University of Hawaii football coach Norm Chow says it is hard to put a price on the considerable experience that the newest assistant, Wayne Moses, brings to the Rainbow Warriors.

The wonder was that UH could afford it.

Moses begins his 36th coaching season, 33rd on the NCAA Division I level, when the ’Bows open spring practice this morning in Manoa. That’s more years than the combined total of the other seven current assistant coaches on staff.

The 59-year old Moses, who will coach the running backs, might have the most major college experience of any assistant ever hired on by UH. Let’s put it this way, when Moses first coached against UH in 1978 with Cal State Fullerton, the ’Bows had yet to play a game as a Western Athletic Conference member.

Later he would oppose UH with New Mexico and San Diego State, try to steer his running backs clear of Al Noga, and collect rings from both the Aloha and Oahu Bowls.

For many of those years, including 19 seasons in the Pac-12 spread across UCLA (twice), Washington, California, USC and Stanford (twice), Moses’ talents were priced beyond UH’s modest means.

Consider that Moses made slightly more in base salary 13 years ago ($135,000) than we are told he will earn this season. When Chow was the offensive coordinator at UCLA and requested the Bruins hire Moses to coach the running backs in 2008, the going rate for somebody who had just coached Steven Jackson with the St. Louis Rams was $174,000.

When Chow took the UH job he said he thought about Moses, who he had worked with at USC and UCLA. Then he looked long and hard at the $1.1 million pool for assistant salaries that has dropped to among the lowest in the 12-member Mountain West Conference and half that of Boise State. Chow said he determined, “we couldn’t afford him.”

It would not be the first time that UH’s wish list exceeded its meager budget.  

When Army fired head coach Rich Ellerson and his staff in December, Moses went looking for work. And, Chow, who was in the process of making a recommendation on Moses’ behalf for another job, had a better idea: Why not here? Why not now? Maybe, just maybe, it could be made to work this time.

“His daughters are grown now, he wants to work and he likes a challenge,” Chow said. And UH, which becomes his 15th college, could surely offer that.

With the ghost of offensive coordinator Aaron Price coming off the payroll, defensive coordinator Thom Kaumeyer and assistants Tony Tuioti and Phil Rauscher not being retained and running backs coach Chris Wiesehan leaving for Temple, the salary structure could be reconfigured within UH’s limited means.

“We did some talking and, this time, it just kinda worked in terms of getting back together with Norm,” Moses said. “I’ve known Norm, the kind of man he is, what he stands for and obviously that he is a heckuva football coach,” Moses said. “This is a good time for (both of ) us and I’m glad to be here.”

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.