Wilson service today
The public is invited to today’s “Celebration of Life” ceremony for running back Willis Wilson.
It begins at 6:30 p.m. in the Stan Sheriff Center.
Teammates, coaches and Pastor Joe Onosai are scheduled to speak.
Wilson died Nov. 30 of an apparent drowning off Sandy Beach. He was 21.
* * * * *
In this morning’s wee hours, coach Norm Chow began one-on-one interviews with each of the more than 100 players. Each session is scheduled for 15 minutes, although it can go extra (or shorter) depending on the conversation.
Even before that interview, each player also must have met with his position coach, football trainer Brian Wong, equipment specialist Al Ginoza and strength/conditioning coordinator Gary Beemer.
The sessions are designed to set goals, evaluate the past season, offer suggestions and, of course, voice complaints and concerns.
First?
RIP to Willis Wilson. Too soon, way to soon.
Condolences once again to the Wilson family…such a sad situation.
ST, any word on coaching changes?
morning from wessai lagoon4 kolina supa sunny day
ST, do you think Norm Chow will be able to recruit quality players if his record continues to be sub par
For UH, the key is to hold on to Eli.
People tell me he’s the best lineman in the state.
Top ten
Top Ten
5. Recruiting at the mid major level is all about talent evaluation. There are enough talented kids to go around for everyone. Key is identifying those guys and not letting them get away when they want to play for you. It is nice to beat out schools for some 3-4 star kids though. If you can land 5 kids you have to battle for and sign 20 kids you just evaluated properly and no one else wanted, you can build a big time program. Boise did that before they became a household name. Utah St. did it as well.
There was a point where Peni Vea (UNLV) and Brian Suite (Utah St.) had no offers. Hawaii just dropped the ball evaluating. Those 2 would be starters for Hawaii.
Then you got John Lotulelei( UNLV) David Kekuewa(Bowling Green), Mana Greig(Oregon), and list really goes on..
I think Hawaii is and will miss out on Elijah Lagafuaina at LB. Safety at Mililani, now a MLB(we need one bad) who made 1st team All Conference at Mt. Sac. Lead his team in tackles with 63, 2 sacks, 2nd on team in TFL 9.5, and 2nd on team in pass break ups with 8. Which is really good for a LB. Shows he can cover.
I thought the MWC did a pretty good job placing teams.
Only thing is nobody wants to play in Boise, so I thought it should have been Boise State’s duty to play in that bowl. Oh, well.
UH actually has a pretty good MLB — nobody knew it until the Army game.
Tavita Lataimua should have played earlier.
Benny Fonua should have played more, too.
Congrats to dave shoji and the wahine on another fabulous season.
Last day to vote for emily hartong…lowes senior class award
My bad, he plays OLB, but Gener can play inside if anything.
In 2010, UH was going after Jeremy Ioane and Brian Suite. After Ioane picked Boise State, UH had a shot at Suite, even though he was a Punahou guy, and we all know about Punahou guys wanting to go away. I’m not sure why they soured on him.
Gener is the kind of mean, nasty player every team needs.
Let’s say UH goes to a 3-4 next year. It could look something like this: LE Beau Yap, NT Moses Samia and RE Kennedy Tulimasealii, with Jerrol Garcia-Williams or Jeremy Castro as the joker.
14. I think the key was that Utah State offered over the summer and was very persistent throughout the year. I remember under Mack, Hawaii was just a step too late sometimes…
was gener a 3 for 2, and used his redshirt this year?
Dec. 18 is a huge day as far as 2014 season goes. Hawaii desperately needs to hit 5-5 with 1 HR, 3 doubles, and a single…
I think 2013 mid year class was a fail overall. We probably hit 1-5 and even the 1 didn’t get to play much. Gener is a solid double in my opinion. Lataimua didn’t contribute a whole lot even though I was impressed with him in Army game. Griffin didn’t do much at all for us this year and he was supposed to be Muir replacement. Terrance Polk didn’t even make it. Vasquez Haynes probably played the most and is only a soph so verdict is still out on him…
I think this class needs 5 Julian Gener type guys though for Hawaii to have a successful 2014 year. Im setting the bar at Bowl game…
Condolences once again to the Wilson family. RIP Willis Wilson.
Good morning Tsaikos…
ST, hearing the term joker made me think of Steve Miller….”Some people call me the space cowboy….some call me the gangsta of love…” đŸ™‚
Heartrendering.. too soon.
ST, Except for the Army Game I don’t remember Tevita Lataimua getting any playing time this season, did he? Or did he play more games than I thought and cannot use this season as a redshirt?
18: since he played in 3 games and he got injured, he was awarded a medical redshirt
Condolences to the friends and family of Willis Wilson,
I noticed on other blog threads that people are wondering why Chow hasn’t announced any staff changes yet. I think he’s concentrating on the planning of Wilson’s memorial ceremony and waiting until after to do so, which is the respectable thing to do.
Morning!
Sincerest sympathy to Willis Wilson’s family & to the UH FB ‘ohana.
Oh man I think we need more than what Stephen listed here at No. #16. Or we going get blown again. So is Kaumayer not going to be fired? When would that decision be made? If not, “Ferd” is not going to be happy.
Chow has kinda backed himself in a corner on this one.
He said failure ain’t failure until you start blaming others. He said he wouldn’t do that. Now if he fires Kaumayer, he’ll be blaming others.
I don’t know enough to know if Kaumayer should be fired, but our defense totally and completely sucked last year. I know that.
And what the heck is up with Ben Jay? Axing all his friend fo’ send him money, mo money, getting into fights at the Sheriff, and now jumping up and down going crazy at UH volleyball games???? Geez, can you say drug test?
#22 lataimua played mostly special teams this year. Stats indicate he played in 10 games this year. It’s a shame that talent isn’t properly evaluated, especially when the players on the field aren’t performing well and worthy replacements languish on the sidelines.
26. Well Texas fired Manny Diaz and there was improvement after he left. USC fired Monte Kiffin and they played great this year. It’s not so much pointing fingers if you are in charge and know changes need to be made in the best interest of the football team…
It is way too easy to scheme against a defense that only plays man and doesn’t have the personnel to even do that. Even when Hawaii blitzed, there wasn’t a lot of creativity to it. They showed blitz early and blitzed the same guys who showed it. Hawaii hardly ever disguised blitzed from what I saw or dropped back in coverage after showing..
Got to blame recruiting too and not being able to find true pass rushers who can pressure with a 4 man rush..
So here comes the busy recruiting season. With the upcoming Hawaii Bowl Do you suppose Mike Riley and Chris Peterson will be making closer looks at Hawaii’s football talent? An impressive bowl performance by both teams will surely tweak the minds of some of Hawaii’s best. After all, why in hell would any good athlete want to play for Hawaii after the dismal showing the last two season?
Even before Riley/Peterson, Kapoi has already de-commited; a good lineman. On the other hand we sign a JC defensive back. I suppose this is just what we needed.
27.
I actually give Ben Jay a lot of credit for what he did at the volleyball game. I was sitting in the arena and was very surprised and ecouraged when he was pumping up the crowd and trying to get everyone to get back in it and cheer the team on. I’ve never seen an AD do that before and I give him mad props for doing that. It’s a good sign when the leader of your athletic department is that fired up and passionate.
30. Not sure but I think the bowl week is a dead period for recruiting. So, recruits can be impressed by the game but not pressed by the coaches.
#29
Man, that 2010 Defense seems like a long time ago.
http://www.midweek.com/buying-chow-cheaper-solution/
#26 manoa mist
his track record speaks for itself. he’s been the dc for 3 teams, never had a winning season.
san diego st
4-9
6-6
4-7
5-7
3-9 (retained by chuck long coaching db’s)
—
tulane
4-8
—
hawaii
3-9
1-11
either the buggah junk or he is really bad luck if you like to win.
#firekaumeyer
good read
#34
Can we all just accept the fact that Chow IS coming back next year and move on.
30. Leahi2: Peterson will not coach BSU in the Hawaii Bowl. His assistant, Bob Gregory, was given the interim HC tag and will coach the Broncos in their bowl game.
Agree with Andrew. Ben Jay may have been the only one in the arena who didn’t give up by that point in the match. And the crowd really did respond. Good job and a valiant effort to possibly turn the match. I think he showed something Saturday night and reminded fans to never give up. He’s for sure still finding his way around the politics and culture of UH athletics but he does show a willingness to fight for the program. Very admirable and he certainly earns my respect. Even the football players near my seats were cheering and fighting till the end. Way to go guys.
That was probably the most depressing vball match I’ve seen. I felt so bad for the seniors. BYU was playing lights out volleyball though. Only 10 errors the entire match. I watched their match against ASU and neither team looked very good. But saturday night was just their night. BYU could do no wrong and UH could do no right. The ball was just bouncing in their favor no matter what happened. If BYU plays as well the rest of the way as they did against UH, I see them going to the final four.
Chow has never been a head coach in college until he was hired 2 years ago. One of his main jobs is to evaluate his coaches. Are they doing the job that translate to winning.
We are not in Chow’s shoes, but most who are familiar with the team’s woes this past season was poor half time adjustments and the team did not play well at all in the 3rd quarter all season long. Somebody has to be accountable for that. Bottom line, Chow is accountable so his decisions are fair game to question.
3 star JC QB Skyler Howard is still available that last time I checked.
41. West Virginia bound I think… I think Hawaii has been talking to a couple other JC kids… Offers not made I dont think yet….. I want a QB competition though so I hope we sign a JC QB. Or Zwahlen just end his mission and come. haha
Deepest condolences to the Wilson family. Willis was a fine young man. Cherish his memory.
Today is the last chance to vote for Emily Hartong in the Senior Class award. Your vote counts.
http://www.seniorclassaward.com/vote/volleyball_2013/
She is trailing by 3.2%. We have the Time Zone advantage. Vote Last. Pass this on. Mahalo.
41
He just blew up and got ranked the #1 JC dual threat QB in the country/committed to West Virginia yesterday. He had zero buzz and like one FCS offer when I brought him up on this blog though…
Prayers again for the WW family.
They #WontItForWilson.
#33
The 2010 defense had some talent, Mana Silva was really good at safety, Cory Paredes at LB, just to name a few. If Tigi Hill makes it, the safety position will get a huge boost to aid Marrel Jackson, Trayvon Henderson! Julian Gener, Tavita Lataimua, Jeremy Castro, Jerrol Garcia Williams, at LB. The CB and D-line do need some help as well. But I just not convinced that Kaumeyer defensive scheme is going to produce good results.
I mean , this 2013 season defense was so bad I don’t think even a June Jones coached RnS Offense or a Dino Babers Baylor style offense could overcome and score more points than this porous Kaumeyer defense is giving up. I agree with most folks when they say, “Something needs to be done about the Hawaii Defense”.
Long shot that Chow get his walking papers? So was Auburn to win the National Championship 2013 – 500/1 odds! Going 3-9, firing and buying out the remainder of Chizik’s bamboocha contract. That’s damn good business. Damn good! windfall from external factors like licensing, merchandising etc, will make some crazy sense of a $10 mil buyout. I dunno, but the person / group of people who had the balls to pull this off has got my vote for Alabama Entrepreneur of the Year. Forget football, that’s damn good business.
#46
That 2010 D had major talent, the front 4 was MONSTER, Umu, Meatoga, Tuipuloti and Purcell. When you can shutdown Nevada’s Pistol Offense that’s saying something.
48. Gotta credit dc Dave aranda too for his game plan to stop kaepernick …
He gave us the blueprint, just didn’t understand why nobody’s used it since.
Looks like Isaac brutton decommitted from Hawaii … Now Fresno st commit…
It feels like so long ago that Hawaii had the power to poach anyone they wanted from conference members.. Now we’ve become plan b… We basically had chance to pick graves or fajardo few years ago… And stole graves from Reno
#51
you maybe right, I feel we’re now becoming everybody’s “last resort”.
anybody you know looking for a HC job? this one still open,
Weber State (FCS): Sources tell us that Brandon Doman, Justin Ena and Gary Crowton are all being considered by the AD. We’ll keep you posted. We had been told that Aaron Roderick was being considered as well; but have heard that he is not interested in the job and is not a candidate.
Dirk Koetter interviewing for the Boise State job. Remember he was on the short list here!
Koetter actually started Boise State’s entrance into the Division I level (now known as FBS level). He coached against June Jones in Hawaii when Boise was in their last year as a Division II school. Hawaii won that game, although it was very competitive. Hawaii did not win another game against Boise State until 2007, when Colt Brennan was playing. We haven’t won another game against Boise St. since. To say we’ve had problems against Boise is a big under statement.
54, to their credit, almost everyone has had problems with Boise St. since 2000. Just ask Oklahoma.
Wyoming tabbed the North Dakota State (#1 ranked team in FCS) head coach for $750,000/year. #2 Eastern Illinois (Dino Babers is there). Eastern Washington #3 head coach is also out there. There is some history at Eastern Washington with UH. Dave Holmes before he came here coached at Eastern Washington. I was a student at Central Washington and Holmes was the coach at Eastern. In those days, Eastern Washinton was a power, along with Paul Durham’s team, Linfield.
(#30) leahi2:
Read your post, and others as well over the past few days. Truth be told, the kid from Kapolei, Micah Kapoi, did not de-commit from UH then give a “verbal” to Wisconsin.
Word on the street has the other way around…..
Good word on the street by the way.
57, so he de-comitted from Wisconsin?
#56
I mentioned the E Wash. HC Beau Balwin as a possible candidate but not ND St HC. I figured he’d go to a bigger school than Wyoming.
58… I think UH downgraded his offer to a grayshirt and he then took the Wisconsin offer.
#56
Babers is making $175,000 right now, $500,000 would be a hugh boost for him.
Gotcha. Doesn’t really make sense to me though. He is below average size wise for a Wisconsin OL & they’ll easily find bigger guys every year he’s there.
I’m sure he wants to play right away, as everyone does, but UH OL is improving with some good Fr. coming off redshirts too. A grayshirt year might not be a bad thing.
Brutton looked quick, athletic and fluid on his tape. Too bad. Maybe the battle for his services is just starting. I don’t think the staff will give up without a fight. Unless losing him is the reason we offered the latest CB Fermin. Maybe only room for one or two JC guys at CB.
Dino Babers will probably hold out for a legit BCS coaching job at a program with deep pockets, resources, facilities, and fan support, IMHO. Instead of earning a salary boost from $175,000 to $500,000 (at UH), he could probably command a salary of $1.75 to over $2 million if not this, then after next season.
UH needs to face the fact that they will have to pay Chow’s successor the going rate for head coaches (at least in the MWC). Coaching candidates are very aware that UH at one time paid Greg McMackin a salary of $1.1 million, so UH cannot claim to be “okole poor” forever.
Hmmn, all the Wisconsin papers and blogs have not reported, a double reverse, all from the last several days:
http://wisconsin.247sports.com/Page/Wisconsin-Football-Recruiting-196/Articles
http://wisconsin.scout.com/a.z?s=193&p=2&c=1354040&ssf=1&RequestedURL=http%3a%2f%2fwisconsin.scout.com%2f2%2f1354040.html
64
He applied to Wyoming… If the UH job opens up I can pretty much guarantee he’ll put his name in.
Then again if Babers doesn’t get hired this year he’ll probably get hired by Illinois next year. The realistic guy we should be targeting is Brian Norwood with Kendall Briles as OC, unless Chow turns it around next year.
#65
Maybe just maybe a booster with deep pockets will step up and make this happen, hell we can name the field after him for all I care just get it done.
#68
I don’t think it really matters if Chow turns it around next year, the financial damage will be done even before the season starts.
67–Sometimes, like many of us, we apply for the exercise of the process of the whole thing…..
Never mind player evaluations. Chow better evaluate himself. His judge of talent at QB and receiver positions suck. The biggest receiving threats were the past regimes. His QB from Ohio State whom he’s been honking about for 2 years sucks. His buddy TK is the worst DC I. UH history. And to suggest the 3-4 D which had not stopped dog shit this past year is mind blowing. I told you guys Chow wouldn’t fire TK and AD hasn’t the balls to do it! Prove me wrong n I will come cowering g back in apology but I DO T THI K SO!
Either way, Chow will be gone after next season after a very poor record, or even if he does well, he will not get an extension. He will retire after his contract is over (5 years) and by that time he will be 70 and by that time he will say once again that I’m too old for this. Nowadays, with the stresses of the job and with age there are also health issues to be concerned with. You don’t want that to happen to anybody, but it’s also a fact of life. Gotta take care. If he is feeling tired or have shortness of breath that’s a sign right there.
Speaking from somebody who is a senior citizen and who have experienced it. It’s real.
Taking a nap everyday now. Helps the tired body.
Chow should retire or be fired. Re evaluate the coaches not the players.
Good evening!
#65,
that is a fact Hawaii will not face. we will not be paying $1M for a coach any time soon. Unless they make Larry Ellison their daddy or the PAC12 comes knocking.
My condolences to the Wilson family.
76–I’m not sure whether Larry Ellison has anything more than a precursory interest in UH. His previous endeavors related to universities have been with Stanford and Harvard. I’m not sure UH has the type of outreach and/or scope that capture someone of Larry’s immense financial stature.
Consider, that Hawaii’ endowment at around 200 million, is about 1/120th of his estimated wealth. The most natural potential benefactor of his largese would our sailing team. I do also know that the football he is interested in, resides in LA; he at one time was the lead investor to bring an NFL franchise back to LA.
17… Sometimes?
73. If the team does pretty well, and by looking at the roster it should be, UH won’t extend Chow. Part of it is Chow, a bigger part of it is UH will milk every last minute of his paltry salary. If somebody takes him away, UH won’t blink, but then they have to face the fact they must pay somebody a competitive salary have a remote chance to attract somebody worth two farts and beer can.
RE: UH being “okole” poor… that won’t ever change unless UH turns private, ween themselves off the state budget, and rid themselves of the politicians that have no clue on how to run a profitable university (let alone athletics). Then, UH should recruit the best professors on the pacific rim to create a “Stanford of the Pacific.” Raise tuition & admissions standards substantially to “raise the bar.” Nothing raises the academic reputation better than student:professor ratio. Once UH raises their academic profile, UH should be able to secure much more grant money and donations as they churn out higher profile graduates. Higher academic standing means more Iolani, Kamehameha, and Punahou students attend UH (more importantly, wealthy family members who would donate).
In the meantime, UH athletics would benefit from higher revenue off tuition, donations and grants as it trickles down to the athletic budget. UH would lose some borderline athletes, but the increased budget would pay for better coaches, which would make up the difference.
The other positive with UH going private is it takes a huge financial burden off the DOE and the cost savings can be reinvested into the public schools that desperately need renovation and improved supplies.
Aside from this being completely unrealistic anytime soon and the politicians running the UH would never risk their job security. It’s the only feasible way for UH to turn into a self sustaining, profitable University that can compete with top level mainland schools (academically and athletically).
—
Back to reality… that Tampa 2 defense apparently doesn’t work in cold weather either… Just gave up a ton of points to the Bears with a backup QB.
Forgot… The other scenario for UH to not be poor is the Pac12 invitation, but that isn’t happening anytime soon so don’t get excited. I don’t think the Pac12 presidents/ADs would let UH in even if Ben Jay offers for UH to take a lower revenue split from tv and bowls.
78… Yeah, UH would rake in the NCAA trophies with Ellison backing the sailing team.
RE: Babers… I just don’t think the timing will work out for UH to land him. I like him, he’s got a promising, but short, resume.
If Babers does manage to be HC at UH, it comes at a big risk for Babers. Taking a $500k-$600k (assuming he doesn’t laugh at UH’s offer) at UH might parlay into a high dollar $2+ million at a BCS program if he wins big immediately with Chow’s players, but it if doesn’t go great, he would be stuck with his UH salary, wishing he took that $1+million job at a higher paying MW-type school or low profile BCS school.
Just throwing a number on it, I’m guessing Babers would seriously consider UH if they can offer around $700k. In actuality, it’s really closer to $2million for the first year (salary+Chow’s buyout).
FUHA we don’t have to pay chows salary all at once!! heck where still paying mack…
Greg McMackin is a good DC. I’m surprised that he is not back coaching at a BCS school in some capacity by now. Hope he doesn’t pull a “Wayne Howard” (former Utah HC who had some success back in the late 70s to early 80s) and disappear from coaching for good.
Re: Dino Babers and Illinois HC job. The current Illini coach makes something like $2.2 million, but the fan base is unhappy with him. I’m sure that Babers has his eye on the Illinois job, as is the Illini AD aware of his accomplishments at EIU. The two campuses are not that far apart (about a 1-hour drive).
http://tracking.si.com/2013/12/02/illinois-tim-beckman-remain-coach/
81… The Sailing Team already brings home the gold. They do this with a tiny budget and no scholarships.
I’ll forever will be hoping for a Pac-## invite.
Hawaii corporations are some of the most prolific advertisers in the Bay Area. Look at the Muni buses and bus stops (Hawaiian), Oakland Raiders (Hawaiian), Oakland Airport (Hawaiian), freeway billboards (Aulani), double decker buses (Hawaiian), etc. Hawaii has something to offer (ad $$$ for live sports programming). Pac-12 needs markets so they can get more ad and subscriber revenue. We have advertisers and a new market. The Pac-12 has something to give (bigger fan bases who regularly travel to Hawaii to watch live sports in person, especially during shoulder tourism season, college educated viewers with affluence).
Questions: What is the economic impact of Pac-12 membership? What is the ROI above the status quo? What is the net balance of additional corporate support of a conference upgrade (expenditures), offset by additional revenue from media deals from the Pac to UH (revenues) and increased customers via sports tourism and increased exposure to ads? It seems like Hawaii tourism leaders are using the Kaiser Permanente marketing strategy of saturating specific areas and trying to gain market share. Kaiser can’t be everywhere because to be everywhere means that they need to invest billions to build infrastructure. Same with Hawaiian, advertise where they have direct flights in markets deep enough that a few percentage points market share gain is material. The Pac-12 fits nicely in these markets, don’t they? In-conference rivalries, create extra incentive. I’m not looking for handouts (I’ll be happy with them), but Hawaii Athletics and our business community have a congruence of similar goals.
Creating a brand with the “last game of the day” on ESPN would be a good thing to attract a national following (mainly younger demographic awake at those hours).
agree lataimua looked good and gener is a beast.
we still need better team speed on defense.
too many qb’s went long on us. running that is.
a qb who can challenge immediately would be nice.
one more rb who can hit the home run would be nice.
…and linemen, linemen, and more linemen on both sides of the line of scrimmage. including a tight end.
87-Boya….I wrote on this subject a couple of months ago, to the consternation of a minority of Tsaikos. In short, from my perspective, and being at a major university, there are three items that make membership in the PAC12 a long shot.
First, the collective average endowment of these schools is currently in 1.5 billion range. UH has an endowment of approximately 186 million. The endowment illustrates the resources and solvency of the institution.
Second, most of the schools in the PAC12 are research institutions, some of them premier research institutions, and thus the pedagogical philosophy from an academic vantage is also a factor.
And three, we have a small market relative to most of the other schools, and further, not viewed as a “national university” such as UCLA or USC. Thus, while we certainly have a niche value, relative to the other schools, they provide a smaller margin of value added from a sports marketing standpoint.
Even big dogs in Hawaii like Hawaiian Airlines are considered by , market standards, a small cap (between 300 million and 2 billion of market cap). To compare, California has 53 fortune 500 companies or Washington State has 8. Again, some of the numbers don’t bode well for Hawai’i.
While this may be the prevailing sentiment, not all schools in the PAC-12 are large markets. UA is in Tucson, AZ. Washington State is in Pullman, WA. Oregon State is in Cornvallis, OR. The California schools aside, these other schools have benefited from their geographical landscape. It may be a pipe dream but we can aim high. Honolulu is #54 on one Top 100 metropolitan cities list, right behind Tucson at #53. Salt Lake City is #50. You won’t find Pullman or Cornvallis at the top of the list. Anyways, just some food for thought.