At the first spring practice yesterday, all that talk about assistant coaches playing musical coordinators took the focus away from the biggest issue facing the University of Hawaii football team.

It's the offensive line.

However you look at it, the Warriors have a lot of work to do up front, and the clock is ticking.

The old way to measure experience was returning starters. UH has only one on the O-line: Austin Hansen, who gets the first look at left tackle.

The new way—and perhaps more relevant—is total games started by all returnees. Hawaii has 10: Hansen has opened eight games and Adrian Thomas two. That's it, just 10. John Estes by himself had started more than four times that many himself headed into 2009, his senior season.

Oft-injured starting right tackle Laupepa Letuli could get another year from the NCAA; but even if he does, how long will he remain healthy?

Last year's group allowed 36 sacks, and that's a lot. Maybe it's good that an almost completely new group will play.

FOR JUST a few minutes, forget about Nick Rolovich and Dave Aranda running the offense and defense as freshly minted coordinators. They're young, but not really rookies at these jobs, since by the end of last season both were calling the plays. And they've got the former OC and DC, Ron and Cal Lee, still on staff to help them.

Also, the other position groups have plenty of experienced players—if not returning starters—from last year's 6-7 team.

So that means the assistant with the toughest job is one of the few on the staff who retains the title he held last year: second-year offensive line coach Gordy Shaw. The former longtime Minnesota O-line coach will oversee a revolving door of auditions in the spring as 11 candidates try to become one of the five starters at center, guard and tackle.

Although there is little on-field game experience to draw from, Shaw considers the group deep. This will be the third camp with them under his direction, and continuity was rare at offensive line coach following the departure of Mike Cavanaugh in 2005.

“;All of the (starting contenders) in the meeting room have been through this,”; Shaw said. “;Last year they were learning through their ears. Now they've got to show it through their feet.”;

Shaw's goal this spring is to determine the five with the best fundamentals and technique, agility and strength. Then, in the summer, they are to bond as one.

COMPARISONS TO Cavanaugh are inevitable, even five years after the boisterous and successful O-line coach left Manoa for Oregon State. Shaw shrugs it off. “;Mike and I are good friends. Hey, we're all different. I've got long hair, he's bald. I'm tall, he's short.”;

As for the staff shuffle around him, Shaw said change is good.

“;It takes me back to my days at Michigan with Bo Schembechler,”; he said. “;One spring he put all the offensive coaches on defense and all the defensive coaches on offense.”;

The alterations aren't as drastic for the Warriors.

But this is certain: How a bunch of new offensive line starters come together in the coming months will go a long way to determining UH's 2010 success—regardless of anything else.

Reach Star-Bulletin sports columnist Dave Reardon at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), his “;Quick Reads”; blog at starbulletin.com, and twitter.com/davereardon.