By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Tom Williams is the top recruiter of new players
on the rejuvenated Rainbow football team.
When it comes to landing the big catch,
By Paul Arnett
Tom Williams is UH's main man
Star-BulletinTom Williams' recruiting area stretches from here to Mississippi and many points in between. If you don't find the University of Hawaii assistant coach roaming around the Bay Area, he's wandering the farm roads of Texas looking for some future All-American riding on his tractor.
The Stanford University graduate has spent the last two years recruiting more men than Uncle Sam, for a Rainbows football program in desperate need of some solid soldiers.
Off the top of his head, Williams can't remember how many of the 25 players in last year's recruiting class he convinced to sign on the dotted line. But if the 27-year-old thinks about it, he reels off a dozen names, including Charles Tharp, Miles Garner, Jauron Pigg, John Kirby and Matt Elam.
"He's one of the best young coaches around," UH head coach Fred vonAppen said. "And he busted his butt last spring to sign some of the best talent in this class. We're lucky to have him on our side of the field. Not only does he have a good football mind, he works well with players and their families. He doesn't try to sell something he doesn't believe in."
That's one reason Williams landed the biggest catch of the 1997 recruiting class. Granted, Tharp wasn't exactly turning away coaches from his door in droves, but it was Williams' honesty that convinced Tharp.
"He was straight up about everything from the first day," Tharp said. "If I asked him a question, he answered it, whether it was good or bad. I appreciated that.
"I wanted to go someplace where I could make a difference. He told me what the situation was here, and that's exactly how it's been."
One of Williams' recruiting techniques is remembering how he felt when an assistant coach was in his home during his days at Trinity Valley College Preparatory School in Fort Worth, Texas.
"I draw a lot on my own personal experience," Williams said. "Certain recruiters I felt were more up-front than others. I always appreciated the honesty.
"I believe that's part of being a good recruiter. You have to establish a good relationship with the kid and that he can trust you that what you're telling him is the truth. There's a lot of bull out there in recruiting. For an 18-year-old and a junior college kid, it's hard to figure out what's real and what's not."
Williams doesn't have that kind of ambiguity in his life. He knows exactly where he's going and what players can help get the Rainbows program to where they need to be.
If families don't want their children to be too far from home, then Hawaii is not for them. Williams lays out what the Rainbows need to be a better football team, and if a player doesn't fall into that picture, he need not apply.
Sometimes, getting athletes in to the university academic-wise is an even more difficult battle, especially the junior college players. This is an area Williams believes Hawaii is at an extreme disadvantage, compared to their California counterparts.
"We need some help in this area from the administration," Wil-liams said. "They're trying to make this place the Harvard of the Pacific. And that's great.
"But they should at least make the admission requirements comparable to the University of California system because that's our closest neighbor.
"Right now, a junior college guy has a harder time getting into here than Cal-Berkeley. They can take a football class and it counts there, but not here. So that hurts."
Williams is not an advocate of proposition athletes. He has said he believes Hawaii can attract high school students with good enough grades.
"I think we can get along with the Charles Tharps and the Miles Garners just fine," Williams said. "But they definitely need to overhaul the transfer system.
"Let's be honest; it all starts with recruiting. If you can't get a high-quality athlete, then you can't compete. I believe we're moving in the right direction, but it's not enough. You always need to do more in order to stay ahead."
The Williams recruits
Matt Elam
Notebook
UH Rainbow Warrior
Football Schedule
