Klinker finally decides
to take Kansas job

He joins longtime colleague
Terry Allen’s staff, but not before
signing a tight end

By Paul Arnett
Star-Bulletin

A six-week courtship with the University of Kansas ended yesterday with Walt Klinker officially being named the new offensive line coach for the Jayhawks.

The Star-Bulletin originally reported that Klinker was being considered by new Kansas head coach Terry Allen in early January. For several weeks, it didn't appear Klinker was in the picture, but that changed Wednesday.

"To be honest with you, I thought he was going to stay with us another year," UH head coach Fred vonAppen said yesterday afternoon. "This deal kind of came in late. We're certainly going to miss him. He's my kind of coach."

Klinker said the opportunity to coach the offensive line in the Big 12 was too much for him to resist.

"At my age, I'm not going to get that many more chances to coach at that level," Klinker said. "Terry and I coached together for many, many years at Northern Iowa.

"He's a young guy, who did an outstanding job and deserved the shot to be head coach at Kansas. I'm honored he wants me on the staff. I'm certainly going to miss coaching with Fred. He's the reason I came out here."

Before leaving, Klinker signed another recruit for the Rainbows. Cabrillo (Calif.) Junior College tight end Armondo Morlos will fax his national letter of intent today.

The architect major, who was a part of the University of New Mexico program for two years, said last night he wanted to come to Hawaii out of high school.

"But when I found out they didn't run a tight end offense, I went to New Mexico," the 6-foot-4, 245-pounder said from his Aptos, Calif., home last night.

"I left after my redshirt freshman season (1995) because they told me to choose between football and architecture. I came back to Cabrillo for one year and now I'm headed to Hawaii - where I wanted to be in the first place."

Morlos caught 34 passes for 505 yards and one touchdown last year. Because his father moved a lot as an architect, Morlos attended three high schools. The last two years were spent in Thorton, Colo., - a suburb of Denver.

"I really enjoyed my trip to Hawaii," the high school all-conference and all-state football player said. "I was a little concerned when I heard they hired a new offensive coordinator because I liked Guy Benjamin. I'm glad he'll still be there."

Morlos is the 26th player to commit to Hawaii this year. Klinker said after last year he wasn't sure if a coach could recruit to Hawaii, but has since changed his mind.

"This class is 400 percent better than the one we had last year," Klinker said. "I have a strong feeling about Coach vonAppen because he's a real football coach.

"He's trying to get done at this university what needs to be done in order to go to the next level. The last time Hawaii was successful is when they had a certain number of Prop 48 athletes.

"I'm not saying you should have a team full of dummies, but they've got to do something in the area of accepting junior college credits and allowing partial qualifiers in, or Hawaii is going to continue to struggle."

Klinker is the third coach to leave the UH program this spring. VonAppen said he will begin the search for a new assistant today.

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North Texas pulls out
of game with UH

Star-Bulletin staff

North Texas has pulled out of its Nov. 8 game against the University of Hawaii, leaving the Rainbows scrambling to find a 12th opponent for next season.

North Texas reportedly must help UH line up a game for that weekend.

Hawaii schedule

Aug. 30 Minnesota
Sept. 13 Wyoming
Sept. 20 at Nevada-Las Vegas
Oct. 4 at Colorado State
Oct. 11 Fresno State
Oct. 18 at Brigham Young
Oct. 25 San Diego State
Nov. 1 Air Force
Nov. 15 at San Jose State
Nov. 22 Northeast Louisiana
Nov. 29 Notre Dame