The University of Hawaii football coaches were in the dark on Sunday afternoon, using their tablets to control the videos projecting on the wide-screen televisions in their offices.
By dissecting Saturday’s 42-23 loss to San Jose State, the coaches hoped to discover the antidote for the ills incurred during this nine-game losing streak. Against the Spartans, the Rainbow Warriors struggled early — falling behind 35-0 at the half — and imploding with their third-down coverage.
"Guys sit around and wait for bad stuff to happen," interim head coach Chris Naeole said. "We try to make a push in the second half, but it’s too late."
This is the last opportunity for the Warriors, whose regular season ends with this Saturday’s game against Louisiana-Monroe, and for the coaches, who received non-renewal notices a couple days after Norm Chow’s dismissal as head coach on Nov. 1.
Defensive coordinator Tom Mason said an in-season coaching change sometime leads to difficulty in maintaining cohesion.
"But I think Chris has done a good job of handling it," Mason said of Naeole. "The players have been good about that. We haven’t had any discipline problems. The thing you worry about is when you go through a situation like that, the players can do what they want, and there’s not a lot you can do about it. But Chris has done a nice job of holding that part of it together."
Naeole said a greater concern is cobbling a relatively healthy lineup. In the past two weeks, six players suffered season-ending injuries, with four requiring surgery. Inside linebacker Jerrol Garcia-Williams, their leading tackler, was medically disqualified the past Friday after it was decided his back injury needed more treatment.
"I don’t ever tell a kid to play when he shouldn’t play," Naeole said. "I listen to what the doctors tell me. I live with it, and I have the next-man-up mentality, because you have to care about a kid’s safety and well-being."
Naeole added: "Nobody is going to feel sorry for us. You play with what you’ve got. You line up 11, they line up 11, and you play. That’s what the game is all about."
Naeole said he has no regrets about accepting the interim coach’s job for the final four weeks of the season.
"I’m from Hawaii," said Naeole, a Kahuku High and Colorado graduate who played 12 NFL seasons. "I love Hawaii. I live right down the road. When this week’s over, I’ll pass the baton to the next guy, and wish him luck. I’ll still be a big supporter of this program. I didn’t go to school here, but I have a new-found respect for this program. I have so much respect for the guys around here — the equipment guys, the training staff. You build relationships with these guys. It’s one big family."
