Although his Pandora playlist is filled with old-school R&B slow jams, University of Hawaii football coach Nick Rolovich is not a nostalgic person.

It is why Rolovich expects to maintain an emotional evenness when the Rainbow Warriors play host to a Nevada team whose offense he coordinated the previous four seasons. Kickoff is at 6 p.m. at Aloha Stadium.

“I don’t know how my being at Nevada affects our kids very much,” Rolovich said of Saturday’s Mountain West Conference opener for both teams. “I don’t know what people think about the game. But it’s pretty exciting for guys to open conference play, especially after we didn’t win a conference game last year.”

The Warriors are 4-28 in MWC games since joining as a football-only member in 2012.

During that period, the Wolf Pack played twice against the Warriors at Aloha Stadium, winning 69-24 in 2012 and 26-18 in 2014. Each time, Rolovich, a former UH quarterback and offensive coordinator, was serenaded with chants of “Rolo! … Rolo! …” Overall, the Pack have won the past five meetings.

Rolovich was not retained on the coaching staff after Norm Chow was hired as head coach in December 2011. Rolovich signed with Massachusetts, but left after a couple of months when he received an offer from Nevada coach Chris Ault. Rolovich’s status was uncertain after Ault resigned following the 2012 season. Rolovich appeared to be headed to Temple when Brian Polian, who was named Ault’s successor, convinced Rolovich to remain at Nevada.

“He was very good to me,” Rolovich said of Polian. “We’ve become very good friends. I really have great appreciation for his organizational skills. … The general word is organization. But the effort was consistent. He’s a tireless worker, and a lot of it is on recruiting.”

From Ault, who created the pistol offense, Rolovich learned concepts of the running game. Rolovich also admired Ault’s passion for coaching at his alma mater.

“It was always about how to make Nevada better,” Rolovich said. “Every step he made was how to make Nevada better and how to win football games.”

Rolovich said he tried to take a similar approach when he returned to the Manoa campus.

“I reference him a lot just in my own head,” Rolovich said of Ault.

Rolovich said he looks forward to seeing his former players, many of whom he recruited to Nevada.

“I have a lot of love for those kids,” Rolovich said.

Rolovich also was instrumental in the development of Wolf Pack quarterback Tyler Stewart.

“He’s grown a lot,” Rolovich said. “We’ve grown together. He’s got a love for the game and the (quarterback’s) position that not everybody has. His drive to prepare, and his drive to be ready for all situations, is as high as I’ve ever seen.”

Stewart had turned down a recruiting visit to UH in 2012 when the Warriors finalized gray-shirt agreements with quarterbacks Ikaika Woolsey and Justin Alo. After a year at UH, Alo transferred to a junior college. Woolsey started the first four games this season. Dru Brown was named UH’s starting quarterback for this game. Brown attended Nevada’s football camp two years ago. Nevada had Brown on its evaluation list, but did not make a scholarship offer. But Brown met Rolovich at that camp. After a year at College of San Mateo, Brown received — and accepted — a scholarship offer from Rolovich this summer.