Rolo gets his hands dirty coaching and playing

If you’ve been out to spring football practice, you know University of Hawaii coach Nick Rolovich can still sling it. The former Rainbow Warriors quarterback still has all the throws at age 38, even the long ones.

When I jokingly told him NFL scouts were asking about the kid with the touch of gray in his beard, he laughed and said maybe he needed to schedule a pro day for himself.

As for the guys who are still allowed to play for the Warriors, last year’s starting quarterback Dru Brown improved as the season went along. He is ranked by Athlon as one of the top 25 returnees in the nation at his position. It will be tough for anyone to unseat him as the 2017 starter.

But Rolovich knows how important depth is, especially at quarterback. And that’s one of the major goals of spring practice, developing that depth.

“We have time, though,” he said yesterday, sounding a little worried, but speaking more generally about the entire team than any specific position.

Every coach in the country goes through this every spring, including those who — like UH — won a bowl game. Everyone’s working on getting better, when the start of the new season is still six months away.

But there aren’t many who can actually show their quarterbacks how to do it, like Rolovich can.

Even fewer launch bombs on the softball field, too.

How many Division I college football head coaches play intramural sports?

I knew professors and other college employees could participate, but Rolovich is the first head coach I’ve heard of doing it. He hit two homers in a game Monday, and said he deserves a promotion from seventh in the batting order.

Lloyd Hisaka, who retired two years ago as the director of intramurals at UH, remembers just one head coach of any sport at Manoa playing in intramural leagues.

“Dave Shoji, way back, used to play,” Hisaka said of the recently retired legendary volleyball coach. “Basketball, softball. He was a good all-around athlete. I played tennis with him way back, he’s a pretty good player.”

Rolovich was a third baseman on his high school baseball team. Now he plays outfield for a squad called Staff Infection that is off to a 2-0 start.

“It’s a good way to engage with the students a little bit and get them excited about football,” he said.

I know this team is loaded simply by the mention of Tommy Heffernan’s name on the roster. The athletic department’s strength and conditioning director — who played baseball and football when he was at UH — has been one of the most feared hitters in island softball circles for decades. Anyone pitching or playing infield when he’s up should probably be wearing full football pads.

“He’s put a lot of dents in those makai bleachers over the past 20 years,” Rolovich said.

Quarterbacks coach Craig Stutzmann is on the team, too. He dinged a quad muscle trying to beat out a grounder last week.

“Hey, I was still perfect at the plate for the season” he said.

Rolovich remembers an intramural softball team from 17 years ago that included Stutzmann, Jacob Espiau and Nate Jackson. Rolovich was UH’s quarterback then, Stutzmann a receiver and Espiau and Jackson the safeties.

Generally, student-athletes can play intramurals in the offseason of their sport.

“For the students, it’s great any time there’s a coach or athletes playing intramurals,” said Hisaka, who also recalled Rolovich working as an intramurals official when he was a UH student. “They see these guys on Saturday at Aloha Stadium, and now they’re playing against them. It’s great incentive.”

Aaron Bain, a former UH receiver who works as operations coordinator for Manoa’s student recreation services, said he had also never heard of a football head coach playing intramurals.

“But I’m not surprised it’s him. That’s one of Rolo’s greatest strengths, he’s so personable,” Bain said. “He likes to be out there in the trenches, in the community.”

Rolovich said he’s “running out of ideas.” But this seems more like one of the many fun public relations moves he makes naturally than an “idea.”

Make no mistake, though.

“I’m there to win,” Rolovich said.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quickreads.