HONOLULU – The University of Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors football team returned to action in its second week of spring practices on Tuesday morning at Cooke Practice Field, again donning full pads in the program's fourth practice of the session.

There was no dip in the intensity from week one, as the players and coaches fought through the early-morning heat without the relief of the trade winds for yet another day.

Right in the middle of it all, grooming the next corps of UH signal callers, with the support of first-year head coach Nick Rolovich, is Craig Stutzmann, the newest member of the UH coaching staff, making the most of his third round at UH and second in a coaching role.

The final piece of the pre-spring coaching puzzle, Stutzmann is in his first season as the Rainbow Warriors' passing game coordinator. A former three-year slotback starter with Rolovich as his quarterback, Stutzmann left UH ranked fifth on the all-time receiving lists (2,025 yards).

After graduation from UH, the Honolulu-born Saint Louis School graduate began coaching at the high school level before joining the UH staff as a graduate assistant, first crossing paths again with Rolovich who was quarterbacks coach at the time. Moving on to mainland coaching, Stutzmann worked through four schools with varying offensive philosophies before implementing his own—termed the "Spread and Shred"—during two seasons as offensive coordinator at Emory and Henry in the mountains of Emory, Virginia.

Stutzmann's offense provided an immediate boost for the Wasps, generating averages of over 450 yards of offense and 32.7 points in both seasons before a staff opening again reunited Stutzmann with former offensive teammates Rolovich and running game coordinator Brian Smith.

Returning home after eight years coaching on the mainland with continual success, Stutzmann took a few minutes to help UH Media Relations reacquaint Hawaii fans with the former Warrior and newest addition to the staff.

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: I don't think words can express how happy I am. It's just that humbling honor to come back and work here with a guy that I got to play with. There's a high level of comfort working with him, knowing him as a player and having GA'd when he was quarterbacks coach here. Having the opportunity to also work with Brian [Smith] who I got to play with and also got to coach with has also been great. Being able to bounce ideas off of each other is extremely beneficial. It's awesome to be back, and doing it back home in Hawai'i, you can't ask for a better situation.

Q: You're one of the few members of the staff that was able to make the move with your family right away, how has that affected the transition and helped you get to work?
A: Typically it can be harder when your family moves with you because you have to do a lot of things in terms of finding a place to live, getting cable installed and things like that; all the logistics of moving. The unique situation is that this is home, and having both of our families present in our lives and helping with the transition of moving back has made it very easy, a seamless transition. It makes it easier for me to go to work because I don't have to worry about my wife parenting without me thousands of miles away, trying to figure things out and do everything on her own. The other thing that's really cool is that I get to go out to practices and see my wife and my son out there with my dad and mom and my grandpa. That's something we haven't had since 10 years ago and that's pretty special.

Q: You have a young son, will he miss the Virginia mountains, or is he already starting to get comfortable?
A: He's six and I think he still misses his friends. He'll still get a little homesick for Virginia, but it goes away pretty quickly. When he was first born, he was here and I was coaching on the mainland. My in-laws and my parents had a huge role in helping out my wife, so there's a lot of familiarity in that too. He's enjoying the school that he goes to, the same one that my brother and I went to, and it's a natural fit for him to be back in Hawai'i. We just went to China Walls and went swimming the other day, he just loves the open ocean, so I guess it was just in his DNA to come back to Hawai'i and have fun.

Q: Coming out of Saint Louis School, you grew up dreaming of being a Warrior, what are your thoughts on having the opportunity to fulfill that same dream for another group of local athletes?
A: Because I grew up right out the back gate on Varsity Circle, I used to come and watch practices every day since I was like seven years old—watching UH baseball, volleyball, I watched all the sports. Having the opportunity to come here and play was amazing, and now to come back and coach, it's a privilege to be in this position. It's good to have a few coaches at the University of Hawaii that were born and raised here, because you have relationships with the high school coaches here, whether you trained with them, coached against them, coached with them or played with them. It's easier to talk to local families about the benefits of staying home and playing here.

Q: One of your quarterbacks said last week that it was great to have you and Rolo out there because you played in the same type of system and your teaching is based in the fact that you 'see what they see', how have you seen the benefits in that?
A: Having played in a system like this and having been around a lot of good quarterbacks from high school to college, it's been easier for me to continue to coach quarterbacks. But having a guy like Rolo in the room and on the football field with us, it's really helping me as a football coach and helping our players, and it's a way for me to continue my growth as well.

Q: Across your different coaching stops, what types of offensive schemes have you been exposed to?
A: I've been a part of one-back offenses, pro-style, up-tempo spread; all types of different offenses, aside from triple option. The good thing about the Run and Shoot, where I started, that a lot of people may not realize is, how adjusting routes and reading coverages from back when Mouse Davis and June Jones were doing it, it has now influenced a lot of different passing games and different formations and styles of offense. Going through a lot of different places and having experiences with different offenses, you really get a chance to see what you like and what you don't, and take a few ideas from different places.

Q: When you were at Emory and Henry as offensive coordinator, they called your offense the 'Spread and Shred', who do we have to thank for that moniker?
A: Allen Gregory, who's a writer out there at the Bristol Herald Courier.

Q: When you were at U&H, you saw immediate success with your offense, what would you say were the core reasons for the rapid improvement?
A: A lot of it was just changing the culture and the mentality, making it fun for the players and giving them not so much rules, but guidelines for getting open. We gave the quarterbacks flexibility to use their eyes and influence defenses. The players bought into the system that we were in. We had a lot of fun doing it and we built a lot of trust in one another. It doesn't matter if you run the triple option, pro-style or the Run and Shoot, if you can get the kids to buy in and understand what their role is, you're going to have a chance to be successful.

Q: When coach Rolovich was hired, he used key phrases like "Pride Rock" and "Live Aloha, Play Warrior", which have resonated well with fans, alumni and people on O'ahu, what is your take on why people identify with that?
A: The "Live Aloha, Play Warrior" statement exemplifies every child, whether it's a boy or a girl, in the state of Hawai'i. Growing up, you're going to play your heart out and a lot of local kids play with such passion. You can drive to any part of the island and you see kids outside running around, whether it's at the beach or the playground, playing chase master, football or basketball. With our weather, it allows our kids to be out there all the time, and I think that 'play warrior' and the physical mentality comes from our culture. 'Live aloha' resonates because that's what we are; Hawai'i and Polynesians just have that aloha spirit and it carries well beyond the shores of Hawai'i. It's very welcoming, very respectful and very loving. It doesn't matter if you're from Wai'anae or Kaua'i, Big Island or Honolulu; it doesn't matter where you're from, people from Hawai'i play hard and they live with love and aloha.

Q: Yourself included, a lot of alumni are starting to come back around the program, whether it be at practice or events, how do you think that will impact team's culture for the current group of players?
A: I don't care where you are in the United States, support is a huge thing for your athletic program, especially for Hawai'i because we're on an island and there's no professional sports team. The athletes who have come and played before us, they've been on the news, they've been in papers, you grew up idolizing these guys, and I think when some of these players come back to watch practice, you just kind of pick up your game naturally because you don't want to let those guys down. What Nick has done in terms of bringing these guys back; you look at Saturday's practice and the event that he did before the start of spring ball with over 100 alumni, it just shows the players that you're playing for more than just yourself, you're playing for the alumni and the state of Hawai'i. No matter what happens, they have your back, and I think you make sure the doors are open, then you don't have 100 guys on the sideline during a game, you have thousands of people in the stands supporting these guys, and that's the most important thing.

Q: Your post-touchdown punt and wall leap in your final game at UH has become a part of program lore. Even though that historic celebration earned an ejection, any regrets in that moment of excitement?
A: Not at all. I'd do it 100 times over, especially against BYU.

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The Rainbow Warriors return to action on Thursday with a 7:00 a.m. practice at Cooke Practice Field.