A little more than a decade after completing his University of Hawaii football-playing career, Abraham Elimimian was back on campus on Monday as a full-time assistant coach. 

His youthful appearance — and competitive fire — had not changed. 

“The way that I view life, you can never be satisfied,” Elimimian said.  “You need something to motivate you.”

As a UH cornerback through 2004, that meant trying to “prove my doubters wrong.”

Elimimian, who was born in Nigeria and raised in Los Angeles, was the last player offered a scholarship in the Warriors’ 2000 recruiting class. Elimimian redshirted in 2000, then started 49 of a possible 50 games the next four seasons. 

Elimimian said his motivation came about “organically from being overlooked.”

“When I coach,” he added, “I want my players to have a chip on their shoulders. I want them to know they can do their job and have people fear them.”

After brief pro stints, Elimimian was a graduate assistant at Southern Methodist and Washington State. Last season, he was Simon Fraser University’s defensive coordinator. He was a finalist for the Simon Fraser head coaching job. 

“I want to thank coach Norm Chow for the opportunity,” Elimimian said. “I’m at a place that made me the person I am today. It’s this place that gave me this opportunity. The promise I made to myself when I did play was that whatever job I had, I would give it my all. The most important job is the job you have.”