From a humble state to Aloha state

FIFTH IN A SERIES

It was in late 2009 when Phil Rauscher, a graduate assistant coach at his alma mater, received a facts-of-football-life speech from his mentor, UCLA offensive coordinator Norm Chow.

The key word of advice was: Leave.

“One day I was sitting in coach Chow’s office, and he said, ‘You know, you really can’t stay. You have to go out and experience things in the business,’” Rauscher recalled.

And that is how Rauscher became the 24-year-old offensive coordinator at Dixie State in Utah.

After a season there, he rejoined Chow at Utah as an administrative assistant. Then Chow was hired as Hawaii’s head coach this past December, “and here we are,” said Rauscher, who will coach the Warriors’ tight ends.

Rauscher will be reintroducing a position that has not been used in the UH offense since 1998, the season before June Jones implemented the four-wide, no-tight-end offense. Except for Fred vonAppen’s three years as UH head coach, the Warriors had not employed a tight end in 22 of the past 25 seasons.

TODAY’S POSITION » TIGHT END Phil Rauscher is in charge of the tight ends, a position UH has not employed since 1998. Adrian Klemm was UH’s last tight end. Darius Bright: Former WR is up to 255 pounds » Spring candidates: Darius Bright, Craig Cofer, Clark Evans, Waylon Lolotai. » Summer additions: Harold Moleni, Ethan Watanabe. » Keep an eye on: Bright’s 2011 season began with a turf toe injury and ended with rib injuries and torn ligaments in his left arm. With the restructuring of the offense — a tight end and fullback will be added — Bright volunteered to move to tight end. The cast recently was removed from Bright’s arm. “Even with the cast on, he did every drill 100 percent,” Rauscher said. “Darius gives you something a little different because he can stretch the field vertically.” Bright, who is 6 feet 4, has bulked up, and now weighs 255. The challenge is when Bright has to block a 270-pound defensive end. “He has a good attitude,” Rauscher said. “He’s willing to try.” » The future: Watanabe, who was raised in San Antonio but has family ties to Hawaii, wowed scouts with solid workouts at summer combines and camps. This summer, it is hoped he will be equally effective in UH’s training camp. » Spring work: There are two tight-end positions. “Y is what you envision of a tight end,” Rauscher said. “The F guy is the movement guy. He can be on the line. He can be in the backfield. He can be a receiver. An F can line up pretty much anywhere.” Cofer and Lolotai are at the Y; Bright and Clark are at the F, although Clark is “cross-training,” Rauscher said. Clark is the only experienced tight end. But he also is a former quarterback and that, according to Rauscher, makes him “nifty in the passing game because he can see the field really well.” Rauscher said Cofer “just looks the part. He’s big. He’s long. He’s physical. We need somebody to come off the ball and just attack. Just looking at him, he looks like he can do that.” » Final words: “It’s been quite a while now,” Rauscher said of his lack of a social life. He’s not complaining. “There’s nothing better than Saturdays. What else are you going to do? Saturday in the stadium is perfect. … I love football. It’s what wakes me up every day and keeps me going.”

“It’s going to be exciting,” Rauscher said of the position’s revival. “I think the job of the tight end is to move the chains and make plays. It’s catching the ball on third-and-3 when you have to make a tough catch in traffic, or blocking a guy on an inside zone. It’s really a unique position in the offense.”

Rauscher is embracing his role in his latest football chapter. He became involved in football after a neck injury forced him to replot his future. After a few days as a UCLA undergraduate assistant, Rauscher said, “I was hooked.”

He was able to expand his football knowledge at Dixie, a Division II school with aspirations that exceeded its travel budget.

“A 26-hour bus ride to Humboldt State will really change your perspective on things,” Rauscher said.

For a year, Rauscher would be in a humble state. For games at Central Washington or Canada’s Simon Fraser, the coaches would each drive a vanload of players.

As an offensive coordinator, Rauscher said, “You get to call your plays and see what works and what doesn’t. The first play I called ever in my career was, I think, a reverse pass. You need to try things. You find out what you like and what you don’t like. I was 24. It was exciting. You realize sometimes it’s really easy. Plays roll off, and they all work. This isn’t bad. And when it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. You can’t buy a couple of yards.”

After Chow was hired as Utah’s offensive coordinator, Rauscher relinquished the Dixie job to renew his vow of poverty.

“The opportunity to go back and learn from coach Chow some more, and go to a program like Utah, I couldn’t pass that up,” Rauscher said. “He’s a great coach. I’m young. I can move around.”

Rauscher and Lewis Powell were Chow’s first UH hires.

“We had to create the position,” Rauscher said of the two tight-end spots. One position is the more traditional blocker; the other is a hybrid blocker/receiver.

Offensive lineman Waylon Lolotai, who was UH’s scout tight end in practices last year, volunteered to make the move. Defensive end Craig Cofer requested a position switch. UH recruited tight ends Clark Evans, Harold Moleni and Ethan Watanabe. Evans enrolled at UH in January, and will participate in spring training, which opens Tuesday. Wideout Darius Bright was the last to join the group.

“He just came in and sat in our meeting one day,” Rauscher said. “He said, ‘I’m going to play. We said, ‘OK.’ ”

Rauscher: “The fans will be excited to see (the pro-set offense).”