition is Hawaii.
Welcome, Notre Dame!
HIHO!
Cayman
know that when you play for UH, you’re playing for all of us. That means Hawaii wants you to succeed and we root for you to succeed! This will be your opportunity not only for education, but for a better life for yourself in the islands. you going make plenty friends, and will have the opportunity to make plenty fans. so study hard young man, and welcome to Warrior Football!!
Go Warriors!
Hiya LizK.
nice to see you and the gang this past weekend.
koakane,
paddled wih Dutchy yesterday. i pass on his greetings.
you guyz no Shinsho Tei? Great spot. Great food, great Karaoke. Pride and Melveen busted the place up good last nite.
speaking of motivational speakers…
so my cuz is in the pooper this morning, reading the guts of yesterday’s Advertiser. And then he starts laughing so loud, stops what he’s doing, comes out and shows me page A34 of yesterday’s Tizer.
For only $4.95 pp (or send your entire office for $19) there is a seminar from motivational speakers. Among them, Rudy Giuliani on The Tenacity to Perservere, and Greg McMackin on How to Sharpen Your Competitive Edge… Monday, 2/9/09 8a-4:45p.
cuz, thats not funny! laugh all you like, but i going….
I agree on the matter of Ron Lee. He should be retained but given the free hand to be the coordinator. This way, it’s all on him and let him do what he believes needs to be done.
I am still quite unhappy with the o-line coaching and that has a lot to do with what Bulla has alluded to with regard to “playing one’s favorites”, or the obvious lack of discipline we’ve seen from the “star” center, John Estes, or the inability to pass block against just about all of our opponents, or the inability to run block in shot yardage situations (our guys llok like they’re standing around) or the fact that we had a similar situation several years ago with an o-line in disarray and in stepped Mr. Cav and immediately, we saw a marked difference in blocking technique, with what was thought to be inferior talent.
Finally, I agree that Coach Mac has at least 3 years to place his mark on the team. It’s ultimately his call and he needs to be held accountable for the results. He has a “hall pass” on this year, but there should be little or no excuses in the next two.
Good morning Tsaikos…and Tsaikettes…
Okay, have to Esme today. Super busy…but wanted to say a couple of things.
Condolences to Garrett on the loss of your dog. I know that can be rough, especially for kids….
Tough loss on Saturday but we move on…on to ND….
Finally (and if someone can post this notice on the next blog post for me if I’m not here):
2nd Annual Tsaiko Christmas Party
6:30 p.m., December 18th, 2008
Murphy’s Bar and Grill
2 Merchant St
Honolulu, HI 96813
(808) 531-0422
Parking is available in the Harbor Court building or in the pay lot next to Murphy’s.
Party will be pupu style/order off menu and drinks. More details to follow.
Hello Mr. Vegas-
Your 243 post: All dat true! I’m with you.
last night’s news
clips from senior night and notre dame.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cze7THYizzk
good to see the huge turnout for last night’s banquet. lots of tsaikos and sportshawaii folks there. good food (more turkey!) good fun.
CC – I guess the sportshawaii people have more pull than the Tsaikos. We seen that your table was one of the first to hit the buffet line!!
Good Morning Tsai-kos!
Garret – My condolences on the passing of your beloved Katie. Pets are members of the family. Remember the good times with her.
Ronnie – hope Aaron is feeling better.
I’m over Sat night. On to smashing the leprechauns!!
Ron Lee has been coaching longer than Rolo had been on this planet. From just that standpoint I can’t see how anyone can judge that he would do a better job of play-calling. When the O-line can block and this becomes Ron’s version of the run and shoot, we’ll see how good or bad the play selection is.
Ron Lee is not the person to blame. He made the right calls. The problem rests with the O Line, Alexander the Great, and the receivers. The coach calls the plays and the players execute the plays.
All the people criticizing Ron Lee have been playing too much Madden football.
Personally, I don’t think Ron Lee is a great OC, but this does not affect or change my opinion regarding his play calling.
Why are you all so upset anyway? There is no way in hell the UH would have won this game. They were playing a real football team this time, not a team like the last three opponents. Alexander the Great is over rated, same with Nick Rolovich, his cousin.
UH can beat glorified high school teams like Weber State, but UH cannot play with real teams.
This will not change until UH hires some real coaches and recruits some real players.
Get Ken Niumatololo as HC, Wilson Afoa as AD, Al Noga as DC, and Fred Salanoa as OC. These guys will in turn recruit the right kind of players – true Warriors, like themselves.
Good Morning everyone!
It was a great night at the banquet! The Twins, Addahknowsports, Ronnie, Ian, Aaron, and I were in full groupie mode getting autographs from as many players as we could. UHfan808 and I even caught many after the banquet! What a difference from last year when you couldn’t get near some of the players and then we had to pay to get their autographs.
Just talked to Ronnie. Aaron is doing okay and they are leaving as schedules…shucks wanted them to stay longer. He will be on Benadryl and steroid for the next couple of days. Aaron doesn’t want to eat stuffing again! Ronnie said, “Who puts macadamia nuts in stuffing?”
My condolences to Garret and his family on their loss of Katie.
Great news about Shutter!
Have a great day!
Oops. Wilson Afoa should have been Ulima Afoa.
Aloha Kakahiaka!!!
Garret, sorry to hear about Katie.
Met your parents at the T-gate. Fun people! Hi, momo!
MsLiz, mahalo for the little present. Are we going to see you at the Hawai’i Bowl?
Congrats to the guys who earned awards at the Na Koa banquet.
IMUA WARRIORS! Playing Notre Dame will be a great game. Looking forward to that matchup. As someone pointed out earlier, get into better condition to keep up the play through the 4th quarter. And stop shooting ourselves in the foot with penalties; doesn’t matter who the refs are. BTW, who is officiating at the Bowl game? WAC refs?
If Ron Lee insists on running the ball more in this offense, he needs to recruit some bigger backs who are able to break the initial contact like Ilaoa used to. I know we have Jake Heun next year, but I always thought UH should recruit that guy from Kaimuki HS (can’t recall his name) who also played pivot for the Kaimuki basketball team that won the state title two years ago with Beau Albrechtson. He was a 250 lb. athletic running back who wanted to go to UH, but I think ended up at a JC in the Bay area. Does anyone know if he is being considered?
Ronnie:
So glad to hear the Aaron is feeling much better and that your travel plans will not be interrupted.
Have a safe trip home, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and hope to see you and Ian and Aaron soon!
RON LEE was horrible this year. Give Rolo a shot at calling plays. Don’t run the ball when you have no run blocking or a running back that can run between the tackles. Football 101 = common sense! Amazing some coaches have been in the industry for years and still insist on making the same dumb mistakes. WEAK!
You would think that being a top 20 team and a BCS Bowl team, that UH would be able to recruit better QB’s than what they have now, and better than what they’re recruiting in the high school ranks.
McMackin needs to be fired……what is he doing?????
Last year was UH’s chance to bring in another BIG NAME coach who can bring in players.
UH blew it!
Notre Dame’s answer to the vilichaun lmao. Rudili! These guys are nuts.
htpp://www.freakcrazy.com
alabama condos
I found your post comments while searching Google. Very relevant especially as this is not an issue which a lot of peaople are conversant with.
hospitality jobs online resume
I can’t believe that I missed your point, I will have to do some research on this.