HONOLULU – The University of Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors football team arose from their beds on Thursday morning before the sun broke over Manoa, taking to Cooke Practice Field for the 11th session of spring practices, taking on an earlier start at 6:15 a.m. to ensure complete reps for team members with early classes.
 
The Warriors went to work, despite trimming down to just shells for the first time since pads were allowed to enter the equation this spring, still flying around and making plays with a notable amount of contact, but also giving the coaching staff an opportunity to do more teaching without having to miss opportunities with players fulfilling their academic obligations.
 
Although the offense provides a balanced look, running game coordinator Brian Smith's running backs unit took on some of the spotlight after Saturday's practice, as the experienced, multi-positional former UH center continues to make strides with a deep corps, fronted by 1,132-yard rusher Paul Harris this spring. In addition, UH's corps has seen steady work from the returning talents of Steven Lakalaka, who has 1,300 career rushing yards, and Diocemy Saint Juste, who sat out with an injury last season after a productive sophomore campaign.
 
Prior to UH, Smith engineered his variety of the Run and Shoot offense at Occidental College, averaged 33.8 points and 480.6 yards of total offense per game in 2015 as the offensive coordinator for the Tigers – bringing the count of former offensive coordinators on the current staff to four. In addition, he was center for head coach Nick Rolovich during his playing days, alongside passing game coordinator Craig Stutzmann.
 
Coach Smith took a few minutes out to speak with UH Media Relations to re-familiarize the fans with this former Warrior making his second return to Manoa.
 
Q: Going right for the obvious, how has it been for you to be back in Hawai'i and working at your alma mater with former teammates?
A: It's a great feeling to be back. There's a great sense of pride in coaching back at the school that you played at. Hawai'i and the University have always been very special places to me, I have a lot of great memories here both as a player and as a coach and it's extremely important to me to be successful here. It's great to work with people you enjoy spending time with, you enjoy working with and have a lot of respect for.

Q: Has your family already made the transition to Hawaii and will they miss the Los Angeles metro or is this a better fit?
A: Everyone's here. My wife is born and raised from here. We met when I was coaching here in 2008, so if she could have beaten me here, she would have. We all moved together right around New Year's. My wife works for the University of Hawai'i Foundation so she's on campus as well. For our four-year old, Chloe, it's a good transition in that she's been very familiar with it here. My wife's family is here, so we've always visited a lot. Ever since we left, there's challenges for her in that she's changed schools, so she does miss friends, and my family was closer to where we were in L.A. and she misses them. If we had to move away, this is the perfect place to be.

Q: Coach Rolo talks to the guys a lot about appreciating and honoring what came before them. With four members of that staff fitting into that mold, does it make it easier to convey that message?
A: They should be able to relate to us pretty well knowing that we've walked in the same shoes as them and been through the same things. Especially coach Stutzmann and myself, having been through the transition of playing under coach [Fred] Von Appen to coach [June] Jones and the challenges of being on an 0-12 team, to the success of being on nine-win teams and conference championship teams.
 
Q: You played offensive line in college and professionally, how did your coaching focus move on to running backs and how does your varied experience factor into your running game coordinator role?
A: Offensive line play translates to a lot of positions in football, and playing center you have to be the quarterback of the offensive line in that you're making all the line calls and you're doing a lot of the communication. You're studying more film than a lot of people are and mentally you're better prepared. As far as transitioning to coaching running backs, as you work through the profession, you change positions but not your teaching fundamentals. Having not had the experience of playing the position, I don't think it affects your ability to coach the position, it's a matter of how you teach, how you relate and communicate to the players, and after that it's just a matter of understanding the schemes. It translates well to coordinating the run game because you have a great overall emphasis of the aspects of the offensive line and how the backs fit in and how they work together. Having just experienced coordinating an entire offense helps with that as well, building passing game plans and attacking in all aspects.

Q: Across your playing days and different coaching stops, what types of offensive schemes were you exposed to?
A: A lot of my influence and background has been in the Run and Shoot offense. Playing for June [Jones], working for Mouse [Davis] at Portland State, working in it here with Ron Lee and Rolo the four years I was back, and then running my version of it as a coordinator at Occidental. Aside from that, Working with coach [Mike] Riley in a very pro-style offense at Oregon State has been my other big influence, along with playing in pro systems in the NFL.

Q: In the Run and Shoot version you ran at occidental, was there a big difference from what you played and coached at UH?
A: The main divergence was adding more personnel groups and formations. I kept the majority of the base route concepts of what made the Run and Shoot the Run and Shoot. I just wanted to be able to run the ball effectively all times of the game, and didn't want to be limited to what I could do based on how the defense was playing us, without losing in the passing game. We had a lot of success and ended up being extremely balanced doing it, close to 300 yards passing and right around 200 yards rushing per game for that last year.
 
Q: Putting up those kind of offensive numbers at OC, what would you say were the keys to getting the guys to buy into that system and be so successful?
A: A big part is belief in the system and belief in each other. You have to develop a great trust between the coaching staff and the players, and the players with each other. There's a lot of different schemes and ways to attack that have the ability to work, but they have to believe that the approach you're taking is the best for them, and I think our players really did that. Once that happens, they start having a lot of fun with it. The great thing about the Run and Shoot is that once the players get comfortable with it, it ends up being an extension of the players; it molds to be a part of them and is more their offense than the coach's offense.
 
Q: Is there an easy way to explain your coaching style when you're with the running backs?
A: When you talk about coaching, I always look at myself as an educator first. I try to use various methods of instruction and always try to be more on the positive end with my players and try to treat them with respect — at the same time being very demanding with them and having high expectations for them. I've been able to get great results that way.
 
Q: With having a running and passing game coordinator, as well as a head coach that was a former OC, and the wide receivers coach as a former OC as well, how does that bode for the type of balance fans can expect in the months to come?
A: Everyone on the coaching staff has a good feel for what their role is and respects each other. We all really enjoy working with each other and there's a lot of mutual respect. The really important thing, especially when there are co-coordinator roles, there's still one voice within the offense and one main direction that we're going.
 
Q: You've got a 1,000-yard rusher returning and lots of backs available. Being 11 practices into the spring, do you have a good gauge on where the unit is this spring?
A: There's really good depth within the unit. There's a lot that we can get better at, but there is a lot of talent and ability within the group. One of the fun things is that there are different types of players bringing different things to the offense when they're in the game – whether it's a different running style or guys that are more physical than others. That allows us to add different personnel groups with the running backs. I think they're coming along great and focusing on the fundamentals. We're starting to develop a good trust.
 
Q: Would you say that you're experience with offensive line provides some assistance for you in working with them in pass blocking?
A: I believe it does. It creates a lot more of an emphasis on the importance of it than they may have had in the past. That's one of the reasons I've always felt an offensive line coach transitions well to running backs, because it may put a different emphasis on the position. There's a lot that they can learn from offensive line experience for pre-snap recognition, blitz pick-up and then it carries over in fundamentals.

Q: What are your thoughts on the importance of not only having alumni back in the coaching staff, but also coming around the program on a daily basis?
A: I think it's great. There's a saying that you 'stand on the shoulders of those who came before you' and I think it's a great thing for our players to have some understanding of the history of the program, because there is a real tradition of success and great players. Having the older players come back and share times with the players and be supportive of them, it's great for our guys to feel that support.
 
Q: Finally, yourself, Rolo, Stutzmann and Abe [Elimimian] were all in the program. Is it an easier relationship as teammates or on a coaching staff together?
A: It's probably easier now that we're older. After a lot of years together, we're all comfortable with each other and that's made the transition really easy for all of us, in that we could get to work a lot faster because there wasn't that feeling out period. Working to put the offense together, we weren't concerned with each other's egos and were able to share ideas and be open with each other. I think we get a lot done fast because of that.
 

---

The University of Hawai'i football team goes back to work next in their final Saturday practice of the spring session, with the opening horn sounding at 11:00 a.m. on Junior Day this weekend.