On the opening day of fall football practice at the University of Hawaii, the spirited, young first-year head coach was seemingly everywhere on Cooke Field.
Nick Rolovich demonstrated technique to receivers, preached speed reading of cover-two defenses to quarterbacks and even addressed the video crew.
And, then, during a break, he hustled over to the mauka sideline in search of some enlightenment for himself.
“Coach, give me one thing you have noticed?” Rolovich asked of 78-year-old Dick Tomey.
Tomey, the former UH (1977-86), Arizona and San Jose State head coach, put a paternal arm around Rolovich’s shoulders and gave him several.
Of the many encouraging signs on the first day of camp — ferocity by the defensive backs, hard running by the running backs, an attention to ball security, etc. — there also was the head coach looking to get coached up, not wanting any opening for improvement to be missed.
There was a rookie head coach willing to bring a separate set of eyes, ones belonging to a 29-year head coaching veteran, to the situation.
Tomey said his brand of advice isn’t for everyone because “I can be a pain in the butt. I have opinions and, if you ask me, I’ll tell you what I see.”
Which was precisely what Rolovich had pitched to Tomey over lunch last week. Rolovich said, “He’ll be honest and we have to be able to take plenty of criticism. But it will be worth it because he’s been places that we are trying to go.”
Tomey spent much of last season at the University of South Florida on a one-year appointment as an associate athletic director as a favor to a family friend, but a primary focus was observing and consulting on a football team that had suffered four consecutive losing seasons.
Then the Bulls proceeded to win seven of their last eight regular-season games on the way to their first bowl appearance in five years and an 8-5 record.
“He’s got great eyeballs; he sees the little things. And him just bringing up some of the things he brought up are really important,” Rolovich said. “ I mean, he’s always been real detail oriented, everything from how you place your toe during stretching to ball security, things like that. He loves being around the game, especially here in Hawaii.”
Tomey, who will be an occasional visitor to practices, said, “I’ll help out when I can. I want this team to succeed because I know how much it means to everybody in the community and how starved they are, how tough it has been for the players and how starved they have been.”
Rolovich never played for Tomey but made an instant impression on him in 2001. Rolovich brought UH back from a 17-3 deficit to a 38-31 overtime victory at SMU, but it wasn’t the 325 yards passing that stood out for Tomey, then a TV analyst. It was the way Rolovich went after a fumble, barreling though several players to secure the ball, and the lift it gave the team.
“He went after it like I’ve never see a quarterback go after the ball,” Tomey recalled. “I didn’t know much about him at the time, but I sure liked that. He showed a toughness and a ‘want-to’ that not many quarterbacks have.”
With Rolovich, the ‘want-to” hasn’t changed; it has just taken a different form these days.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
