HENDERSON, Nev. — After the Hawaii football team was picked fourth in the Mountain West’s six-team West Division, coach Nick Rolovich brought in a second opinion.
Rolovich introduced “Samina” to the gathering of coaches, players and reporters at the league’s Media Days at the Green Valley Resort. For the next two hours — with tarot cards, a crystal ball and bedazzling headwear — Samina helped interpret optimistic futures.
“I trust Samina much more (than the media),” Rolovich mused.
The media covering the Mountain West foretold a less rosy outcome for the Rainbow Warriors. Despite returning a league-high 18 players with starting experience, the Warriors were picked behind Fresno State, San Diego State and Nevada. For the first time in eight years of MWC membership, the Warriors received a first-place vote.
“I’m not going to mope over it,” said quarterback Cole McDonald, who was representing the Warriors at the meet-the-media event. “It’s a preseason ranking. Anything can happen. It adds fuel to the fire. We’re going to come out guns blazing and prove them wrong.”
UH rush end Kaimana Padello said: “We’ve been going through it all the years we’ve been here. It doesn’t come as a surprise. It doesn’t really matter. At the end of the day, you still have to go on the field and play.”
Last year, the Warriors were predicted to finish fifth in the West. Instead, they placed third in an 8-6 season culminating in their second Hawaii Bowl appearance in Rolovich’s three seasons as head coach.
Of the media poll, McDonald said, “Regardless if somebody tells you, ‘You haven’t earned it,’ you always have to pursue your craft and find ways to get better. That’s what I’m going to do regardless of what my ‘fortune’ is. I’ve seen the hard work of the guys. I believe in my team and Hawaii itself. A fortune teller is a fortune teller. You can change your own destiny.”
Slotback Cedric Byrd was named to the preseason All-MWC team.
Television contracts could be inked by fall
The Mountain West is hopeful of reaching favorable new agreements with CBS Sports and ESPN on television and streaming rights. Commissioner Craig Thompson said new contracts might be decided this fall. Both contracts are set to expire at the end of next June. Talks have continued with CBS Sports even though the exclusive 60-day window to negotiate has expired. The league and ESPN are in the middle of a 45-day negotiating window.
Thompson said the league is seeking an agreement shorter than the current seven-year pact. Thompson said a shorter pact would be prudent for an unpredictable television and streaming future.
The negotiations include provisions for Boise State and Hawaii. As part of an agreement to join the MWC in 2011, Boise State receives $1.8 million annually for telecasts of its home football games in addition to an equal share of the league’s television revenue. Last season’s share was $1.1 million per team, giving Boise State $2.8 million in TV money. By not sharing in the league’s pool of TV money, the Warriors get to keep the $2.3 million they receive annually from Spectrum Sports. Thompson noted that if the league’s pool swells to $2.3 million per team, it would open the possibility of UH receiving some money from the league’s TV revenue.
The television negotiations also involve discussions on kickoff times. There is concern that some of the late starts, past 8 p.m. local time, are hurting attendance.
Nevada’s Fossum plays up local connection
No wonder Nevada wideout Kaleb Fossum has bonded with the Wolf Pack’s receivers coach.
“Coach (Timmy) Chang, that’s my guy,” Fossum said of the former UH quarterback. “It’s funny. I grew up watching Coach Chang. I was a fan of his.”
Fossum’s Warriors connection began when he was a ballboy at Saddleback College, where his grandfather was the long-time equipment manager. At the time, Colt Brennan was the Gauchos’ quarterback, having transferred from Colorado. Brennan eventually would be a record-setting passer at UH.
“He always went out of his way to make sure I was good,” Fossum said of Brennan. “I looked up to him. He was the big man on campus. He was the dude. He took care of me. He took me to basketball games.”
Last season, when Nevada played in Hawaii, Brennan visited Fossum at the hotel. “We’ve stayed in touch the whole time,” Fossum said. “Cool deal.”
It was through Wolf Pack sports that Fossum met his girlfriend, Kylie Minamishin, a midfielder-forward on the Nevada soccer team. Minamishin is a Kamehameha graduate.
“I went up to (Oahu) for spring break,” he said. “She took me around. It was awesome. I fell in love with the island.”
He said Minamishin taught him the shaka — he uses it when he changes lanes — and introduced him to local music and food. “Her dad came up last week and made us some spicy ahi and brought some Portuguese sausage with him,” Fossum said. “We ate pretty good. She bought me some slippahs. She told me, ‘You’d better take off your slippahs when you come in the house.’”