Mailbox is open
Yep, folks, it’s that time of the week to ask questions about the UH football team.
Post them here or email me at stsai@staradvertiser.com
We’ll post the answers on Wednesday on this blog and in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
This also might be the final Q&A session of this season because of scheduling conflicts next week.
COMMENTS
Comments are closed.
Regarding delay of game penalties; can’t the coaches call a timeout from the sidelines before it happens?
Calling out all die-hard Warrior fans to support our team this Sat in Fresno at 4pm; sitting at the 40 yd line behind our UH bench. Text me at 415-324-0585. Come meet the father of Malachi Mageo & die-hard parents of Kody Afusia & Kody also.
Seemed like Paul Harris would have helped us in that game at SDSU; why wasn’t he used (since Diocemy was out also)?
Coach Rolo:
IS the Australian OL still committed to UH?
49ers have been my team since the late 1940s
with their current QB situation, I do hope they have the 1st or 2nd pick in the NFL draft and select either the Louisville or Clemson QB – they need their skills of being a mobile QB who makes very good decisions, can run, and throw!
Rolo: can you also be the OC; just like Rocky Long is also the DC?
Hi Coach,
How important is our winning the next two games to recruiting.? Seems to me that it would be good to end the season on an upswing with a note of optimism about the future. How much does stuff like that matter to recruits who are considering coming to Hawaii?
Regroup Warriors; and let’s set a record for most MWC road game wins in a season? Will it be? Let’s do it. We believe!
Coach Rolo,
For the past 5 seasons, the team has had a bad omen of having the opponent’s march down the field with ease, on their opening drive.
Different approaches have been tried on when, where or if the haka/ha’a is done, music changed, various honorary captains named, but the song remains the same.
When you played, JJ introduced the starting defense and it seems to have jacked up both the players and fans. Would you consider bringing this tradition back?
Not a question but a plea, next season please rid the team of any resemblance of prior regime. No white helmets, no grey, no cheesy pants. Coach Rolo you got to admit, when you played, you folks looked bad _ _ _!!! Many mainland high schools mimiced the Warriors, many former players from the mainland have said they couldn’t wait to graduate and suit up in our awesome jersey & helmet. Bling matters to this generation. Oh and while you are at it, helmet stickers look rad!!!
Coach, one way to get the players off the bench
is to play them. Give them a chance even for
only 4 plays once each quarter. Try.
Tom Ticket Man, SDSU was 2 games ago, let it go
coach:
how will you instill more discipline to reduce/eliminate personal fouls, false starts, block in the back penalties?
Coach Rolo,
When will Hawaii have any sort of offensive identity?
Coach,
How do we stop the stupid personal foul penalties?
Coach Rolo,
When is Kala Timoteo going to be put at that starting WR spot? The guy we have currently starting there clearly has not shown anything in the past 3 years. It’s plain to see that Timoteo has the biggest fight in his heart on this team.
**Feel free to edit my legitimate question to make it more “PC”**
Coach Rolo,
Why do our receivers continue to run routes short of the 1st down marker on 3rd and 4th down plays??
What was kemp thinking about that made him drop that easy catch. He would have been gone for a touch down. So not like him. He is usually a sure thing with his hands
When you evaluate your coach’s performances, are you considering a change in OC?
Is the defensive line the main emphasis on recruiting?
Coach Rolo, what leadership traits do you look for in your players, and which players have emerged as the leaders this season?
Can you explain again why the team has only one home uniform this year? Was it budget constraints? If so, wasn’t Na Koa able to assist? How much does it cost for one uniform? Perhaps you can initiate a fund raising program where the name of the person making the donation for a uniform has his/her name (small letters) on the uniform. Is that allowable by NCAA rules?
What’s the current deal with under Armour Coach? Can we go back to Nike. The uniforms looks like they are stuck in the 80’s.
Coach Rolo,
How do we emulate the success of Boise State’s winning consistency?
The answer might be with former Boise Director of Football Operations and Recruiting Coordinator, who was a UH Football alumni and a teammate of yours, DB Keith Bhonapha. He was the first to be offered a position with Washington when Chris Petersen left Boise, where he is again serving as Recruiting Coordinator.
Any chance of bringing him home to help the Home team? If we cannot afford him, how about bringing him to Hawaii for a presentation on recruiting and running a football operation during the off season?
Coach,
I don’t expect any changes with only two remaining games this season but any chance that you may consider going with the run and shoot offense in the future? You’ve played in that system under Coach JJ and also called plays under Coach Mack so you know first hand how potent that offense can be. I would love to see that prolific passing game and those draw plays and shovel passes again.
one of my very first remarks when Chow was hired and he began to fill the position coach slot
what he heck is he thinking?? a HC with no experience hiring coaches who were “grad assistants” and the receivers coach who played 2 years for Utah, got hurt and had to retire –
perhaps some of the same comments can be applied to some coaches on the current staff.
I have no idea how good Stutz was as an OC, but is there a path for him to become an OC for UH in the future?
do we have enough December graduates to target a couple of midyear kids in recruiting?
Great Afternoon All!
Whew! 🙄 Was getting HOT around here!
Rolo,
Sunday’s games featured Rothlisberger’s repeat (done by Marino and Rodgers) of the fake “down-the-ball” / TD toss and Rodgers’ 4th and 4 hurry-up to force a Titans’ TO. How likely is it that any CFB team can coordinate things to pull of these strategies? How likely is it that your team could?
Coach,
First off I think you got this team on the right track. You’ve won 4 games , with the same players Chow had, something Chow couldn’t do. I do believe you and your staff is coaching up the players, so thank you for that.
Question,
What are we going to need to do to beat the Bulldogs?
What is the mood /pulse of the team after these losses…Are they hungry to win these next 2 or have they regressed to the feeling of previous seasons where they are just going through the motions?
Coach, would you consider starting Camanse-Stevens in the slot receiver position? He is sure handed and a good blocker. He reminds me (size-wise) of your honorary team captain, Greg Salas.
Coach, Within the 10 yard line what was the thinking on calling these plays-
At 1st and goal at 8 yard line in the 2nd quarter, using i think read option, Dru rushed for minus 2 yards. Then on 2nd down, he rushed for minus 4 yards.
Then at 2nd and goal at the 8 yard line in the 3rd quarter, Harris rushed for 1 yard; why did Dru try to run again (for a 3 yard loss) on 3rd down ?
Coach, just curious on why UH and Hawaiian Airlines dont have a plan or a contract to charter all UH road games. After watching RJ Hollis video of the last road trip it looks very uncomfortable sitting so close and with no space next to a regular passenger.
Couple tings
Congrats on some of the unique new plays-
Any thoughts on a little wildcat with whomever fits the role?
Most of the lineup is set for various reasons-any thought with you and Coach N of getting some dirt on Posa, Norman or Hensleys’ jersey early in the game. Except for Tupai this group has remained static-any chance?
No question on this one just trying to get this out of my system-here are my big five or more plays
Receiver drops pass on way to end zone-could have been plus 7
Strong safety jumps outside lane on short yardage run Mcnichols reads jump darts inside for long TD run
Running into kicker BSU maintains possession
Option pass should have been run receiver covered by three DB’s. run was open for positive yards.
Fumble in first possession of third after moving ball for 26 yds
Convert two of three field goals into TD’s
Defenders continue to bite on ball flow away only to remove them from a good angle when it comes back there way i.e. Reverse roll by QB
This easily could have been a way different game. As they say it’s a game of inches and teams like this can’t be given those inches. Still have great faith in team and Coaches just sharing a perspective-GoWarriors!!!!!!
So! Troll dude.
Only Sean Duggan was a grad assistant last year. Every coach gotta start somewhere. He in fact has been doing a good job with our linebackers corps.
Coach Rolo:
While I am not an expert QB observer, I have begun to notice that Dru Brown has a tendency to wipe his hands on the towel during the count…which means he is going to pass. If he is to hand the ball off, he does not do so as often or at all. I wonder if the opposing team will notice this as well?
35. Senior offensive lineman late on to the field when we are lined up to kick the ball. Penalty five yards for delay of game. No discipline on this team. I have been saying it for a while now. Samo samo players making samo samo mistakes.
It seems defenses have been successful in slowing down our running game which has two run options – the one RB or the QB. Have you any thoughts about adding a third run option by occasionally having Lakalaka and Harris or St. Juste in the same backfield? I emphasis the word occasionally.
35.
Agreed. Especially with those news stories that come up about how much profit Hawaiian is making, they surely could do something like that.
Coach Rolo: Do away with the Haka Haha cha-cha-cha. Concentrate solely on football, and winning the football game.
This “dance” is a distraction from football, and takes away time, energy, and concentration. Perhaps that’s why your guys are FLAT at the start of the game –
they don’t whether to dance or not to dance. Football – what’s that?
If your “guys” want to dance, they can dahnce dahnce dahnce all night at the awards banquet.
Enough dancing already. It’s football football football – go hit somebody.
We had a delay of game penalty in the 1st half
on a 4th down punt …
We have a delay of game penalty in the 2nd half
on a 4th down Field Goal …
What is the problem ???
LIVE ALOHA / PLAY WARRIOR / DEFEND THE ROCK … GO ‘BOWS !!!!!
How is the everyday approach different than maybe how it was before the first game of the season?
43,
I agree the team should do away with the haka. Just go hit somebody.
I know it’s a tradition. The last 4 years including this year, the players would do the haka before games only to get blasted on TV.
Is this a chant for strength as if they were going into battle? Maybe they should do it in the lockernel room to psyche themselves up. I think all it does is gives more fuel to other teams like Boise St and San Diego St. It’s not like Boise St or San Diego St needs more motivation.
I guess it seems kind of odd that after they do the haka, they get flattened on national TV.
Of course if majority of the team wants to continue the tradition, then I guess it will continue.
Does the majority of the players want to keep the haka dance?
I think the haka should only be performed after the game if won, that’s it.
The haka should be earned!
Or ha’a I mean
The haka should be a privilege to watch and perform not something that’s automatic every game.
39.
…they do now!
🙄
Recall that many HS teams were not allowed to sit on the bench during games…unless you were just on the field.
Coach Rolo,
Our defense tends to give up very big plays. Is that from the players, the scheme, or a combination of both?
Coach Rolo,
Not too good so far Coach and did Coach J.J. coach you about removing them benches when all you needed was to punt instead; Coach Rolo, removing the benches to send a message to your players is not football but military basic training discipline; you need to chill out and refocus cause what the UH fans see is you burying your own sportsmanship. Hope you find yourself and get well.
Coach Rolo,
I noticed that during the June Jones years, when we dropped the “rainbows” from our team name and started wearing black uniforms, we won consistently. When we added the “rainbows” back to our team during the Chow years, we started to lose because we played like homosexuals. Any chance that we drop the “rainbows” one more time and start to play like real men again?
**Feel free to edit my legitimate question to make it more “PC”**
Wow! Interesting? Okay, speechless. Can’t wait to see responses.
Coach Rolo,”Kill fight ” is a old seldom used today, Pidgin phrase. As with a lot of Pidgin phrases the context in which it is used determine it’s exact meaning. Loosely translated it means to give up. It can mean to be frustrated, to be at wits end, to lose passion, the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Some fans have been saying, “I kill fight and left at half time.”, “The team kill fight already and jus’ goin thru the motions.” ,” I kill fight with the coaches wen they only run up the middle.” They don’t use “kill fight” but convey their feelings using a lot more words.
I only mention this pidgin phrase because I wanted to tell you to hang in there and NO Kill Fight.
What sucks is Hawai’i is forced to charter flights for opponents but we get stuck flying commercial…
Saw Greg Salas and Alex Green on the Rolo Show. Perhaps they can be volunteer coaches for the rest of the season??
Same question as MattyBoy #14. I am also looking for some kind of team identity.
As a fan, I remember UofHawaii football having a tough defensive team mentality/identity along with the stud RB/playmaker (Allen, Toloumu, Sydner, Edgar, Fakava, Haslip, Farmer, Faaola…) through the 70’s and 80’s. When teams who came to play UofHawaii at Aloha Stadium knew they were in for a tough, physical game. Then came the option offense team identity with hard nosed defense. Then the pass happy, I’d pass on every play if I could offensive identity.
Current defense has room for improvement. But after having so many different DCs over the past five years, it would be tough to forge a defensive identity without continuity at the coaching level. The offensive side of the ball holds more promise and potential with a nice foundation in the OL. I agree with MattyBoy, team identity on the offensive side of the ball.
I watched the Ha’a being performed by the team before the start of the game and it appeared the players enjoy performing it. I especially enjoyed watching JR Hensley really getting into it. And it should be their choice whether to perform the Ha’a or not. Not us fans.
Charter flights. That’s the price of admission to the Mountain West Conference. Hawaii’s alternative, make that Hawaii’s only alternative, is to become an independent in football. If that should happen, you can pull up stakes, fold tent and call an end of UH football. UH cannot successfully pull off an independent schedule where success is measured in $$$.
Coach, I support you and your staff. But can you explain the run up the middle on 2nd and 15? All it achieved was 3rd and 14.
Some of UH’s problems are because of 4 words L— of ——- talent, and also size/speed. Cannot help especially with new DC! Gotta recruit players to match DC’s system. OC still learning too. Some of the apparently better players maybe no can remember the plays. I mean they got a lot of plays! I bet you a lot of the players cannot remember what to do when some of the plays are called. Remember, we have a new coach and complex schemes and new assistants. Our team got chance to win the last 2 games then maybe I’ll go watch em at Aloha Stadium 12/24
63,
Funny that you mention players may not remembering plays.
When my cousin was in high school, he played football. He was one of the fastest players on the team if not the fastest player. The coach decided with his speed he could wreak havoc for opposing teams at RB. It didn’t work out because he couldn’t remember a single play.
So the coach put him on defense and told him to attack and tackle the ball carrier. That didn’t work out because he would always mess up on his assignments because he couldn’t remember where he needed to be for certain plays.
Again, that didn’t work out. The coach finally gave up on him and said he would play only on kick offs and his only job was to hit as much players as he could at full speed. They finally found the perfect position for him.
The team does charter flights, but nit sure if all. They don’t take up the whole plane. Fans, boosters, media are on board. But it’s cheaper if you book your own flights
What was the average graduation rate and GPAs of the football team? How does they compare to peer institutions?
53…neither. It’s the difference in foot speed.
Stayed up to watch basketball LIVE. Great win on national tv. Aloha from the Northwest
Coach what is your thoughts on creating a Trophy for the Fresno game?
Can we expect one for next season?
Hi Coach,
Here on the mainland, we can only see UH when it is a nationally televised game. Unfortunately, at least at this point, it is against a superior opponent. As a result, all we get is UH losing – by a lot. I’m pretty sure this is not good for your brand, or recruiting. I have posted, as well as others, that once Rolo gets his players, UH will be great again. With that said, is there any chance of televising/streaming more games to the mainland so we can see the team win once in a while?
It is my opinion, that we need all the help we can get in the recruiting space…
Once again an opponent is provided motivational “bulletin board” material. In today’s SA a less than complimentary article about Fresno St. appears. This no doubt will fuel opponent emotion for this weeks game. Is it informative or necessary? The article states FSU lost to CSU 27-0……that is incorrect the final was 37-0.
This same reporter wrote a less than glowing article before the UNLV game which I’m sure stoked the emotions there.
All this is nonsense and serves what purpose? This week this team determines it success in the MW with a 4-4 finish totally against the odds-unfortunately Fresno State is not their only opponent!
I don’t know what the end result will be but a win certainly makes this a success in my mind.
If players read this stuff carry this with you….you were the “dismissed doormats” of this league-take that with you when you hit the field on Sat and show everybody otherwise!!!!! GoWarriors!!!!
Nice win for MBB. WTG BasketBows!
What gives us the belief that we are going to be more successful in the recruitment of faster, bigger, stronger more talented players than in the past? Places like the academies don’t have those yet they, particularly Navy, have been able to beat teams with those bigger, faster more talented players. Could it be winning comes from more than just bigger, faster talented? Discipline, commitment, smarts, team vs “I”, intangibles may be needed as much to win. Question is, do we have it and if not how do we get it.
Free streaming UH football. It is out of the hands of coach Rolovich. There is absolutely nothing he can do other than lend a kind and patient ear. As previously reported, this situation has been been addressed at the highest level within UH Administration. But it is a matter that is controlled by Oceanic Time-Warner since they own the TV rights to UH Athletics/Sports by virtue of their 7-year TV contract which was exercised by then UH AD Ben Jay in 2014. The blog host and coach Rolovich can do NOTHING. It is a contract-legal matter. If anything, send emails to UH AD Dave Matlin who may be able to provide an update to this exacerbating situation, or better yet, send messages to Oceanic Time-Warner (where your concern will probably fall on deaf ears).
Agree with BigWave, get rid of anything that resembles the Chow Era, the helmets, pants, uniforms…..lets start with why is the offense starting to resemble the failed offensively philosphy of the previous coaching staff. If it didnt work for them, not going to work now. Why is Rolo so reluctant to revive the R&S?, I got to believe that if he is talking to JJ a couple times a week, he’s got to realize this isnt working much anymore….
Our team is becoming predictable, let’s throw in a couple of new plays. For example, we should get our tight-ends a little more involved in short yardage situations while loading up the wide-out positions. A quick block and release take 5 yrds and turn? Another, do a pitch/lateral/pass to get the ball to #10 and let him unload a long pass? Our D can use a little more rest.
huh?
go back 2 days and respond to my questions.
BTW, Brian Smith has NEVER been an OC before in his life.
LB coach doing a good job? you gotta be joking!!!
Brian Smith’s bio
http://hawaiiathletics.com/coaches.aspx?rc=1832&path=football
Rolo,
Are you involved with planing, play calling, adjustments for the offense each week? Are we going to see more RNS concepts?
Coach Rolo and assistants: Year after year, we hear a lot about “discipline”. We hear other teams are well disciplined. What does that mean? Can we ask someone who is successful at it, how it’s done? I don’t think removing benches is discipline. It’s punishment, and made us look silly on national TV.
I agree that we need to remove the Ha’a. It hasn’t done any good all these years.
I’m still a Rolo guy, but my 80 something year old Mom was fuming when he had them take the benches away. That was kinda bush league. He could of just told the kids to stand up – no need embarrass these kids on national tv. Bottom line is UH don’t have the talent. We also need to be more imaginative on offense. I think we lose to Fresno and beat UMass – what is that 5 games won? That’s good enough for me – when a hurricane destroys a town, and we had Hurricane Chow – the town ain’t rebuilt in a day, a month or a year. We still behind you Rolo – but try get enough guys on the field to kick a field goal okay? Mahalo.
Coach Rolo hang in there.
Questions:
Did you think about putting in AZ for a few series, similar to SDSU game?
Looks like DB is struggling with his reads/decision making. I’m sure it has to do with the quality of the last two teams, as well as having more film on him. How do you help him with this?
Too many dropped balls by the receivers. The issue I see with them are their tendencies to catch the ball with their bodies. What are they doing to break that habit?
I guess some people have forgotten that Chow wanted to run a smash mouth/pro style offense with returning players that were recruited for the R & S and had a rough time. Chow also didn’t recruit smash mouth/pro style skill position players very well during his tenure and we’ve experienced the effects of that over the past 4 years. No big time quarterbacks, No big time receivers, and No direction from the top trickled down to No W’s on the field. It it is what it was.
Now Coach Rolo arrives and wants to run a spread option hybrid passing offense with players recruited to run another offense. History has show that these types of offenses allows the non-five star recruits to have success running it. The days of Wagner/Paul Johnson’s Triple Option and JJ’s Run and Shoot are good examples. We need to calm down and allow Coach Rolo and staff to recruit to their type of players (skill and attitude) for their systems. They have a plan to take this program in a positive direction and I hope they stay the course. The progress will not be over night, but they have already exceeded my expectation this year. Two more recruiting classes and then we can truly evaluate the job that Coach Rolo has done.
New post: http://hawaiiwarriorworld.com/?p=40243