Uncharted path leads to UH

SEVENTH IN A SERIES

Paper or plastic?

On paper, the Hawaii football team’s offensive line has made an early impression.

"I like them all," said Chris Wiesehan, who will coach the Warriors’ offensive line and coordinate the run game. "We’ll see what they look like with plastic on. It’s a little different when you have to go out and hit somebody and be assignment sound. There are five steaks on the table. The hungriest guys are going to play."

Wiesehan, who was hired in January, said he has few preconceptions of the linemen ahead of Tuesday’s start of spring training.

"We’re going to see what we have on the field," Wiesehan said.

Wiesehan is true to his own uncharted journey to Manoa. If he had followed his original blueprint, he would be practicing law.

"That was one of my options," said Wiesehan, whose post-college playing career was shortened because of an injury.

He then received a tip from an NFL scout about a graduate assistant’s opening at Fort Hays. The job would allow him to complete work on a master’s degree, and to be an on-field coach. Wiesehan figured law school could wait another two years. His law school plans are still in storage.

"When you’re around players, when you’re impacting lives, I really liked the mentoring part (of coaching)," Wiesehan said.

He coached at Purdue, Notre Dame, Northern Arizona and James Madison, and in the NFL with the Buffalo Bills and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. At the end of the 2008 season, he was among the coaches released when Syracuse changed staffs. At the time, he had a long-distance relationship with the woman who would become his wife, a Los Angeles-based producer. He decided to join her on the West Coast.

Wiesehan landed a job as UCLA’s tight ends coach, working under Bruins offensive coordinator Norm Chow. During games, both out-of-the-box thinkers worked together in the coaches box.

"We worked together pretty well," Wiesehan said.

Wiesehan then spent the next two seasons with Winnipeg in the Canadian Football League. The Blue Bombers played in the 2011 Grey Cup, the CFL’s equivalent of the Super Bowl. Wiesehan was in line for college coaching jobs when he received a call from Chow in December.

"He called to congratulate me on a job he thought I had taken," Wiesehan said. When told that job was on hold, Chow, who had been named UH’s head coach, offered a coaching position to Wiesehan. Chow said he would work on the compensation package.

"I said, ‘treat me fair,’ and he did," Wiesehan said.

The timing matched because Wiesehan’s wife wanted to take a break from producing to spend more time with the couple’s child. Wiesehan said his friend, former Punahou athlete Sean Satterfield, helped with the move.

"We immediately dropped into a family situation with his mom and his wife," Wiesehan said.

Wiesehan said he is happy to be back working with the offensive line after coaching receivers in Winnipeg.

"I think that’s where it all happens," Wiesehan said of the trenches. "You have to know it inside-out. That’s why I always gravitated there. If you can handle the front and the protection and the structures of the running game, it will help you as a (run) coordinator."