PROVO, Utah >> There won't be any mixed feelings for Kurt Gouveia until after tomorrow's Hawaii-Brigham Young football game is over. No mixed feelings for Gouveia
By Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.comGouveia was a star linebacker for BYU and a member of the Cougars' 1984 national championship team.
He went on to a long NFL career that ended with the San Diego Chargers, where he got to know Hawaii coach June Jones. Gouveia, who is working toward completion of a bachelor's degree at UH, is now a student assistant for the Warriors.
"I'm all about being a UH Warrior now, being a part of this program," said Gouveia, who wanted to go to UH out of Waianae High School but was not offered a scholarship. "I don't feel any conflict, I have a good feeling about UH. We're out here to win."
Gouveia said he would have liked to have helped out in some capacity at BYU, but "there was never an invitation."
He said he isn't bitter about that.
"I owe a lot of what I am today to BYU," Gouveia said. "I'm sure that after the game's over, I'm going to look around and say, 'Wow, I went to this school.' "
Coincidentally, Gouveia was assigned a seat next to Kevin Velasco on UH's charter flight to Salt Lake City. Velasco, customer service manager for Aloha Airlines, played defensive back for BYU in 1975-76.
Special stuff: In addition to starting at cornerback, BYU junior Chad Barney will be a gunner on the Cougars' punt coverage.
Barney and BYU coach Gary Crowton said the Cougars have worked hard to prevent a coverage breakdown like last year, when UH's Chad Owens returned a kickoff and a punt for touchdowns.
"We need to execute what coach (Paul) Tidwell has taught us," Barney said. "Special teams win games."
Tidwell was named special teams coordinator in the offseason.
My old school: UH junior safety Hyrum Peters said the feeling was "weird" as he practiced at the Mountain View High School field he knew very well as a high school sophomore several years ago.
An old coach stopped by to say hello to Peters, and his parents attended practice, as did relatives of several other Warriors.
Short yardage: Several UH players are making their first road trip, including cornerback Kenny Patton and defensive tackle Abu Ma'afala, who are true freshmen. ... Inside receiver Nate Ilaoa worked out his nagging hamstring muscle last night instead of practicing. He will likely play tomorrow, sharing time again with Clifton Herbert. ... Some forecasts call for rain during tomorrow's game. ... Duff Tittle, BYU associate AD for external affairs, said about 5,000 tickets were left yesterday. A sellout is quite possible, he said.
UH Athletics