Looking backwards to see forward... Let's not panic (yet)!

[poidog]

Judging from comments on this board and on others, it is clear to see that there is a sense of panic and frustration as to how the season started. I think this is fair, given how bad things were the last few years and how badly we all want things to change. But for myself, I am not panicking. I try to temper what I see now with things I've seen in the past and how things may play out in the future. These are some things that come to mind...

In 1999, UH started out with a 62-7 loss to USC. They then followed things up with wins against Eastern Illinois, a not-yet-great Boise State team, and a terrible SMU team. In Hawaii Warrior Football, the book about that season, June Jones said that they broke the season down into 3 four-game portions and judged their success not by which games they won or lost, but how they finished each 4-game set (they wanted to go 3-1 and it didn't matter which games they won or lost or by how much they lost by, but that they accomplished their goal). I look at this season and how it is laid out and you see a loaded first four games that starts out by causing the team to lose a week of fall practice by starting the season a week early, 3 road games and several days lost to travel, but ends with a bye week. You look at this 4-game stretch and you ask yourself what are the priorities for this stretch? going 2-2 would be nice but 1-3 is more realistic, so what should be the focus if won't be winning? Aside from wins and losses you want to see "what you got," particularly at QB and but also at each defensive position and even at WR and RB (only OL seems set). Do we know whether or not Woolsey is the best solution at QB? I think we have enough evidence after 4 games that his game experience and senior leadership isn't enough to be successful. As a new coach coming in, Rolo didn't know what he had going into the season but now he at least knows that Woolsey may not be the guy (regardless of all the armchair coaches who insist that they knew this already). Even with Woolsey starting, Dru Brown has still gotten a good amount of reps and having him go against the second strings of Cal, Michigan, and Arizona is probably the better way for him to get game reps while learning the offense (and while not getting hurt). We also know that Steven Lakalaka may be the most effective of the top-3 RBs even if Paul Harris and DSJ have more potential. We've also learned that there are some freshman that can contribute (Timoteo and Santiago) as well. Rolo was quoted as saying that they will do a lot of evaluating during this bye week. I think that was the plan all along, as "the real season" starts on 10/1 vs Nevada. Going 1-3 in the first 4 games may not be a success, but having a better idea of who will make an impact as we start conference play has real value to it.

No coach would ever come out and say publicly that they are probably gonna lose 3 of their first 4 games and that they are going to start a QB who may not be the best one on the roster so that they can bring along a better one slowly or that they are going to use the first 4 games as an evaluation period more than to try to win, but perhaps that's what was going on? I think everyone kind of knew coming into the season that it may take a season or two (hopefully not more than that) for any new coach to be able to turn things around, so why not just treat fall camp and the first 4 games as a kind of "season 1-a" and then put it behind us and then have the bye week and the rest of the schedule be "season 1-b". Regardless of how season 1-a turned out, we still need to win 6 games (go 6-3, with 5 games at home) in season 1-b to qualify for the Hawaii Bowl so the goal doesn't really change all that much. Going into a home game against UNR coming off a bye week of rest and preparation with a new-but-with-game-reps QB, with 4 games experience against talented teams (yes, even UT-Martin) and a head coach who has intimate knowledge of the opposing team and its tendencies and personnell? Things could be worse.

However, if we get smashed by UNR all of this goes out the window.

[J-Rod]

Yup, as I've said before, this UNR-SJSU-UNLV stretch will define the season.

I think we'll beat Fresno and UMass. Fresno is in another level of disarray right now. New Mexico is a toss up...but the next three games will determine what kind of confidence level this team has. Norm's teams saw their confidence go down the crapper once mid-season L's tacked up. Not going to lie, I'm worried about that happening again. 3-0 would be awesome, 2-1 still good. 1-2 not ideal, but not horrible. 0-3 during that stretch and 2-11 and 3-10 comes into play.

Bye week comes at a perfect time. Regroup and beat the Wolf Pack, Spartans, and Rebels. The season depends on it.

[poidog]

Yup, as I've said before, this UNR-SJSU-UNLV stretch will define the season.

I think we'll beat Fresno and UMass. Fresno is in another level of disarray right now. New Mexico is a toss up...but the next three games will determine what kind of confidence level this team has. Norm's teams saw their confidence go down the crapper once mid-season L's tacked up. Not going to lie, I'm worried about that happening again. 3-0 would be awesome, 2-1 still good. 1-2 not ideal, but not horrible. 0-3 during that stretch and 2-11 and 3-10 comes into play.

Bye week comes at a perfect time. Regroup and beat the Wolf Pack, Spartans, and Rebels. The season depends on it.

New Mexico looked decent against Rutgers for the quarter or so that I watched on Saturday. I'm not too worried, though, as their offense seems like a good style match-up for our defense as they don't spread you out and exploit your lack of speed like the teams we've played so far.

[Irse]

They are where I expected them to be. I was hoping for more but NC really didn't recruit very well and it's showing more now. Just hope our MVP this year is not Sanchez.

[poidog]

quoted myself by mistake - deleted.

[RedZone]

I was waiting for the bye week. It is here where I though the coaches would have the opportunity to study film and clearly decide to make the changes that they think should happen. I think it was difficult being on the road. Everyone must be tired. I will be disappointed if no changes are made. It will mean that coach Rolo is stuck in his ways the way that Chow was or that we just don't have the talent or depth to do. The first would mean more of the same and the second would mean that the coaches need to work harder at recruiting better players. I have seen some pretty good talent on the FCS teams we have played and wondered would they have played here if offered? A huge part of recruiting is being able to spot the right kind of talent to fill your teams needs. I thought that JJ had a good eye for talent. I am not really happy with the qbs I have seen from Rolo so far. So far we haven't had one able to beat out Woolsey. But I think the next bunch of recruits will be the ones to watch. The coaches should know by then the holes they need to fill on the team. I am betting that the coaches did not know that there were so many. What the hell did I get myself into here? Arghhh.........

[RedZone]

I think Pumphrey will Faulk us.

[RedZone]

The thing that disappointed me was barely beating an FCS team. It was that game which was a home game that we would have had the best opportunity to play a lot of the players we have yet to see. But we struggled so no AZ. Like the game against LMU it was de ja vu.

[stranger808]

I think Pumphrey will Faulk us.

you're most likely correct. SDSU is a top 25 team. Our D can't stop anyone, maybe the worse in the FBS. Humphrey should run for near 200 yards by the 3rd quarter. But, it was what we expected this season. I just want the warriors to play hard, and not quit.

[stranger808]

Nevada at Purdue on ESPN.

[WarriorTyme]

I am still a little skeptical about the Rolo hire over June Jones. Rolo is the young sexy hire that most Hawaii fans where begging for and I don't see a problem hiring Rolo. But he did hire a lot of young coaches around him; some his team mates from Hawaii. I not comparing the infamous Norm Chow hire of Luke Matthew and Jordan Wynn to the young coaches on Rolo staff but that lack of coaching experience (FBS and NFL coaching experience) on this staff is concerning.

Rolo might need to hire some veteran coaches to help him scheme and put the players in position to make plays, Not comparing Rolo to Future Hall of Fame Coach Bill Belichick but we have to admit that even though Future Hall of Fame QB Tom Brady is out for 4 games, Coach Belichick and his staff know how to plug in players into there system and also scheme the offense to the back QB strengths. With back up QB Jimmy Garoppolo starting Belichick and his staff adjusted the offensive scheme and won games and then this week the 3rd string QB Jacoby Brissett got the start due to injury. Belichick and his staff adjusted to Brissett strength of being a mobile QB and ran the option on offense against a good Houston defense for a blow out win.

Listen, nobody questions the love for Hawaii Rolo and former teammates that are now on coaching staff have for Hawaii. But I'm thinking that Rolo young coaching staff might get out coached by other teams that have more experienced coaching staff. A wise man knows when to ask for help and Rolo might want to consider bringing in some experienced veteran Ex-NFL type coaches to help him build Hawaii back to college football respectability.

[shrek2]

I am still a little skeptical about the Rolo hire over June Jones. Rolo is the young sexy hire that most Hawaii fans where begging for and I don't see a problem hiring Rolo. But he did hire a lot of young coaches around him; some his team mates from Hawaii. I not comparing the infamous Norm Chow hire of Luke Matthew and Jordan Wynn to the young coaches on Rolo staff but that lack of coaching experience (FBS and NFL coaching experience) on this staff is concerning.

Rolo might need to hire some veteran coaches to help him scheme and put the players in position to make plays, Not comparing Rolo to Future Hall of Fame Coach Bill Belichick but we have to admit that even though Future Hall of Fame QB Tom Brady is out for 4 games, Coach Belichick and his staff know how to plug in players into there system and also scheme the offense to the back QB strengths. With back up QB Jimmy Garoppolo starting Belichick and his staff adjusted the offensive scheme and won games and then this week the 3rd string QB Jacoby Brissett got the start due to injury. Belichick and his staff adjusted to Brissett strength of being a mobile QB and ran the option on offense against a good Houston defense for a blow out win.

Listen, nobody questions the love for Hawaii Rolo and former teammates that are now on coaching staff have for Hawaii. But I'm thinking that Rolo young coaching staff might get out coached by other teams that have more experienced coaching staff. A wise man knows when to ask for help and Rolo might want to consider bringing in some experienced veteran Ex-NFL type coaches to help him build Hawaii back to college football respectability.

It takes money to bring in assistant coaches with experience unless they already live in Hawaii. Lucky we got Chris Naeole handling the offensive line and doing a great job of recruiting. June Jones had a chance of bringing the Hawaii program into national prominence but decided to take $2M instead of $600K. I think that Nick will do his best to bring Hawaii to being a powerful mid-Major football team who can beat the teams in the the major conferences at any time. His toughest job this year has been the sparse talent on defense and lack of athleticism at QB. Every QB that has played against Hawaii was better than our QB.

[WarriorTyme]

There are always coaches ex–NFL experience or not looking for work, when Rolo said he became very popular with my friends and coaches when he got the Head Coach job. Rolo wasn’t joking, he was serious. But he hired his heart and brought in some of his buddies, which may or may not work out.

[My3Cats]

Chow is available. Get plenty experience, but he no experience me. [what song is this from?]

[UnBiasFan]

Chow is available. Get plenty experience, but he no experience me. [what song is this from?]

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