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Full-Court Press
GETTING ready for my 11th University of Hawaii fall football camp left me feeling a little old, that is until Bill Kwon announced he had worked here for part of six different decades. A decade of UH
football to rememberTo make that same claim, the Star-Bulletin and I would need to be around until 2040. And that's about as likely as June Jones changing the school song to "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."
Still, a decade at Cooke Field has produced some strange days that won't be repeated over the next 10 years. If you were a UH football fan in the 1990s, you saw the best team in 1992, the worst in 1998 and the greatest turnaround in NCAA history in 1999.
The decade began with Dane McArthur catching a 71-yard touchdown pass from Garrett Gabriel in a 28-13 loss to Texas A&M. On that play, McArthur beat future Dallas Cowboys cornerback Kevin Smith, who announced yesterday he's thinking of retiring.
The Rainbows ran the four-wide option attack of current Georgia Southern head coach Paul Johnson that was good enough to lead Hawaii to an 11-2 campaign in 1992. That year, Hawaii stunned America by not only winning its first Western Athletic Conference title, but beating Illinois in the Holiday Bowl as well.
That team produced one of the finer senior classes, including future Super Bowl champions Maa Tanuvasa and Jason Elam. The Georgia native is first in UH history in scoring and tied the NFL mark for the longest field goal.
A missed field goal at Brigham Young in 1993 by freshman kicker Carlton Oswalt rivals Walter Murray's dropped touchdown pass against the Cougars in 1984.
Much like this year's team that begins its season with a newcomer workout this afternoon, that Bob Wagner squad had a lot to live up to and ultimately failed.
Prior to that game in Provo, Utah, senior quarterback Michael Carter talked about how important the BYU game was to the mental health of the program.
"If we can win at BYU, we have a chance to repeat as WAC champions and go to back-to-back bowls for the first time in school history," Carter said.
But it wasn't meant to be. Oswalt hit the upright that led to BYU completing one of the greatest comebacks in school history. The Rainbows went on to finish 6-6 and began a downward spiral that ended seven years later with Jones' Miracle at Manoa.
IN between Wagner and Jones were three forgettable years that saw Hawaii win only five games. In 1998, the Rainbows finished a staggering 0-12, equaling the worst effort in NCAA history.
Strangely enough, many members of that same team were a part of last year's unlikely 9-4 run that culminated with an Oahu Bowl win over Oregon State.
What Jones plans for an encore as Hawaii prepares for a new decade is hard to predict. Former slotback Matt Harding was a freshman the year Hawaii won the Holiday Bowl in San Diego.
"The seniors showed us what it's like to be champions," Harding said after the victory over Wyoming to secure the WAC crown. "We've got a taste for it now."
Unfortunately for Harding, it was the only postseason in his four-year parade here, a reality the young players on this team don't want to experience.
Granted, Hawaii has an opportunity to be a model of consistency. It's a key part of Jones' game plan. But as Kwon gently reminded me, in six decades, he has seen Hawaii go to three bowl games. Using that as a guideline, postseason No. 3 for me may be 30 years away.
Paul Arnett has been covering sports
for the Star-Bulletin since 1990.