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Nick Rolovich’s original manuscript had a Disney-esque theme.
It was 2016 and Rolovich, newly hired as Hawaii’s head coach, had planned to restore the Rainbow Warriors to football glory, to reclaim the metaphorical “Pride Rock.”
But in January 2016, 45 days after accepting the job to coach the UH quarterbacks and craft an offense, Zak Hill resigned to accept a coaching position at Boise State.
“You gotta go, you gotta go,” Rolovich said of Hill’s family influenced decision.
On Saturday, UH and Boise State will meet for the second time — and first in Albertson Stadium — since the amicable divorce. As it turned out, Hill’s move proved to be beneficial for both Mountain West programs.
“(Hill) came in here to coach the quarterbacks, and then I thought he did very well with that,” BSU coach Bryan Harsin told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “He did a good job recruiting quarterbacks, developing quarterbacks, and then, obviously, moving into the offensive coordinator position (in 2017). That was a natural progression for what he had done when he got here. He’s got a lot of control over what we do offensively, and how we do it, and the play-calling duties, and all those things.”
After Hill left, Rolovich offered the quarterback coach’s job to Craig Stutzmann, a former UH teammate who was calling the plays at Emory &Henry, a Division III program.
“It was a trust factor with Stutz,” Rolovich said. “I knew he cared for this place. I worked with him before in a different capacity, but I’ve seen his passion. I’ve seen his hard work.”
Rolovich, offensive coordinator Brian Smith and Stutzmann had several meetings to discuss building the Rainbow Warriors’ offense. All three UH graduates were well versed in the run-and-shoot, which the Warriors ran for 13 seasons through 2011. But as Nevada’s offensive coordinator for four years, Rolovich gained experience with the run-oriented pistol. Smith, at previous coaching jobs, developed a scheme that had elements of the pistol and unique running options for the quarterback. Stutzmann, at Rhodes and then Emory &Henry, expanded the run-pass option to included deeper routes.
It was decided to implement a hybrid offense using several schemes. But with the inherited roster built for 11 personnel — one back, one tight end — the Warriors delayed that plan for a scaled-down version in 2016. That success led to sticking with the offense for another year. But following the 2017 season, Rolovich decided to resurrect the run-and-shoot as a base offense, with wrinkles provided from Smith and Stutzmann. The run-and-shoot is considered a counter offense — when a defense zigs, the offense zags. Adding RPO concepts and quarterback rolls enabled the Warriors to answer to evolving defenses. UH’s offense, in essence, would become a counter-counter attack.
“That’s what happens,” Rolovich said of influences from Smith and Stutzmann. “They coached at a lot of places. They learned football changes, and all that stuff.”
But at the root, the Warriors’ offense is based in the run-and-shoot. “If we see something defenses are doing, we can tweak here and there and adjust it for that particular game or defense,” Stutzmann said. “We want to maintain the core principles.”
Cole McDonald, a fourth-year junior, marveled at how the offense has developed.
“It’s been awesome,” McDonald said. “Going from some of the things we ran my first year until now is night and day. We found our offensive identity as an offensive unit and as a team. It’s a fun time to be a part of.”
Since moving to the run-and-shoot, the Warriors have thrown for 62 touchdowns and are averaging 322.5 passing yards in 19 games. Since Hill joined BSU in 2016, the Broncos have 96 passing TDs to the Warriors’ 106.
Stutzmann also has proven to be a solid recruiter. He was either the point recruiter or evaluator in signing 13 scholarship players, including McDonald, quarterback Chevan Cordeiro, defensive backs Kai Kaneshiro and Tiger Peterson, and offensive lineman Arasi Mose.
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