Extra Point
By Mike Fitzgerald
Friday, May 10, 1996
"We've got miles and miles and miles to go," said the well-traveled University of Hawaii football coach after last weekend's final spring scrimmage.
No cocky or exaggerated predictions here for the upcoming season from the head coach. He's just being honest.
That doesn't mean vonAppen is pessimistic or even frustrated - actually he is being patient, along with the rest of his staff.
And here's an optimistic note for UH fans: "I thought we threw the ball and caught it a little more crisply today," he said, "and that's a good one to end on."
Glenn Freitas and Johnny Macon are still neck-and-neck in the quarterback race.
Freitas has been more consistent so far this spring, but Macon made up some ground last Saturday both in running the new "West Coast offense" and passing.
VonAppen said it's a tie going into the summer and fall helmet-banging.
Overall, vonAppen said: "We have to face up to the realities of what our shortfalls are and not feel crestfallen. We've been honest enough to evaluate and say we're not that fast and we're not a big, physical team."
VonAppen said the coaching staff will have to rise to biblical proportions.
"What did David have to do to slew Goliath?" he said. "He had to find the method and that's what we have to do."
THE players' new and improved attitude will help, though, along with the appropriate Xs and Os.
"The attitude has been sterling," he said. "For 14 weeks now they have been getting up early in the morning, which is not something that is consistent with late-adolescent behavior."
But vonAppen added that the upbeat outlook will have to survive during the regular season, even if there are some hard-to-take losses - which might include the season opener against Boston College.
So the team is small and slow - and the starting quarterback will be running an unfamiliar offense. Then why is everyone smiling?
It's because the new coaching staff has done exactly what was needed so far. From vonAppen on down, they have instilled an air of confidence, not only among the players, but the fans as well.
Public relations, badly torn apart in the last few years, have been repaired in a short period of time. This has been done by public appearances - as time-consuming as they are - and by working with the media to get the honest picture out to the community.
This staff, despite the age and background differences, knows a lot about football. In other words, it looks like UH athletic director Hugh Yoshida made the right call among the candidates, although we won't really know for a few years. This doesn't mean that the others who sought the head coach's job wouldn't be in the same position at this point. Spring and fall football are almost two different sports.
And UH's record this fall could be anywhere from disastrous to .500, which would be a big jump. Expecting anything better would be unrealistic.
Down the line, though, I will be surprised if the team doesn't improve significantly each season.
One other talent the new staff has - especially with former NFL players Guy Benjamin and Ken Margerum, a former quarterback and receiver - is recruiting.
You can't win without good players and these guys are especially hitting the mainland hard. They have a lot of contacts and will be using them, along with the promise of a passing offense.
As vonAppen said, there is a long way to go. But at least the UH football machine has been restarted. It's going to sputter and conk out at times in the near-future.
But there's hope for Rainbow fans that it will soon be a smooth-running vehicle headed toward the top of the WAC.