2016 Hawai'i Football Fall Camp
Day 1: Into The Fire: Football Opens 2016 Camp With Strong First Day
Day 2: Football Building The Team Behind The Team

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H-TV: Sights and Sounds of UH Football on August 3

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HONOLULU – The University of Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors football team returned to Cooke Practice Field for the third day of the 2016 fall camp on Wednesday. It was business as usual for UH this fall, but it was also the first day donning shells this season.
 
There are times that the introduction of pads and hitting after a long offseason can untrack the focus of a hungry team eager for contact. That was not the case this morning for the Rainbow Warriors, who remained locked in and contributed maximum effort, while rolling with the added contact. The playbook installation continued as the squad showed determination to make the most of drills and progress into the 2016 season.
 
The change in team culture is at the heart of that determination, as the Rainbow Warriors play to every whistle with no extra-curricular action, hustle from station to station and grind out every drill. It's easy to see the staff as teachers and the students are getting the picture.
  
Like every program in the country, the goal remains to improve every day for the alumni-fronted staff of first-year head coach Nick Rolovich. With four alumni on the full-time staff, another as a graduate assistant and a former coach returning as a coordinator, the success blueprint was set with methodical care as these former Warriors look to revive the winning tradition.
 
Those four are Rolovich, offensive coordinator Brian Smith, passing game coordinator Craig Stutzmann and defensive backs coach Abe Elimimian. This quartet all played together during the beginning of the culture change under June Jones at the turn of the millennium. All four were teammates in 2001 when UH went 9-3 and roasted undefeated No. 9 BYU in the finale, 72-45. In those days, Smith was center for Rolovich with Stutzmann on the receiving end of Rolo's passes, while Elimimian was a threat to pick opposing QBs at cornerback.
 
Meanwhile, Elimimian's defensive coordinator in his playing days, Kevin Lempa is back in the fold in the same role after working up and down the eastern seaboard before finding his road back to Hawai'i.
 
In addition, former center John Estes is back as a graduate assistant this season. Setting an NCAA record with 56 consecutive starts, he served as the cornerstone of the Warriors' offensive line that provided UH the opportunity to rank first nationally in scoring and second in passing, capping the program's most famous season in the Allstate Sugar Bowl.
 
Often said is that the common bonds and the sense of home that have made this return to Hawai'i a great experience for the staff. HawaiiAthletics.com now asks the alumni what is the greatest payoff to receiving the opportunity to coach at their alma mater.
 

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Head Coach Nick Rolovich | UH Quarterback, 2000-01 | B.A. in Economics, 2004
Being able to give back to the university and the state that changed my life, I would put those that at the top of the list. Secondly, being able to mentor young warriors to become great men of aloha as they leave this program.


 
Brian Smith, UH Center, 1998-2001 | B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies, 2005
There should be nothing more prideful than working for your alma mater where you played, you worked, you sweated and built relationships. That's one of the most rewarding things and gain the opportunity to have positive effects on kids who are going through similar situations to what you went through when you were here. It's really special getting to do it where my family is, where my wife grew up and where I have friends that are on the staff with me just makes it that much better.



 
Craig Stutzmann | UH Wide Receiver, 1998-2001 | B.A. in Political Science, 2001; M.A. in Education, 2014
It's the old adage, when it's all said and done, you want to leave something better than where you found it. It's an opportunity to come out here and actually take the program from where it's at now, where it's not the best, and get it to where the whole state can be very proud of it again. Having the opportunity to contribute to that is probably the single most gratifying thing.


 
Abe Elimimian | UH Cornerback, 2001-04 | B.A. in Political Science, 2004
It's personal because of the blood, sweat and tears that these guys have put into the program. We've been through the lows and been through the highs. We've been through periods where we were counted out and we had to come back and perform. As former players, we understand that aspect. Right now we have a great opportunity to teach what we know. You notice it's a lot more family atmosphere around here.


 
John Estes | UH Center, 2006-09 | B.A. in Communications, 2009
It just feels like coming full circle. Having been in their shoes and going through some of the same struggles, seeing the young guys' faces makes me appreciate being back. I'm really trying to tell these guys to embrace the grind, they've got to put their best foot forward every practice, every day, every snap, it's got to be 100 percent. There's no better place to be than on these two practice fields in the Hawaiian breeze, being in Manoa teaching these young bucks.
 
 

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 The Rainbow Warriors return to action for the fourth day of fall camp on Thursday, again at 6:30 a.m. at Cooke Practice Field, going back to work in shells for the second straight day.