UH Warriors are Undefeated!

The University of Hawai'i football team is enjoying an undefeated season and is 16th in the BCS rankings! UH is one of three teams that currently holds an undefeated record (Hawaii, Ohio State & Kansas). Most of you know I got an MA in history from UH. I arrived in Honolulu in 2000, just one season after June Jones (former head coach of the Atlanta Falcons) became the head coach of the Warriors and turned the football program around. In fact, Jones and the Warriors hold the record for the most dramatic turnaround for a college football team in NCAA football history.
Prior to Jones' arrival, the Rainbow Warriors (old helmet pictured) had lost 18 consecutive games. Jones got on the scene, changed the team name to Warriors and became the winningest head coach in UH football history. Dropping the 'Rainbow' portion of the team name was quite controversial as the Hawai'i locals have an understandable deep love and respect for the incredible natural beauty of the islands, which includes rainbows in the sky every single day. However, along with all of the wins came an acceptance of the new team identity. (Plus, all of the other UH athletic teams kept the Rainbow Warrior name, only the football team dropped it so that helped). Jones also became the highest paid public employee in the state, another short lived controversy.
I was in Hawai'i for the 2000-2002 seasons, which were very exciting. I attended many of the games, including their Christmas Day bowl game in 2002. And, I was there when the University of Alabama came to Honolulu to play UH on Thanksgiving weekend 2002. I taught a lot of the UH football players and without exception, the UH guys were thrilled with their opportunity to play such a storied SEC program and they were impressed with the strong character the Bama players demonstrated while on Warrior turf. Bama had to respect UH too, as UH & UA split the 2 game series played in Honolulu in 2002 & 2003, then Hawai'i traveled to Tuscaloosa in 2006 and threatened an opening day upset, but wound up losing 25-17. Jason and I attended that game and were part of the largest crowd (at that time) to watch a football game in the state of Alabama. 92,138 folks packed into the newly remodeled Bryant-Denny Stadium. John Parker Wilson had his first start at QB and went up against UH's Colt Brennan. Jim Nabors, who has both Hawaii and Alabama ties sang the National Anthem!
You may remember the former UH quarterback, Timmy Chang. He was at UH when I was there and became the NCAA's leader in passing yardage, (which is bound to happen if you throw the ball on every play...his interception stats are off the charts too). I always said Chang was all hype from the start. He was a local boy who got a lot of love from the fans and Jones, but he lacked the toughness and determination to go the distance. My point was proved when Chang washed out of the NFL in preseason, and is now bouncing around the Canadian Football League. It was really UH wide receiver Ashley Lelie (lay-LEE) who made Chang look good. Lelie went on to be a first round draft pick for the Denver Broncos and is now with the San Francisco 49ers.
June Jones loves a pass heavy offense, most notably demonstrated by Chang. Their current QB, Colt Brennan, has a good arm as well. Brennan is a Heisman Trophy candidate and holds 20 NCAA records and threw 58 TD passes during the 2006 season.
Hawai'i is part of the Western Athletic Conference and plays Fresno State this Saturday at Aloha Stadium. The game will be televised on ESPN2, but if you want to watch it you'll have to stay up for a 10:00PM CST kickoff.
GO WARRIORS!!!