Highly successful Hawaii football coach Bob Wagner dies at 76
STAR-ADVERTISER / 1989
University of Hawaii Rainbow football coach Bob Wagner coaches during a game on Nov. 11, 1989.
STAR-ADVERTISER / 2017
Bob Wagner’s 1992 Rainbow Warrior football team was inducted into the University of Hawaii Sports Circle of Honor in 2017.
STEPHEN TSAI / STSAI@STARADVERTISER.COM
Former UH coaches Dick Tomey, Greg McMackin and Bob Wagner gathered for a ceremony in 2011. Tomey died in 2019 and McMackin died in February.
Bob Wagner, one of the most successful head coaches in University of Hawaii football history, died Tuesday on Hawaii island. He was 76.
“We are heartbroken to share that former University of Hawaii Head Football Coach Bob “Wags” Wagner has passed away after battling recent health challenge,” the family said in a statement. “Our loving husband and father touched many lives throughout Hawaii and will be dearly missed by all who knew him.”
Kenny Niumatalolo, a Radford High and UH graduate who played and coached under Wagner before launching a prosperous career as Navy’s head coach, was overcome with emotion when he learned of his mentor’s passing.
“We lost a great man in Coach Wags,” Niumatalolo said. “But his influence lives on in all the people he touched and influenced. All the brothers that came to UH during his tenure were blessed to have him as a coach. I will be forever grateful to Coach Wags. He blessed me and my family and changed our lives forever.”
Wagner’s 58-49 record in nine seasons through 1995 ranks second to June Jones among UH head coaches competing in an all-NCAA schedule.
Under Wagner, the Rainbow Warriors ended a drought against rival Brigham Young University with routs in 1989 and 1990. The afternoon of the 1990 regular-season finale, BYU quarterback Ty Detmer was named the Heisman Trophy winner. That night, the Warriors cruised to a 59-28 victory before a capacity crowd at Aloha Stadium. After one of the UH touchdowns, slotback Jeff Sydner struck a Heisman pose in the end zone.
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>> PHOTOS: Looking back at Bob Wagner’s UH career
“He was an island in the middle of the sea for me,” Sydner said of his fellow Ohioan. “I took a long shot to come out there. He was a rock I could always go to. Me and Coach had a lot of personal conversations, father-son type of conversations. He was an important figure for me. What came out of his mouth meant a lot.”
With a triple-option offense and double-eagle defense, the Warriors went 11-2 in 1992, punctuated with a 27-17 upset of Illinois in the Holiday Bowl in San Diego. The Warriors finished the year ranked in the top-20 for the first time in the program’s history.
“The job is extremely difficult,” said Victor Santa Cruz, a linebacker on the 1992 team. “But for Bob Wagner to provide the leadership to give us our first championship and our first mainland bowl win, that’s impressive.”
Wagner was the Western Athletic Conference’s Coach of the Year in 1989 and 1992.
Wagner was instrumental in the creation of what is now known as the Alexander C. Waterhouse Physiology Research & Training Facility on UH’s Lower Campus. Wagner also was a key leader in developing Na Koa Football Club. His book, “Getting the Edge: Hawaii Football by Bob Wagner” offered suggestions that led to UH selling priority seats and providing bonuses to coaches for working a bowl game.
“Hawaii is losing one of the greatest coaches to coach here,” former UH assistant coach Kanani Souza said. “He loved Hawaii. He loved coaching. I’m really taken aback. He was more than a boss, he was a dear friend, a special friend. He was one of the best people.”
For 10 years, he also was athletic director for Kamehameha Schools’ Hawaii campus.
