The University of Hawaii football team hired Polynesian Football Hall of Fame member Kurt Gouveia to coach outside linebackers and promoted graduate assistant Jordan Wynn to quarterbacks coach on Saturday.
"I think both of them will do a good job for us," UH coach Norm Chow said.
Gouveia won an Oahu Prep Bowl co-championship with Waianae High in 1980, a national title with Brigham Young in 1984, and Super Bowls with the Washington Redskins in 1987 and 1991. He played 13 seasons in the NFL. Most recently, he was a coach with the Sacramento Mountain Lions of the United Football League. Two weeks ago, he was an inaugural inductee into the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame.
Gouveia replaces Tony Tuioti, whose contract was not extended. Tuioti is now an assistant to the defensive line coach with the Cleveland Browns.
Wynn’s career as Utah’s quarterback was abbreviated because of an injury suffered in 2012. He served as the Utes’ student assistant the rest of that season.
In 2013, Wynn joined the Rainbow Warriors as a graduate assistant working with the quarterbacks. When Aaron Price was fired as offensive coordinator two days before the start of training camp, Wynn assumed an expanded role in crafting game plans and calling plays.
For the second half of the 2013 season, Wynn was the primary play-caller. For instance, Chow might make a suggestion about dealing with certain scenarios, but it would be Wynn who would call specific plays. Chow and Wynn worked well together. UH finished 19th nationally in passing, averaging 301.4 yards per game. In the final two games, UH averaged 52.5 points, 616 yards and 411 passing yards.
Wynn will continue to work with quarterbacks and call plays. Chow is considered to be the offensive coordinator.
Gouveia said he looks forward to being reunited with Chow. Despite being named the OIA West offensive player of the year as a quarterback and the state’s defensive player of the year as a safety, Gouveia was not recruited by UH. The belief was that Gouveia was too slow to play safety. BYU recruited Gouveia to play linebacker.
"Coach Chow was actually the guy who recruited me to go to Brigham Young," Gouveia said of his decision to apply for the UH job. "He knew my family. He knew about my high school days, and what I had done. There’s a lot of history between us."
Gouveia, who is visiting his daughter on the East Coast, said he will sign the contract when he returns to the West Coast.
Gouveia described himself as a "kid from Waianae who worked his way up, who made it through high school, who made it through college, and then on to the NFL. I’m sure that’s the dream and aspiration for a lot of young men. Hopefully, I can bring that experience to them."
