The Rainbows were 95th of 108 Division I teams in rushing defense, giving up 218 yards a game. They were 74th in pass defense with a 128.64 rating and No. 90 in total defense, yielding a staggering 431.6 yards a game.
The Rainbows were 95th of 108 Division I teams in rushing defense, giving up 218 yards a game. They were 74th in pass defense with a 128.64 rating and No. 90 in total defense, yielding a staggering 431.6 yards a game.
If that's not enough to have the 50-something coach walking the floors late at night, then the fact Hawaii gave up 33.4 points a game to finish No. 92 nationally certainly will.
At yesterday's first spring practice of 1996, Lindsey flew around Cooke Field numerous times to let a player know when he was doing something wrong or right.
He might not be able to work wonders with the talent involved, but the veteran assistant promises a new attitude will be in place.
"I don't think there is a human being in the world who can't change his attitude," Lindsey said. "That's our first and foremost objective this spring, to change our attitude.
"That's a constant day-to-day thing and that's what I talked about before practice today.
"You can't improve your skills tremendously to make a big difference. You do that with
recruiting. You can develop better skills, which is what we're doing and was a part of the off-season program.
"But it will take time."
Time is not exactly on Lindsey's side but, in just a few months, he has changed a team down on itself to one that believes.
Just ask fifth-year senior Doe Henderson. Not only is he glad to be back at cornerback, but he also is having a good time.
"Football is fun again, like it was in high school," Henderson said. "You heard how it was out here today. Everybody is a lot more enthusiastic.
"They brought the fun back to football. For a while, I wasn't enjoying myself. But I'm back, physically healthy and ready to play football again. I've already learned so much from Coach Lindsey. He has some really good defensive insights that have helped me improve my game."
Lindsey also will spend a lot of time working on defensive schemes and techniques.
Because the Rainbows are so thin up front defensively, it's possible the move to a pure 4-3 might be put on hold.
Regardless of what formation Hawaii lines up in, Lindsey believes the Rainbows can be more effective. Getting everybody in the proper place over the next three weeks will be the real challenge.
"We have to get everybody in the best positions we can," Lindsey said.
"Defense isn't any different than offense. You have to have talent, whether you play a 3-4 or a 4-3 or a zone or a man.
"I've never found a secret formula to success and I've been with guys like Bear Bryant, Frank Broyles, John McKay, John Robinson and Lou Holtz.
"Those guys are considered the best and none of them had any angel dust or magic wands. We have to place our personnel properly and then go from there, whether it's a 4-3 or a 3-4. It doesn't matter."
Injury update: The Rainbows entered spring football in fairly good health, although defensive
lineman Ben Bright was slowed with an ankle sprain during yesterday's workout.
Punter Chad Shrout also injured his knee and will be slowed for a couple of weeks. Place-kicker Carlton Oswalt injured his back lifting weights.
Other players nursing injuries are offensive lineman Michael Petersen (two bad shoulders), safety Niko Vitale (knee), safety Gary Ellison (shoulder), safety Tad Yamashita (shoulder), linebacker Mark Jenkins (knee), defensive lineman Jerry Leaeno and linebacker Branch Nautu (ankle).
Spring will be busy: Unlike the past regime that spread the 15 spring practice dates over an entire month, UH head coach Fred vonAppen has crammed them into three weeks.
This week, Hawaii will practice Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday at Cooke Field.
The following two weeks, the team will have Wednesday and Sunday off. There will be no spring game.
"Of those 15 dates, only 10 can be in full pads," vonAppen said. "I haven't decided yet how we will make that work."