LAS VEGAS >> Joey Nuuanu-Kuhiiki was ready for the rest of his life.
Despite a standout football career and recently graduating from Waianae High with a 3.5 grade-point average, Nuuanu-Kuhiiki did not have enough money to attend college.
That changed when he was invited to visit the University of Hawaii campus on Tuesday. In the football conference room, Nuuanu-Kuhiiki received a call from head coach Nick Rolovich, who was attending the Mountain West Conference Media Days in Las Vegas.
Nuuanu-Kuhiiki was offered a football scholarship to play for the Warriors. He will report to training camp on Sunday. The Warriors’ first practice is on Monday.
“When I found out, it was a great feeling,” Nuuanu-Kuhiiki said. “I broke down. They made me call my mom, and I broke down some more.”
He said he will be the first member of his family to attend a four-year college.
“I can make a name for my family,” he said. “This is awesome.”
Nuuanu-Kuhiiki, who is 6 feet 3 and 260 pounds, was named to the OIA Red Division’s first team and the All-State second team. He is projected to compete at defensive end for the Warriors.
He also has developed ties to his Waianae community. During his senior year, Nuuanu-Kuhiiki and several teammates began a weekly program in which they would read to students at Leihoku Elementary School.
The Warriors had strong interest in Nuuanu-Kuhiiki, but with limited scholarships, could only offer a walk-on invitation. But Nuuanu-Kuhiiki could not secure financial aid and prepared for a future without football.
His mother implored him to fight through this dark period, and not give up on his football dream.
He then started work as a warehouse selector. He took orders, stacked boxes and prepared shipments.
“It was a lot of lifting,” he said. “I guess I’m in good condition.”
And then came the offer.
“When I told my mother, she started crying because she knew what I was going through,” he said. “She was the one who kept me going. It worked. I got a scholarship because of her.”
Ease up, says MWC head
When it comes to nonconference scheduling, the Mountain West Conference would like its football teams to curb their enthusiasm in signing up so-called “guaranteed” games.
MWC commissioner Craig Thompson suggested a member team should limit to “one each year” the number of guaranteed big-payoff road games against power-conference opponents. While such games can provided much-needed revenue, they can hurt a team’s record and lower the MWC’s overall power ranking. A good ranking can help the MWC place a team in a New Year’s Eve bowl.
“We need to be better creatively in scheduling,” Thompson told reporters attending the MWC’s Media Days promoting the coming football season. “We need to not be over-scheduled and we don’t need to be under-scheduled.”
Thompson said the preference is for a MWC team to play one “stretch game” against a favored power-five opponent, one game against “someone you should beat,” and the other nonconference games against teams of equitable talent. If a team emerges with no more than one loss in that schedule, Thompson said, “you should be positioned well for the eight Mountain West games, and you’ll usually be in a bowl game.”
The suggestion is in contrast to the University of Hawaii’s recent schedules. Last year, the Rainbow Warriors played road games against Ohio State and Wisconsin. This year, the Warriors play California in Australia and road games against Michigan and Arizona during a four-week period.
But Thompson said there cannot be a “hard-fast rule” on scheduling because of each team’s financial situation. UH, for instance, needs guaranteed games to offset the travel subsidies paid to visiting teams.
“I’m not an AD,” Thompson said. “I don’t have to pay the bills or balance a $40 million budget.”
Thompson said each team needs to make its own determination.
“That’s why it may be extremely difficult to come up to the membership to say: ‘Here’s the hard-and-fast rule: Play one of these (teams) and two of those and one of these, and call it a day.’ I don’t think we can get there yet.”
UH secure in MWC
Despite college football’s potential shifting landscape, UH should remain a secure member of the Mountain West, Thompson said.
The Warriors joined the MWC in 2012 as the league’s lone football-only member.
Thompson has heard inquiries from at least one team interested in joining the MWC. But the league has no plans to expand or contract.
“That’s not been discussed,” Thompson said, indicating UH has a home with the MWC as long as it fields a football team. “Hawaii is going to play football and, you know, we have a history.”
2 in MWC eyeing Big 12
Two Mountain West teams — presumably Boise State and Colorado State — have expressed an interest if the Big 12 Conference chooses to expand.
“It was too quiet,” Thompson said. “We should have known something was going to happen. … For three years, we had the same membership with no changes, then the Big 12 announcement last week.”
The Big 12 is seeking expansion candidates, although it is not recruiting prospects nor finalizing plans to add teams. “But they are answering the phone and emails and texts,” Thompson said.
Rolo passes the nuts
UH’s Nick Rolovich challenged the other MWC coaches to exchange gifts unique to their school’s region. Rolovich distributed macadamia chocolates. San Jose State coach Ron Caragher brought wine. The other coaches were scrambling because of the short notice.
“My ideas are spontaneous,” Rolovich said. “I can’t help that. … It puts some pressure on some guys.”
