Twice this year University of New Mexico football coach Danny Gonzales stared down his quarterback, Tavaka Tuioti, openly daring him to leave the team.

Once he pointedly called out Tuioti as “soft” and, on another occasion, indefinitely stripped him of the starting job for inattention to team rules, adding, “Good luck earning it back.”

But as the Lobos prepare for the University of Hawaii’s home opener Saturday at Aloha Stadium, Gonzales has come to salute the redshirt junior from California as the spiritual leader the team needs to turn around the program’s fortunes.

To understand the drama that has surrounded them it helps to know the passion that Gonzales brought to the job and the years he has invested at the school. From a skinny walk-on to the Lobos as a punter and defensive back in the 1990s, Gonzales eventually earned a scholarship through his work and tenacity. Then, Gonzales painstakingly paid his dues for four years as a graduate assistant and three more as a video coordinator before landing a full-time assistant coaching job at the school.

So, when Gonzales left Arizona State in December, tasked with turning around a Lobo program that had just two winning seasons in 12 years, he demanded a deep commitment from the players, especially the returning quarterback.

“The word ‘soft’ is the worst cuss-word you can use on a football field and we were a ‘soft’ football team and it was an embarrassment to me because I’m the leader of this football team and we have to change that,” Gonzales said.

Gonzales said he told Tuioti, “I don’t see you being a tough guy. You have the most experience on our football team at the quarterback position, so you should be the best one. But, if you’re not going to be a tough guy, you can’t lead this football team because that’s not gonna be the nature of this program.’

“So, I hurt his feelings a little bit and he looked at me like, ‘Who the heck are you?,’” Gonzales recalled. “It would have been very easy for that young man to say, ‘This guy is off his rocker, (to heck with) him, I’m not soft.’ But he took it and it was like, ‘You know what? I’m gonna prove that man wrong.’”

On a subsequent occasion, Gonzales said Tuioti was two minutes late to a 6 a.m. team function. “When I got that report I said, ‘Well, Tavaka, that’s not our standard around here. So, you know what? You are no longer our No. 1 quarterback. Our starting quarterback doesn’t run freaking late to anything. Good luck earning your way back. I mean, if you want to quit, I don’t care. We are all going to do things the right way.”

Tuioti became a model teammate and the acknowledged leader to the point that he won back the starter’s job. But it was his total performance in last week’s 38-21 season-opening loss to San Jose State, not just the 20-of-35 passing for 294 yards for two touchdowns and 14 runs for 69 yards and a TD, that certified his standing in Gonzales’ eyes.

“Tavaka led the offense the way I expected him to,” Gonzales said. “When he was running the ball, he wasn’t looking to slide, he wasn’t looking to run out of bounds. He was trying to run through people. Late in the game our offensive line was struggling in pass protection and he stood back there and either made the plays or got way-laid. But, guess what? He was the first one back up. I mean, when you have a quarterback getting sacked (and then) helping the offensive line up, that’s leadership from the position.”

Afterward, Gonzales called Tuioti over. “I said, ‘Look me in the eye for a second. I’m proud of you for the way you played. I’m proud of you for your leadership. You proved to a stubborn old man that my opinion can change.’ I don’t think Tavaka is soft. He is the right guy to lead our football team and keep us moving forward. We can be successful because of him.”

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.