Yes, it’s hot in Cleveland. Actually, warm and fairly pleasant this time of year.
"Kind of like Hawaii, about 75, 80 degrees," Tony Tuioti says in a phone call from the shores of Lake Erie. "Beautiful weather. But it can change quickly."
Definitely nothing as wild as the two hurricanes that were headed to Hawaii in recent days. But when the former Rainbow Warriors defensive tackle and assistant coach arrived in Ohio in early April he did endure a good dose of leftover wintry conditions.
He also found the sports scene to be quite toasty, despite a tradition of mediocrity or worse. The low-key Tuioti’s hiring as Cleveland Browns defensive quality control assistant coincided with the return of LeBron James to the Cavaliers and Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Johnny Manziel also joining the Browns as the 22nd pick of the draft.
"The city of Cleveland is excited," Tuioti says. "They’re really supportive of their sports even though championships have been hard to come by. Everywhere you go, it’s all about the Cavs, the Browns, the Indians. It gives you a great feeling to be in a big city where they really support their teams. Everyone is trying to work hard to build on that."
There’s a lot of work to do. In 2013, the Browns lost 11 games or more for the sixth time in a row, and missed the playoffs for the 11th consecutive season. Cleveland finished 4-12 after losing their last seven.
"The season took a turn when the quarterback (Brian Hoyer) got hurt. A lot of the losses were close games, could’ve gone either way. Similar to last year at UH. This year it’s about getting over the hump in those situations. The team was a few yards, a first down away from a victory. Coach (Mike) Pettine has really stressed the idea of ‘finish.’"
Tuioti says the first-year head coach is trying to turn things around by making a segment of practice each day hyper-competitive. "He will put the offense and defense into a special situation and whoever wins gets to wear the orange jersey the next day in practice."
It’s usually something like a third-down or red-zone situation. Sometimes it’s whimsical, like when Pettine determined which side would win the day by the assistant coaches’ ability to field punts.
When he’s not honing his fair-catch technique, Tuioti works mostly with the defensive linemen.
"We’ve got interns who take care of a lot of the administrative stuff and that frees me up to coach," he says.
Former UH defensive tackle Vaughn Meatoga got a look as a free agent in rookie minicamp, but "unfortunately things didn’t work out for him," Tuioti says. "He came out here and did his best."
There is one player still on the Browns D-line that many UH fans had some familiarity with, as did Tuioti. Third-year defensive end Billy Winn played for Boise State and starred in high school in Las Vegas when Tuioti lived there.
Of course, Tuioti gets asked more about a certain Browns player who has more recently spent some time in Sin City and is never shy about letting people know about it. Tuioti says as a defensive coach he rarely interacts with Manziel.
"People can say what they want in the media, but as far as what I’ve seen, everyone including him is focused on the team. It’s about how you handle yourself in the building. It’s good to have the excitement and everything that comes with it. As far as everything outside I don’t think anyone is focused on that."
