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Thursday, September 7, 2000
Darkness engulfed them that Saturday night in November 1998.The Wolverines of Michigan came to town and promptly tore out the heart of the University of Hawaii football team. The 48-17 drubbing ended a miserable 0-12 season, punctuated by an 18-game losing streak that dated back to October 1997.
The end of the Fred vonAppen era was at hand. He said as much as he and his wife left Aloha Stadium together, exit Honolulu International Airport."Whoever gets this job, I wish them the best of luck,'' vonAppen said, symbolic bag in hand. "Because pal, I just didn't get it done.''
Bye-bye vonAppen.
Hello Professor J.
Welcome to the wonderful world of color. Yeah right. As in somewhere over the Rainbows, way down low.
If the negativity that polarized the island chain bothered June Jones, this believer in Hawaii, he never showed it. He went to every gig in town promising the stars, to heck with the moon. Aim high and you hit your target. Aim low and you hit the ground. Hard.Granted, that 62-7 shellacking to the mighty Trojans of Southern California to open the 1999 season left everyone a bit shaken. Dropping 19 in a row will do that to you. As in so long to Division I football. Hate to see you go.
But it didn't bother Professor J. He'd seen only one defeat.
He told everyone in the locker room to hold their heads up. Next week, it would be different. He still believed in his preseason prediction of Western Athletic Conference title and bowl bid.
Yeah OK, Professor J, whatever you say. Win seven of your next 11 and you're in.
That's exactly what he did. With a quarterback whose arm, at season's end, hung on by a little muscle, and an offensive line that knew six assistant coaches in five seasons, Professor J led Hawaii to a No. 3 national ranking in passing.
Somewhere on that long road to recovery, the Rainbows saw the way to a 9-4 season that ended with a victory over Oregon State in the Oahu Bowl.
Professor J got the community believing in itself again, and in this rag-tag team, once the laughing stock of the NCAA.
Now, Professor J must rebuild. Refine. With this retooling, he has had to reinvent his team. Gone is the once familar rainbow. Gone are the cast of Robinson and Carter and Ulbrich.
He now gives us ...
