Timmy Chang: Keeping the Faith

HONOLULU — A brilliant sunrise over Diamond Head served as the backdrop for Monday’s Sheraton Hawai‘i Bowl press conference. Waves lapping onto the sand fronting the famed Royal Hawaiian Hotel provided the soundtrack.

As tourists staked out places on the beach beyond the hotel’s Ocean Lawn, Timmy Chang and Nick Rolovich took neighboring seats on the dais outside the Monarch Room. 

The scene was striking in both its serenity and symmetry. 

Some 25 years after sharing the quarterback room in the University of Hawai‘i’s football offices, the former Rainbow Warrior teammates were again shoulder to shoulder, this time addressing the media while representing the opposing sides in a Hawai‘i Bowl brimming with storylines.  

Both captivated the state while racking up record-breaking numbers in the Warriors’ run-and-shoot offense in their playing days. Both followed winding paths in their coaching careers to eventually return to Manoa to lead the UH program. 

Their respective journeys converge again on Christmas Eve at the Clarence T.C. Ching Complex where Chang will lead the Warriors into the Hawai‘i Bowl matchup against Cal with Rolovich on the opposite sideline serving as the Golden Bears’ interim head coach.

 “There are so many things I learned from Rolo and we went from being roommates on the road and being friends to where we are today in our careers,” Chang said in the press conference. “It’s truly humbling.”

Chang’s association with the Hawai‘i Bowl dates back to the inaugural game in 2002 and he’ll make his postseason debut as a head coach this week, which marks his fifth appearance overall in the event. 

“I told (the current Warriors), ‘you’ll remember this week the rest of your life,’” said Chang, who was named this season’s American Football Coaches Association’s Region 5 Coach of the Year. “So any time we get the opportunity to play in this game we’re going to take the opportunity and enjoy it because it is one of the best bowl experiences.”

While a full reflection on a breakthrough season will have to wait until the clock hits :00 on Wednesday, UH’s return to bowl season marks a significant step in Chang’s coaching tenure and speaks to a devotion to process and perseverance that has permeated the program.

Trusting the Process

Upon his hiring in January 2022 as the 25th head coach in UH history, Chang took over a roster depleted by the transfer portal and a locker room that certainly seen brighter times. After a 3-10 showing in his first season, the Warriors posted five wins the next two years. Along the way, the coaching staff restocked the talent base and reset the culture of the program.

Over that span, Chang saw the Warriors display “the willingness to really stick it out, go through the process of tough times to where we are today.” 

“Not only I learned, but they learned how to go through it, how to deal with it, how to keep pushing forward.”

Year 4 began with Chang’s first victory over a Power Four conference opponent when Kansei Matsuzawa connected on a walk-off field goal in UH’s Week 0 win over Stanford. An offense led by freshman quarterback Micah Alejado and a big-play defense kept UH in Mountain West title contention deep into the season and a win at Colorado State on Oct. 18 secured bowl eligibility for the Warriors.

The Warriors will bookend the season against Cal — the Atlantic Coast Conference’s other Bay Area member along with Stanford — in UH’s first bowl appearance since 2020. UH’s four-year ascent under Chang lines up with the playing careers of a senior class that endured the growing pains over the previous three seasons to power the Warriors back to bowl season.

“Failure is the ultimate teacher,” Chang said, “and there’s two ways you can learn from failure. You can continue failing or you can change and adapt and finds ways and dig in deeper and that’s what you see with Zhen (Sotelo), and what what you see with Jalen Smith and Virdell (Edwards), and Tariq (Jones), and Jackie Johnson. 

“You can shy away from it, or you can get deeper into it and the understanding of how do we want to be better, what are we going to do to be better, and that’s what they did. They took the opportunity, them and their teammates, just to come every day to work and get better every day.”

Timmy and Rolo

The Hawai‘i Bowl also serves as a reunion for Chang and Rolovich, who arrived on the Manoa campus ahead of the 2000 season — Chang as a heralded freshman out of nearby Saint Louis School and Rolovich as a transfer from City College of San Francisco. 

Rolovich earned the starting job for the 2000 season opener, but Chang assumed command of the offense at midseason. Their roles flipped in 2001, when Chang entered his sophomore on the top line of depth chart before an injury pushed Rolovich back the forefront. Rolovich converted the opportunity at redemption into one of the greatest seasons in program history, culminating with a record-setting performance in UH’s win over Brigham Young in the season finale that would fuel the Hawai‘i Bowl’s creation in 2002. 

“When we got here in 2000, we had a really packed (quarterback) room so it was full of competition in that room,” Chang recalled. “But we ended up building a close bond. I got to learn so much from (Rolovich) just watching him go through everything that a college student-athlete gets to go through; the ups, the downs.”

Chang reclaimed the job in ’02 and went on to break the NCAA’s career passing yardage record while setting school records for career starts (50) and victories (29). Along the way, he played in the first three Hawai‘i Bowls and remains the only player to earn two MVP awards. In all, he passed for 1,004 and nine touchdowns in his three Hawai‘i Bowl appearances.

“On Wednesday we will play in the same spot on this island where I first remember throwing with Timmy when he came in as a freshman,” Rolovich said, referring to the practice field where the Ching Complex now stands. “On the old Cooke Field, on the old turf right in front of the offices with all the boys.

“Timmy’s had a grind, I’ve had a grind to get to this point and it’s hard to believe that it’s happening but it is very special for me and him and all the boys who played at UH together.”

Building on the Foundation

Chang began his coaching career as a graduate assistant as SMU under former UH coach June Jones and his first year included a trip home for the Mustangs’ appearance in the 2012 Hawai‘i Bowl. 

During Rolovich’s four-year tenure as UH’s head coach (2016-19), Chang continued to work his way through the coaching ranks at Emory & Henry College and in four years at Nevada before taking the reins at UH in 2022.

Along with Chang and Rolovich, the coaching connections in the Hawai‘i Bowl include four more former UH players on the Warriors coaching staff — Chris Brown (associate head coach/linebackers), Derek Faavi (offensive line), Chad Kapanui (quarterbacks) and Jordan Pu‘u-Robinson (defensive ends). 

Their shared history in the program no doubt adds depth to the meaning of the Hawai‘i Bowl appearance and heightens the appreciation for the opportunity that awaits on Christmas Eve and beyond. 

“It’s a process and I’m grateful that the process is taking steps forward for us to do this and make it happen,” Chang said. “I am really appreciative to the coaches, to our athletic department, and especially to our players for believing in it, and buying into it, and being able to go out there and execute it and be in position to be 8-4 and be at home to play our final game.”

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