The Way Rolo Rolls

The great Albert Einstein once said,

“Creativity is intelligence having fun.”

Then Nick Rolovich is a very smart man. From the day he took over as the University of Hawaii’s head football coach he changed the culture of the program. From winning only ten games in four seasons under coach Norm Chow, he led the Rainbow Warriors to a 7-7 record, the school’s first non-losing season since 2010.  The team also had it’s first bowl appearance in six years, beating Middle Tennessee State 52-35, in the 2016 Hawaii Bowl.  Winning is fun, you don’t need to be a genius to know that, and coach Rolo has already proven that he has the football I.Q. to do so, but it may be his creativity off the field that makes him a modern-day Einstein.

“I think it’s important to have fun in life, no matter what you do,” said Rolovich.  And the man walks the talk.  Where else will you find a coach that will…

Dress in a tuxedo to coach the spring game…

Sell newspapers to support Keiki Day in this…

Hire Elvis to follow him around during the Mountain West Media Days in Las Vegas…

Elvis was in the building with #HawaiiFB at #MWFB Media Summit coming in at #2 on #SCTop10 pic.twitter.com/J6H04dzzhB

— Hawaii Football (@HawaiiFootball) July 26, 2017

Awesome sauce.  And to think Rolo’s initial plan was to rent a monkey to keep on his shoulder all day.

Now with the reputation of being one of the most entertaining FBS coaches to follow, Rolo also proves it on Twitter with this great top 10 pieces of advice addressed to local recruits leaving the 808 State to play football.

To energize a fanbase that has become so accustomed to losing, you have to think out of the box.  These unconventional coaching methods and of course winning games is definitely creating a buzz around the football program once again.

Now what about the players?  Rolo said that on the first day he addressed the team, he could see defeat in their eyes.  Five consecutive losing seasons made football no longer fun, but that would soon change.  The first spring camp under the new regime had just opened and on April 1, coach Rolo, along with the rest of the coaching staff, decided to celebrate April Fool’s Day by pranking the team and having a massive water balloon fight.  “It took a lot of planning,” said Rolovich.

How’s offensive line coach Chris Naole’s hill jump at the end!  Cheeee!  Makani Kema-Kaleiwahea says it all, “It just sucks that I won’t be here next year.  Man, this is the type of stuff I’m going to miss right here.”

Another incident that went viral was when Rolo challenged three players to field punts.  Two of three had to be caught in order to skip conditioning for the day.  Check out the wild celebration after offensive lineman Dejon Allen comes through in the clutch.

There was also Knockerball!

Last but definitely not least, Rolo’s surprise scholarship reveals are nothing short of award winning.  From a koala bear handing one to running back Ryan Tuiasoa while the team was in Australia, to linebacker Max Broman receiving one under hypnosis, watching the player’s reactions and all their brothers celebrate with them are true “chicken skin” moments.  These are my top three favorites:

#3 – long-snapper Brodie Nakama gets challenged to jump off the 10-meter platform during the most epic pool party.

#2 – K-Pop band Fantastie shows up to practice to defensive lineman Zeno Choi’s disbelief.

#1 – The WWE and the company’s longest reigning tag team champions, The New Day, makes QB Hunter Hughes dance for his.

The POWER of POSITIVITY was felt all over #WWEHonolulu as #TheNewDay, @NickRolovich & @hawaiifootball granted one lucky fan a scholarship! pic.twitter.com/0uH3aad9lQ

— WWE (@WWE) September 14, 2017

Hall of Fame QB Joe Namath once said,

“When you have confidence, you can have a lot of fun. And when you have fun, you can do amazing things.”

It looks like Nick Rolovich is a confident man too. And I know there are many amazing things to come on and most definitely off the field.

#ourcoachisbetterthanyours

#defendpriderock #livealoha #playwarrior