By now, the story has been told often of how a University of Hawaii football team that could not win a game in 1998 came back with a new head coach, June Jones, to win eight games this season, tying a 50-year-old NCAA record for greatest one-season improvement, claiming a share of the Western Athletic Conference title and earning a berth in the Oahu Bowl on Christmas Day. Gov. Ben Cayetano dedicated a week to honoring the team. UH President Kenneth Mortimer likened the turnaround to the scientific achievement of cloning of mice, and Isle business leaders tried to find a correlation between the Rainbow Warriors’ success and a slight upturn in Hawaii’s economy.
But to appreciate this “wonder year,” it is helpful to return to three points in history: To December 1995, when Bob Wagner choked back tears during a news conference to announce his firing as head coach; to September 1996, when Wagner’s successor, Fred vonAppen, and athletic director Hugh Yoshida escalated a private disagreement into a 32-month public war of words; to November 1996, when it was disclosed that there was a chasm between several Mainland and local players.
“That definitely was apparent and a problem,” said linebacker Chris Garnier, who is from California, of tensions at the time between teammates. “I don’t even know where that came from. I would say, when you’re losing, people find excuses for anything.”
Running back Avion Weaver, who was raised in Sacramento, Calif., said, “I don’t think they had a dream back then. That was their downfall. They were too segregated. You can’t win like that.”
But for University of Hawaii freshman football player Neal Gossett, who has a white-knuckle fear of heights, jumping from the Duke Kahanamoku Pool’s 5-meter platform might as well have been a leap off the Napali.
It was more petrifying when an exasperated University of Hawaii football team waited 10 minutes for Gossett to jump, with one teammate yelling for the number of the fire department’s rescue squad and another questioning Gossett’s testosterone count.
Jump from the 5-meter platform? Didn’t nearly every UH football player do that as part of a male-bonding exercise on this August afternoon? Could that be any tougher than safety Daniel Ho-Ching battling life-threatening lymphoma? Or running back Afatia Thompson branding the letter “E” onto his left bicep in memory of his late brother? Or middle linebacker Jeff Ulbrich trying to play on two surgically repaired knees?
But it was, and all Gossett knew was that his torment would end if only he could jump off that damn platform.
If only.
Some players became mutinous, questioning the direction of a program that would be under its third head coach in three years.
“There was some skepticism,” UH quarterback Dan Robinson said. “A lot of players invested a lot into this system. They were worried about what was going to happen. They didn’t want another 0-12 season. We didn’t want that for us. We didn’t want that for the state.”
The players formed a committee to meet with Yoshida and demand input into hiring the next coach.
Yoshida agreed to the request, and the committee, which included Garnier, Robinson, wide receiver Dwight Carter and offensive lineman Andy Phillips, met with all of the finalists except Jones, who, at the time, was interim head coach of the San Diego Chargers. Jones’ meeting with the UH selection committee was in San Diego.
When it became apparent that Jones was the front-runner, the players were split. Some were unabashedly enthusiastic about Jones. Others, Carter said, “were like, ‘I don’t know who he is. What would he bring to the team?’ ”
Soon after accepting the job last December, Jones met with the players, offering this message: Trust my system, trust me.
“Your first impression is, ‘Here’s somebody who believes in himself, so therefore I’m going to believe in him.’ ” Robinson said.
There were doubts. The players had heard enough empty promises since 1992, UH’s last winning season. Defensive tackle Tony Tuioti, originally signed by Wagner in 1995, said the sport was joyless in vonAppen’s final season. “It was like a job,” Tuioti has said.
But Jones appeared undaunted in the role of stepcoach.
“I knew that my strength is people skills and, in time, they would trust me,” Jones said. “It wasn’t going to happen overnight.”
The first test was in March, when Jones suspended Charles Tharp, the team’s leading rusher the previous two seasons, for spring practice after he broke an athletic department rule. The non-academic violation carries an automatic 30-day suspension.
Later, Tharp told Jones he wanted to transfer to another school. Tharp was moderately popular among teammates and considered a leader by some, but his defection was not disruptive.
“The Charles Tharp thing could have been worse,” said Weaver, Tharp’s roommate on road trips. “Charles was a good asset. But what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Charles’ leaving made us stronger. I believe hiring Coach Jones made us stronger.”
The players focused on learning Jones’ run-and-shoot offense, a pass-oriented scheme he co-developed as a player and coach in college and the pros.
“It’s harder than calculus,” said Robinson, a pre-med major who earned the starting quarterback job during spring practice. “You can do calculus on your own. With this offense, you have to rely on 10 other guys.”
As the complicated run-and-shoot began to succeed in practices, Jones won over detractors.
“It started clicking, then we started believing,” said Carter, who emerged as the team’s best wide receiver.
But Jones believed there was more to a team than good schemes.
“You need chemistry and ‘putting the other guy ahead,’ ” he said.
Entering the three-week training camp in August, “we weren’t all together yet,” Jones said.
In one of the first practices, Jones made each player introduce himself to the rest of the team, much like the greeting session before a church service. He discouraged cliques and banned freshman hazing. Jones also paired seniors and freshmen as roommates.
In previous years, Garnier said, “We never stopped and had conversations with other players outside of our cliques. Now, we all know each other. I know if I were to get into a fight somewhere, I know big Lui Fuga would back me up, and I don’t really hang out with Lui that much. But I know big Lui will be there, and vice versa. That’s the way it is. If you want to win, you have to be friends and brothers off the field.”
Jones set up several exercises to promote unity. Once after a Sunday afternoon practice, he held a “water day” at UH’s Duke Kahanamoku Pool. There were races and horseback fights. Then most of the players decided to take turns jumping off the 5-meter platform, a game that led to Neal Gossett’s dilemma.
But the Monday after the Rainbow Warriors defeated Fresno State to clinch a share of the WAC title, he made the jump. “I made a promise I would do it,” he said.
Weaver said “That’s symbolic of this year.”
Carter said Gossett overcoming his fear “showed he had heart. ... That’s what this season was about. Meeting challenges and showing heart.”