Growing up in the Rolovich household, the dress code was blue collar.
As the son of an electrician, Nick Rolovich learned his father’s craft at an early age.
“I remember my first shock,” Rolovich said. “I was putting in an outlet. I was working with my dad. I was probably 13 or 14. Bzzzz! … I was trying to bend the wire around the screw, tightening it. It was scary. Bzzzz! It was a good lesson.”
Years later, Rolovich was a husband, father and between Arena Football League seasons. To supplement his work as a City College of San Francisco assistant coach, Rolovich worked for HJ Rabbitt & Sons, a multi-generational construction company.
One of the projects was a six-unit building with a storefront and garage. Rolovich helped with draining, reinforcing steel, “whatever they needed me to do. We did the foundation. We went from top to bottom, bottom to top. It was incredibly hard work, but it was gratifying.”
Rolovich paused at the memory, then said: “And that’s how we’re building this team.”
Rolovich, who was hired as head coach in November, was met with the dead man’s stare from players during the first team meeting.
“Their energy look in their eyes was so wrong in my mind,” Rolovich said. “They had been beaten up pretty good. It had been some tough years for them. The community was hungry for wins, and they felt it. In looking back, that was a good thing for us. We began with some core values (needed for this) football team.”
Rolovich wanted to implement an offense that blended run-and-shoot and read-option concepts. Rolovich was the offensive coordinator in 2011 when the Warriors began to bend away from pure run-and-shoot schemes. Rolovich studied Oregon videos and met with read-option coaches. “We had a guy like (quarterback) David Graves kind of waiting,” Rolovich said. “He was a good athlete who could hurt people with his legs.”
But head coach Greg McMackin was fired after the 2011 season, and Rolovich was not retained. He spent the next four seasons as Nevada’s offensive coordinator.
Rolovich had sifted through several defensive philosophies before deciding on Kevin Lempa, who was UH’s defensive coordinator when Rolovich was the Warriors’ quarterback in the early 2000s. Rolovich wanted to switch back the base from an odd-man front to a 4-3. Rolovich also consulted with former players who remembered how Lempa’s system allowed freedom within a play’s structure.
“I wanted to get to a point where we let our guys play,” Rolovich said. “They play better when they play fast and just go. I wanted them to be instinctual rather than just thinking.”
Rolovich erased past reputations, permitted long hair and allowed players to live in their off-campus homes during training camp. In exchange, he demanded self-discipline, promptness and connecting to the community.
“We’ll see what happens,” Rolovich said as the Warriors compete today in the first practice of training camp.
HAWAII RAINBOW WARRIORS
> 2015 records: 3-10/0-8 MWC
> Head coach: Nick Rolovich
> Outlook: The renovation includes changes to the staff (three new coordinators, not including new video coordinator Oli Vea) and schemes. The Rainbow Warriors are shifting to a hybrid offense containing elements of the run-and-shoot, read-option and pass-run-option schemes. A seven-quarterback competition will be settled after the second training-camp scrimmage on Aug. 13. The Warriors are returning to the 4-3 defense featuring two inside linebackers. The defensive play-caller is Jahlani Tavai, who moved from rush end to middle linebacker.
> A Warrior story: Quarterback Ikaika Woolsey indeed comes from a strong gene pool. His grandfather, Bill Woolsey, was a swimmer who won medals in the 1952 and ‘56 Olympics. “He’s the superstar of the family,” Ikaika Woolsey said. “He told me stories about being 17 and in the Olympics. It humbles me to know what he’s done.” Woolsey is in the running for the most scrutinized job in Hawaii. “You’re either the goat or the hero,” he said. “There’s no gray area. My father always told me: ‘Playing quarterback, you’ve got to have crocodile skin. You’ve got to be tough.’”
