One day stressing community outreach in his introductory news conference, Nick Rolovich retained two assistants with ties to Hawaii.
One day stressing community outreach in his introductory news conference, Nick Rolovich retained two assistants with ties to Hawaii.
Chris Naeole will return as Hawaii’s offensive line coach under Rolovich, who also will keep secondary coach Abe Elimimian.
“I’m excited to have Chris and Abe on the team,” Rolovich said in a university release. “On film, I’ve seen Chris develop the offensive line these past few years and I’ve seen improvement. Abe, I know, has passion for this University and this football program and his work ethic is all things we want in our staff as we move forward.”
Naeole, a native of Kahuku, Oahu, served as the Rainbow Warriors’ interim coach and went 0-4 after Norm Chow was fired Nov. 1. Elimimian is a former all-conference cornerback at UH from 2001-04.
Lone star
Despite playing for a team that went winless in the Mountain West, junior defensive end Kennedy Tulimasealii didn’t escape notice, earning first-team all-conference honors.
The Waianae (Oahu) graduate, the only Rainbow Warrior to make the first or second team, led the league in tackles for loss with total of 18.5, a total that was good enough for 16th in the nation. Tulimasealii was third among league lineman with 63 tackles.
A pair of Naeole’s pupils on the offensive line, senior Ben Clarke and sophomore Dejon Allen were among the five Hawaii players to make honorable mention. Senior linebacker and team-leading tackler Julian Grener, sophomore cornerback Nick Nelson and junior punter Rigoberto Sanchez also made the list.
San Diego (9-3), which will play at Air Force on Saturday in the Mountain West championship game, dominated the all-league honors. Junior running back Donnel Pumphrey was selected as Offensive Player of the Year, junior defensive back Demontae Kazee was voted the league’s top defender, Rocky Long took home Coach of the Year sophomore returner was tabbed as the top specialist.
Boise State quarterback Brett Rypien was honored as the Freshman of the Year.
UH back on court
Hawaii’s men’s basketball team will look to get back in the win column when it hosts Arkansas Pine-Bluff at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Stan Sheriff Center. The game will be broadcast on OCSports.
The Rainbow Warriors (4-1) have won all three meetings against the Golden Lions (2-5) since 2010.
Aaron Valdes, a junior guard, scored 28 points last season in a 28-point victory against Arkansas Pine-Bluff. Valdes is averaging a team-best 18.8 points this season, though his 25 on Saturday weren’t enough in a loss last Saturday at Texas Tech.