SB FILE / MARCH 2005 New UH defensive coordinator Jerry Glanville, right with head coach June Jones, will also help on special teams.

UH coaches on
‘lockdown’

Hawaii's new defensive coordinator Jerry Glanville is back in town, and that means the Warriors coaches are again in what he calls "lockdown" -- long skull sessions to prepare for the upcoming season.

Last month it was defense, as UH planned for its first two games, against USC and at Michigan State.

Now it's special teams, another subject near and dear to the former NFL head coach's heart.

Mouse Davis retains the title of special teams coordinator, but a lot of the strategy and tactics -- as well as philosophy -- will come from Glanville, who began his NFL coaching career as a special teams assistant with the Detroit Lions in 1974.

And when Glanville refers to a day at the beach, he's not talking about bodysurfing and bikini-watching. His idea is more like D-Day. When he coached the Houston Oilers, Glanville instituted a "hit the beach" award; the winner was whoever made the best special teams hit of the week, and he was awarded the right to wear an army combat helmet in practice.

Glanville, who said he was inspired to return to coaching by visiting troops in Iraq, hasn't hit the military surplus stores yet. But the UH special teams will have a special-forces attitude, he said.

"We've always had a great aggressive nature, and the boss wants to find other ways to win," Glanville said.

"The boss" is UH coach June Jones, who was Glanville's quarterbacks coach at Houston and offensive coordinator with the Atlanta Falcons.

With seven offensive and four defensive starters from last year gone, Jones and Glanville will scour the entire 105-player preseason roster for replacements -- as well as candidates for the special teams -- once camp begins Aug. 4.

"We're going to force ourselves to look at all the freshmen," Glanville said. "We're going to have freshman periods where they're all in there and we get a good look at them."