Players hear Gouveia’s message

Hawaii special teams coach Chris Demarest barked orders at his charges through a bright orange megaphone. He managed to make himself heard — easily — over the constant stream of blaring music at the lower campus grass practice field, and players scrambled to comply.

Not far away Tuesday afternoon, new linebackers coach Kurt Gouveia, sporting a wide-brimmed hat, took a knee to watch plays develop and called players aside one by one, quietly offering advice on hand techniques and footwork.

Hey, when you’ve won at every level of football, whatever works for you.

The former NFL veteran linebacker doesn’t need to speak loudly to command respect. Three Oahu Prep Bowls with Waianae in the late 1970s, a college national championship with BYU and two Super Bowls with Washington’s NFL team attest to his ability to deliver.

Oh, and there’s also his place in the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame’s inaugural class earlier this year.

"He’s always straight up to us," junior linebacker Lance Williams said. "He never hides anything, he’s always a straight-up guy. A very humble guy. He takes pride in his work. He always takes pride. He cares about us, he wants us to just be a better player than we are yesterday or last month or last year."

As decorated as Gouveia’s resume is, this is his first stint as a full college coach after jobs in the United Football League, NFL Europe and at the high school level.

"Oh, it would give me tremendous satisfaction that I can come back to my hometown, my home state, and help these young athletes achieve their goals, dreams and aspirations," said Gouveia, one of several new members of UH’s overhauled coaching staff.

"They want to be champions. They do want to be winners. They work hard enough. They deserve that. And if I can do that, if I can bring that winning edge … I’m really happy and satisfied and I’m honored to do that for this program."

Granted, turnarounds from 1-11 to respectability don’t happen overnight.

Gouveia, a student manager with June Jones’ UH teams in 2003 and 2004, is conscious of the amount of time remaining until the Aug. 30 season opener against Washington — not much. But the team has worked since the spring on its new 3-4 base defense under new defensive coordinator Kevin Clune.

"Looking at practice today, yesterday, we’ve taken steps forward," Gouveia said, summing up the first two days of fall camp. "I mean, I’m happy with that. Am I satisfied? Hell no. I want more. I want to be perfect."

The junior linebacker Williams, who shined with an interception in Tuesday’s full team session, said Gouveia’s aura of discipline was the primary difference between last year’s coaches overseeing linebackers.

"He wants us to just do our job. Stay focused," Williams said. "Don’t get fatigued. He wants us to stay in shape … so when hard times come around, there’s no distraction, no fatigue kicking in. He always wants us to stay in our playbooks as well, learn our plays. "

When Gouveia was asked about specific areas of improvement from Day 1 to Day 2, he focused on the emotional rather than the physical.

"I like the enthusiasm. I like the spirit we have now," he said. "I think everybody likes to practice. Everybody loves football and wants to be out here. That’s the most inspiring thing. I feel that. I feel that intensity. … It’s attitude and effort. They’re already giving the effort. They’ve showed they have the attitude to become a good football unit. We’ll work to continue to get better and better each day."