Warriors hard to stop when engine got going

Those who expect immediate success from the run-and-shoot offense could be sadly mistaken. But history tells us that once it gets going, watch out.

Sometimes folks forget that in June Jones’ 1999 coaching debut at the University of Hawaii, UH lost its 19th game in a row, 62-7 to USC. The run-and-shoot offense was blanked, with the only Hawaii touchdown coming on an interception return by Quincy LeJay.

“You don’t always come in and immediately attack five different coverages,” said Mouse Davis, who developed the run-and-shoot’s foundation in the 1970s. “You have to go through the basic things that make the offense special.”

The Rainbow Warriors finally broke their slump the next game, beating Eastern Illinois 31-27, the first of four wins in a row. But much of that early-season success could be credited to a defense that allowed 12.25 points per game during the streak while the offense was still getting into gear.

“They had (linebacker) Jeff Ulbrich and the defense carried them while the offense gradually got better,” said Star-Advertiser sports editor Paul Arnett, who was the UH football beat writer for the Star-Bulletin in 1999. “And nobody got hurt.”

Late in the season Hawaii scored 62 and 48 points in wins over San Jose State and Navy. Dan Robinson wasn’t the prototype run-and-shoot quarterback, but he was tough and he adapted.

“Dan was a very smart kid, and we had a whole bunch of other seniors who things just hadn’t quite worked out for,” said Dan Morrison, UH’s quarterbacks coach from 1999 to 2007. “They were ready to win, they didn’t reflect on the losing streak.”

With Robinson graduating and off to dental school, a rifle-armed transfer from San Francisco City College was named Hawaii’s starting quarterback for the beginning of the 2000 season. Much was expected from Nick Rolovich and the rest of the Warriors coming off the big turnaround season. But in the opener the Warriors’ future head coach and his teammates were embarrassed 45-20 in front of a full house of 50,000 at Aloha Stadium — by Portland State, Jones’ alma mater.

It was the first of four losses to start the season, and during that slump Rolovich was benched in favor of freshman Timmy Chang. UH finished the season 3-9. Rolovich often says it was a wake-up call for him about taking things more seriously.

Chang went down to injury early in the 2001 season, and Hawaii was off to a 1-2 start. After a rocky first 30 minutes at Southern Methodist, Rolovich made the most of the opportunity — with a re-boot from one of the fiercest players in UH history.

“We believe in you”

The turning point didn’t come on the field, but in the visitors locker room at Ford Stadium in Dallas. And it wasn’t a receiver who made the big “play.” It was a linebacker. Rolovich had thrown two first-half interceptions and Hawaii trailed 17-3 at halftime. “Chris Brown grabbed me around the collar and said, ‘Listen, haole, we believe in you,’” Rolovich recalled.

“Things started to come together after that. I remember Justin Colbert, missing him on an outside release against cover-2 for a touchdown. I looked at June, he said we’ll call it again, and it was touchdown, wide open. It probably was Chris Brown who made me feel it was my time, which led me to trust what I was seeing out there.”

Hawaii won 38-31 in overtime, the start of an 8-1 run with Rolovich at quarterback. In the last three games after a loss to Boise State, the Warriors offense was unstoppable.

Miami of Ohio freshman Ben Roethlisberger was impressive, but Rolovich’s five touchdown passes and Justin Ayat’s field goal as time expired gave UH a 52-51 win. The Warriors then grounded Air Force 52-30, with Rolovich throwing for seven touchdowns — a school record that would last one week.

Despite its eight wins headed into the season finale. there would be no bowl game for the Warriors (this was what spurred the creation of the Hawaii Bowl). But the last game was against rival BYU, unbeaten to that point and feeling jilted over not getting a BCS bowl bid.

Rolovich threw eight touchdown passes as Hawaii won 72-45. It was the climax of the run-and-shoot offense at its best, 176 points in three games.

“If we’re on the same page, it’s unstoppable,” said Craig Stutzmann, a senior receiver on that team who is now UH’s quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator.

Chang took over in 2002, and experienced mostly highs but also some lows over the next three seasons in which he broke the NCAA career records for passing yards, touchdowns and … interceptions. He was cheered. And he was booed — by the home crowd during a victory over Alabama.

Winging it, grasping it

In retrospect, it was an outstanding career in which Hawaii finished with a winning record in all three of Chang’s seasons as a full-time starter, and all three ended with bowl games.

“That’s one thing I was worried about. I was going crazy during that (2007) season, but I didn’t want them to forget about how great Tim was. He’s the one who got the engine going for Colt (Brennan),” said Jeremiah Cockheran, a former UH receiver and Chang’s teammate.

Chang is now a receivers coach at Nevada, which runs the air raid offense, a close cousin of the run-and-shoot. There’s no hint of bitterness in his voice when speaking about his UH playing career.

“I had a lot of fun, and I got to represent Hawaii,” Chang said. “I was blessed. All of the experiences made me the coach and person I am today.”

Jones found his next quarterback while the Warriors were recruiting one of his junior college teammates. Brennan had been dismissed from the Colorado program due to a dorm incident that led to his serving a week in jail.

Like linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa before him and teammate Davone Bess, while at UH Brennan proved worthy of the second chance after incarceration, on the field and off.

In 2005, Brennan put up impressive stats winging it most of the fall with a group of receivers, including Bess, who were also talented, but young. UH was 4-7 headed into the final game of the year, destined for its first losing season since 2000, and Brennan didn’t have a firm grasp of the run-and-shoot yet.

“The thing I always remembered was June said, ‘It will happen, it will happen.’ For me it was San Diego State,” Brennan said. “It clicked and all of a sudden it made sense.”

He passed for five touchdowns in the 49-38 win, including three to freshman Ryan Grice-Mullen.

While learning the offense on the job in 2005, Brennan led the nation with 4,301 passing yards. With nearly the entire starting unit returning, what might Hawaii achieve?

The answer was plenty. In 2006, UH went 11-3 as Brennan threw an NCAA-record 58 touchdown passes, and chose to return for his senior season instead of making himself available for the NFL Draft. Hawaii went 12-0 in the regular season, and finished 2007 ranked 19th, despite falling 41-10 to Georgia in the Sugar Bowl for their only loss. Brennan was third in the Heisman Trophy voting.

At that time, Rolovich had just wrapped up his pro playing career as quarterback for the Las Vegas Gladiators of the Arena Football League (incidentally, Davis is credited as a co-founder of arena football), and would soon return to UH as quarterbacks coach.

Defensive coordinator Greg McMackin was elevated to head coach with Jones’ departure to SMU, and in 2008 and 2009 Hawaii went 13-14 while trying to find a replacement for Brennan.

Reminders disappeared

With the emergence of walk-on Bryant Moniz, the Warriors rebounded to 10-4 in 2010, including an upset of previously unbeaten Nevada — where Rolovich would be coaching two years later.

At the end of the 2011 season, the run-and-shoot was gone with the forced resignation of McMackin and the arrival of Norm Chow.

Reminders of the glorious past disappeared quickly. That included the names on the jerseys of the players, many of whom had been conference champions two years prior. And, of course, the offensive formation.

Could installation of the run-and-shoot now mean an instant turnaround like that in 1999, or will there be the growing pains of a losing season, like in the personnel transition year of 2005?

“I would anticipate there’s going to be a learning process, seeing some amazing output and some games where they struggle. They have to jell. They have to get that rapport,” Brennan said. “If they can jell at the right moments, the defense provides the support, and they find that next level where they play for each other, that’s when the wins will come.”

That theme of interdependence is common in football, regardless of offensive philosophy. But it is amplified when players must anticipate each other’s moves as much as they do in the run-and-shoot.

Rolovich, the third-year head coach at his alma mater, said the offensive style fits his program’s motto of “Live Aloha, Play Warrior.”

“It’s kind of like living in Hawaii,” he said. “We’re all relying on each other in some way. And that’s why acting right and having aloha, that’s important. I think the offense mirrors that a little bit.”