Xl: the Uh Sports Show; #102; Parts 1 and 2

XL is made possible by a grant from the business appraisers, CPAs, and accountants at Canon Consulting Group, Hawaii's premier business valuation firm who are proud to support Hawaii Public Television and the University of Hawaii's fine athletes. By K -5, the home team, your home for University of Hawaii Sports. By KCCN 1420 AM, the radio home of University of Hawaii Sports. And the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly, the union representing the 3 ,000 UH faculty members on all campuses from Maui to Manoa, from Kauai to Hilo. Aloha and welcome to XL, the University of Hawaii

Sports Show. I'm Don Robs, and we're here Tuesday nights with a rebroadcast on Saturday afternoon. Talking about the athletes, the coaches, the support staff, the fans of University of Hawaii Athletics. We premiered this show two weeks ago, and your response was just remarkable. Thank you so much for your comments, by email and facts and phone calls and so on. Then a week ago, September 11th, the terrible devastation at the World Trade Center and at the Pentagon. It was obvious that it would be terribly inappropriate to do a program one week ago. So we canceled the show. And subsequently, during the week, nearly every other athletic event around the United States was also canceled. That meant no UH football in Nevada. That meant no wahine volleyball. It meant that the University of Hawaii soccer team was stranded on the mainland and didn't get back until five days later. Extraordinary times, terrible times for the United States. But President Bush over the weekend exhorted Americans to move forward, to go

back to work yesterday, to get back to their lives again. Not to get back to normal living, but to get back to some semblance of order in our society. And so that's what we're doing. And it also means that the games will resume. And when football and volleyball and other games resume this weekend, I think it'll be kind of cathartic for all of us. So on that note, let's bring out University of Hawaii Warrior Head Football Coach June Jones and talk about the football aspects of what's happening around the country. Coach, I know this has been, like it has been for everybody, a difficult week for you and your coaches. It has. It started off certainly, you know, kind of sick to your stomach when we came in early that morning, had CNN on in the training room. It was one of those weeks that you, you know, will never forget, but you're glad it's over. It's kind of like for those of us old enough to remember the day President Kennedy was killed. Or you remember the space shuttle when it blew up, but you'll never forget where you were and that picture, that horrible picture. No question. I remember making a phone call

right away when I saw the devastation in New York and I'll forever remember that time. June, I've been very impressed with the maturity shown by athletes at the University to this crisis. Some rather profound things coming from some of your players. You know, it's funny how these things work out with the day of that it happened when we all went to practice. We gathered up and set a prayer for the families and everybody there. You know, these type situations, historically for me, have always brought you closer together. It's bringing our nation closer together and I think this will bring our football team in, so it has a way of doing that. And, you know, you certainly don't want these type things to happen, but you try to make them as positive as you can once they do. We have some comments from three of your players, Nate Iloua, who is a matter of fact moved here from Washington DC. His father works across the street from the Pentagon. His brother is there. Yeah, I would talk to him immediately because I was aware of how close that was and I'm sure that he has more friends and

family because he's a military background there too. So, you know, I'm sure it's very moving, scary time for him. We also have some comments from Sean Butts and from Dan Berryman, who in fact spent time in the military before coming to the University of Hawaii. Yeah, his background is very much in tune with what was going on. Here are the comments of three warrior football players to what happened September 11th. Well, at first I didn't really know my dad called me while I was walking to practice early in the morning and he was telling me about the plane crashes I guess that had happened. And I didn't really see anything about it on the news yet until I got down there. And I noticed what had happened in New York and it was pretty serious and everything. I didn't know about the Pentagon either. And I first got me worried about my brother. He's still over there in DC working in the Arlington area over there by the Navy annex also. And, you know, just, first came to thought was, you know, thinking about my brother. You know, if he's okay or anything, my dad called me and, you know, assured me that he's fine and everything. But that had happened, you know, me, myself being able to go to the Pentagon a couple of times when I was there. You know,

it's, it's, it's, you still can't believe it. You know, I think something that could happen like that, you might have just anywhere. Well, you have to balance it out. You always have to balance your school and football. And then you have, you have like this, like when a tragedy happens, you just, everything's thrown out of proportion. So you just kind of like try to, try to go on with your life. But yet, you're still thinking about all the people that have been hurt and that are dealing with it. You just try to, try to, try to go on with life and do what you have to do. I've been going through quite a few different emotions as far as since I was in the military for three years. I kind of can see it from both sides. I know what, you know, families are like going through over and on New York. How this is affecting them. And then also with the military, I mean, this, this is a whole different level. This is serious around threat con level. It's the highest level they're at. And I know the troops are getting ready to leave, leave, leave to go over to wherever it is they're going to be going to. And it's just, I mean, I kind of have a flashbacks when I was there. And, you know, if, you know, who knows if this increases and goes to the next level, I mean, everyone could be called into this. So it's just kind of striking home with me. And now it's time to get back to the games. As I said at the beginning coach,

I think that playing games again will be cathartic for us. Yeah, no, I most definitely do. In fact, I'm of the mindset the same as the president that the faster we can get back to the normal routine that we do. The better it will be for everybody. And I'm thankful that we have the opportunity to play this week. Let's go back a week and a half. It seems like six months ago that you played Montana. 30 to 12, a winner on Maui. I think everybody was pretty satisfied with the way things went on Maui. Let's roll some video here. We have Timmy Chang, who became the number one offensive quarterback on the nation on the basis of that game. Played before 12 ,000 people over on Maui. Well, he's, you know, as I said, very gifted player. And he has getting better every day. This week in practice, he had the best week that he's probably had since he's been here. And he's becoming more aware and he's an accurate passer. And we have some gifted receivers to go with him that are as sharp as he is about knowing where to go with the football and what routes to run. And so it's going to be an exciting season watching him progress.

He has set some pretty lofty goals for himself, hasn't he? Well, I don't know what they are, but, you know, I like to put pressure on him. I think that he'll be the nation's top passer if he lines up 12 games for us. And I'll be disappointed if he does not. I think he's that good. And I think as he grows into the season, he's going to get better and better. You mentioned receivers and Timmy has a whole bunch of them, including Justin Colbert. We'll take a look at some highlights of Justin's effort against Montana over on Maui. Now, I was really proud of Justin because he really worked hard this off season. And his concentration last year catching the ball wasn't as good as it's been in training camp. And I was glad to see him be able to carry over into the game and do it. And he made a couple of big plays. That being one right there was a tremendously big play in the game when we needed it. And he has great run after the catchability, too, as it shows right here. He's got speed and he's got vision. And in high school, he's kind of a running back kind of guy. So we're going to try to get the ball to him that way a lot and let him pick his holes. Then you go

to two other guys who are very impressive, Ashley Lely. And Craig Stutzman, it looks like Stutzman is back to the form of earlier years. No, Stutz has had a great camp. He's concentrated really hard. And I know that he's worked really hard this off season and making sure that this year his senior year is a good one. Ashley, as I think one of the real special players in the country as a receiver, I think that he has the potential to be a first round pick. I think that he has the speed, which is only maybe one or two guys in the country have. And he has great understanding of defenses and so on and so forth. And he catches the ball. And I think he's going to end up being as good as he wants to be. He reminds me of a kid named Michael Haynes that played for me in Atlanta. That was one of the top players in league for a couple years. And he reminds me a lot of him. He is really exciting to watch. He is. He is worth the price of a ticket. Yes, he is. In fact, all of them are. Stutz is the same way and so is Justin. One of the things we're going to do in this show each week is

invite you as fans to fax us or send us email with your questions for Coach Jones. And we'll go to the graphic right now. We remind you that you can email us at excel at kgt .pbs .org or you can fax us at 9 -7 -3 -10 -90. And coach, you can see the question is with the influx and development of talented running backs. Will the warriors move toward a 50 -50 balance between running shoots so they're less predictable and more effective on offense? I think I know the answer. Now we do what we do. And our intention is to throw first and we're able to run because we do throw first and the teams defend the pass. And that's basically the way the system is set up. And I'm sure if you want to go back to running the ball first, we can certainly do that. We didn't win as many games before we did that. So we're probably going to stay just like we are. Somehow I don't see a few jokes with the whole team doing that. But the question related to the efforts of bass and Mitchell and that game over in Maui, both of them

had some impressive moments. Oh, no question. But I think what people don't understand is they have the opportunity to have those impressive moments because we throw the football. And if we weren't throwing the football in the formation that we're in, it's a little difficult to get there. Is there any consensus after watching that game as to who the number one running back is? Well, both guys are good players. In fact, this run right here you're watching right now is one of the best runs I think I've ever seen at an effort standpoint of getting it into the end zone and not going down by Cheryl. But both guys are kind of unique in their way. Michael has great quickness and great vision and does some things in the middle of the field that we don't do. I think Thorough is a little bit more powerful in there for goal liner for blocking and some other things. So we'll probably utilize both of them. I initially intended for Michael to try to get his hands on the ball either catching or running maybe between 15 and 25 times a game. I think that that will probably hold up throughout the year. Who will start Saturday? Well, a lot of it depends on the type passes or the

type runs that we choose to do the night before the game. I'll probably pick those plays Thursday and Friday and then who at whichever back better suits those particular plays we open the game with will start. I know that one of the concerns coming out of the Montana game was injuries particularly on the defensive side. Did that week off help you guys heal a bit? It did help us. One I'm still kind of concerned about is Mikey Asua. I know that he would play heard if we asked him to play but we need to get him well because we've got a whole lot of games after this one and we don't have any buys or anything coming up. So I'm going to consider not playing him this week. I know that he wants to. But Jacob S. B. Owl probably will be out of play even though he had dislocated his shoulder. He's going to have to live with that the rest of the season and is willing to try to play with it with the harness on. And we have some hamstrings and stuff that have come back so the week has been a blessing for us. One guy who really impressed and had the kind of game you've been looking for from him for a couple of years now was pizza to noise some more. Yeah, pizza has stepped up since he reported the

camp like we thought he was going to be. I think in his own mind he's finally decided this is it. I want to go play and you know he's lost some weight. He came in in great shape. He had three sacks in the game, but he he has great instincts for a player and he has great effort just like that sack right there was just all him individually. And you know I think that he has a potential to be one of those rare defensive players. He's got the personality. He's got the pizzazz. He's got the leadership skills and now that he's doing it on the field. Those other things will develop and he'll become the player. I think we thought he was when we took him. Does that mean the kind of player who might play on some days eventually? Yeah, I definitely think he has the potential to do that and so much of that is just if he decides that's what he wants to do. I don't think the 21st came here the first two years actually even though he didn't play the first year. I don't think his desire was like it's been for the last two months since we reported the camp and his attitude has changed and it shows up in his play. All right, now you're wearing another cap now to you have become an addition to head coach a travel agent. The last couple of days have been very well asked few days.

I think this started last week. Even though at that point you didn't even know whether you'd be going to Reno. I know you were working on the travel aspects of that. Let's talk about a couple of things here. One is the objection, the very strenuous objection. And I think probably inappropriate objection of San Jose state to moving that football game. That eventually the president of the university had to make the decision the game would be moved. Your thoughts on that? Well, you know, they are a little bit like us in that they don't have, you know, they're going to go a long time without a game if they don't play this game. And I think they have a buy and I heard that they, you know, have some difficult games. And I'm sure that they thought at this point that they had a chance to beat the batterino at home give themselves a little confidence. So, you know, from their coaching standpoint, I'm sure that's why they wanted to play. And they tried to convince the president to stick up for them. You know, it didn't work out. So, you know, I'm glad that we get a play just because

we didn't want to go three weeks without a game either. Sure. So, Thursday, midday, you get on on Aloha Airlines. Charter. Yeah. And you fly to Reno. Yeah, that's the first time. And I'm appreciative of Aloha Airlines for stepping up there because they had to make some adjustments to get it done. And, you know, this type of thing you almost have to have somebody step up and help you and Aloha did. And both Aloha and Hawaiian have been, in fact, all the airlines, United and Delta have been over backwards for us since I've been here. But this really took a lot for them to do this for us and gave us a price that even though it's going to be more expensive, it's something that we can handle. Okay, let's talk about Nevada. I've been hearing since last summer. If there's a winnable road game, it's Nevada. Well, you know, I don't, you know, all road games are difficult. I don't, you know, know, I don't like to say it's winnable. It's certainly if we play well, you know, we got a chance to win the game. I think they're a lot like us. They probably played two more tougher teams than we have to open with. And even though they lost, they're very similar to us. And they feel they can beat us. And I'm sure that's why they want to play this game at home. And we're hoping that it would get

changed to do that. You know, it's going to be an evenly matched game. They've got an exciting quarterback. They just discovered it running back last week. And so, you know, it's going to be a challenge for us to win. And, you know, we're looking forward to that challenge. But at the same time, we've got to play well to beat them. All right. Now, the question is to beat them, there have to be some keys to the game. We're going to take a look at those on the screen right now. And these are the keys that you have identified as having to have to happen Saturday if you're going to win. Yeah, you know, I know that they like to be a little more aggressive than that's their attitude on defense. And so, we need to be able to handle the blitz, not just from a protection standpoint, but from a throwing and catching standpoint, too. And, you know, they came after us a little bit last year, caused us some problems. So, hopefully, you know, we've grown a little bit in that area. They're a quarterback who did not play last week for, I don't know, team rule violation reasons. He's really a talented player. In fact, I thought he was the best player last year in the conference at quarterback.

And he's can get hot. And we're a blitzing aggressive team, too. So, you know, they have opportunities to make plays. If you'll stand in there and throw the football, you know, we need to hit him. We need to knock him down and certainly make him aware that he's not going to have all data throw the ball. And then our special teams, we need to improve each week. I think we have some return capabilities with Clifton Herbert and Justin Covert. Those guys return some kicks. And I think we need to pretty soon have one of those things break and change a game for us. And, you know, I think Matt McBrire has a chance to control a game, punting, too. We saw how he can pun into a 40 -mile -hour win at Maui. So, you know, hopefully the conditions will be that he'll be something that changes the game, too. Well, it'll be nice to get back on the field. And now we know that you're only a week away from playing in a lost stadium, too. Yeah, it's getting closer. I think all the people are looking forward to that. Thanks, Coach. All right, thanks. Back in the moment with Wahine volleyball coach Dave Shoji on Excel. Thank you.

Welcome back to Excel, the UH Sports Show. While the Warrior football team is flying to Reno this weekend, the Wahine volleyball team returns to action right next door from Hawaii Public Television over at the Stan Sheriff Center. Head coach Dave Shoji, well, listen, we'll probably ask Dave a question very similar to that put to June Jones. And Dave, that is what kind of a week has it been for you and the Wahine? Well, it's been a tough week for everybody. We had a meeting. We canceled practice on Tuesday, but we had

a practice starting on Wednesday. And we had a meeting and a lot of everybody to kind of share their feelings. And I think we had a good talk within the team and very private talk. And everybody kind of expressed how they were feeling. And then we got back down to business. Once you get on to start hitting those balls again, I guess everything else kind of disappears, huh? Well, when you're in the practice gym, I don't think there's time enough to think about stuff. We keep it going. And we kept it very short Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. And so I think the players just understood that they had to get some work done and then go about their business. All right. Let's go back to the Aston and move a challenge where you won a couple of games. And again, Kim Willoughby was very impressive. After eight games, is she really the key now to any success you might have the rest of the way? Well, she's having a really good season so far. And you know, she's getting a lot of kills per game. She's carrying the team offensively. She cuts down the number of errors she makes. And her errors are just because she wants to do so well that she tries too

hard sometimes to put the ball down. And the crowd wants her to put it down. So she tends to just try to blast through and that's when she makes mistakes. But she's having an all -American type season and she's going to continue to get better and better done. Yeah, the unforced errors sometimes are a little frustrating. I'm sure to use the coach, but she is such a remarkable athlete. You can see that a year from now she'll be much better than she is now. Well, she keeps getting better as far as making those errors. I mean, you'll see the number of errors that will be cut down hopefully this week and next week. And she'll get better and better because she's getting a lot of opportunities to put the ball down. And unlike last year, we kind of held her back a little bit last year. But she's our go -to and she knows it and I think she's up to that task. All right, let's take a look at a couple of other key players at this point. The season Maya Gostin to no one's surprise and Lauren Duggins has come along rather well recently too. Well, Maya is playing out a position. We just needed another hitter on the left. So we've moved her out there and it's taken her a while. But she had a very good streak against SC last week and she just

is learning that position. And it's going to be very, very good at it by the end of the season. And finally, we have Melody Eckmire, a freshman, big girl in the middle. And she seems to be getting her sea legs as well. Well, she's a freshman, red shirt freshman, but she's got four years. And so we're trying to just invest in her. She's going to get a lot of playing time and she's got a lot to learn. But eventually she's going to be a very good player. So there you have some highlights from the Aston Challenge. Now, one of the big disappointments to me in having things canceled last weekend was that we didn't get a chance to see her why he may play BYU. Well, it was two games that we really wanted to play because both teams are nationally ranked. Or BYU's nationally ranked. LMU is going to make the playoffs. They always do. So it's a good, you know, tough competition. It's the way I scheduled it. And we're not going to be able to recover those games. But we're just, I mean, I think everybody lost games this weekend. All right. Let's get to the email again. You can

send us your email at excel at kgt .pbs .org. Or you can fax us your questions about Wahine volleyball at 973 -1090. And coach, let's take a look at this week's question and see what kind of an answer we get. How tough has it been on your players to have to play and lose so many tough matches at the start of a year? I think one thing is that it's going to make us a better team at the end. I mean, we're playing some awfully good teams. We've played four teams in the top 10. We haven't been successful, but that's going to make us a better team down the road. The other part of that is that no one likes to lose. We're used to winning. Our players are used to winning. No one, we don't want to get used to losing. So everybody's, we're not happy about the losses. But we understand we have to go through this process and it's going to help us. But believe me, we understand that those losses are not good losses either. A bright light for the team and a lady who is a lot of fun

to watch is Margaret Vaca Sousa. Well, Margaret brings so much to us. You know, not only on the court, not off the court, she's a leader. She keeps everybody kind of loose and just great personality. She's got a lot going for her and volleyball is just part of it. I mean, she's going to be a very successful young lady, whatever she decides to do. But, you know, right now, she's our center and, you know, our leader. Well, our producer Scott Culbertson went down the road and talked to Margaret earlier in the week. Let's take a look at that now, Scott. We're standing here with Margaret Vaca Sousa. You went to high school at university right across the street. And then you just had to go across the crosswalk and come over to UHT right here. What made you stay home? I think it was the atmosphere and the team chemistry and the fact that you're in Hawaii and it's the top for, you know, I always wanted to go away and experience going away. But when they banged on my door a senior year and offered me a scholarship, I was stoked and I wanted to play her so badly. How's the school side of it for you? Are you able to do the time balancing thing

and get it all done? Or is it a little overwhelming? No, I look forward to school. It's a break from just volleyball. During double days, we just play volleyball. And you know, it's fun, but you just look for it. Like your brain gets tired and it's like bored. So school keeps you active. And you can see your friends at school and do all that kind of fun stuff kids get to do. You're playing setter right now. You come in the game. Sometimes you start, sometimes you're coming in. But when you come in, there's always a lift. There's definitely a feel. Why is that? What do you bring to the game? I don't know. It's just so exciting to be on the court. And people, thousands of people just screaming your name and screaming for you and the team. It just fires you up and you can't help but just have this desire and sense of urgency. You want to terminate. And even though I don't play hitter, you get the same satisfaction when you set the ball. And you get the dig a ball and serve an ace. And it's just so great to play here. It has a setter. Yeah, you don't get the glory of killing the ball. But you do have a couple kills. If you look at the stats, he has a couple kills. Is that like the biggest moment for you in the game? No, it's not. The biggest moment is when you set this perfect ball that

someone like Kim Willow be just smashing someone else's face. Or Tony or my anybody just kills it. You feel like you did it. But it just feels, I don't really can't explain it. It's just this thing inside your stomach. It just gets you going in your heart just being so fast. How come you're so shy? Why are you in such a show? I don't know. Usually I'm just crazy. But my dad always tells me to calm down. So he's like, he's like also in my mom. We have to get this kid checked out. She might be hyperactive or something. But no. I like making friends. Margaret Marcus also. You'll never forget her. Crazy. Okay. Thank you. There's a lot of good news, you guys. Thanks Margaret. Appreciate it. Good luck. Thank you. That's what we want. I like that. I don't want to calm down Margaret Marcus also. Do you? No, no, no. You got to let her spirit go. She has to be what she is. All right, now you return to action this week? Well, Santa Clara, when I scheduled them, I wasn't quite concerned because

they hadn't been a good program for a couple of years. But last year they almost made the regional and they had long beach state on the ropes. And then they're a good program. And they beat Santa Barbara 3 -0 last week. So I think people will understand how good they are. And 905 are broadcast time on KCCN on Saturday morning with the kickoff at 10 -05. Quickly, with the little time we have left here, do you either of you have any special thoughts you're going to give your teams going into this weekend and view of what's happened, Dave? Well, I think we're just going to play hard and dedicate season to the tragedy. I think it's on everybody's mind. And we may wear something on our uniform that will make us remember and hopefully contribute that way. June, I know you will be wearing something on your helmets. Yeah, we're having, I think, the whack is asked us to wear American flags on our helmets. And so we'll be doing that. And I don't think probably anything needs to be said. Everybody knows how

they feel and that's not going to ever go away. It's part of us now. Gentlemen, thank you. That'll do it for Excel. Join us again next Tuesday here on Hawaii Public Television. I'm Don Robbs. Good night. Game time for Saturday's Warriors Game with Nevada is at 10 .05 a .m. Catch the live radio broadcast of Warriors football on KCC in 14 .20 a .m. at 905 and then watch on K5, the home team. Excel is made possible by a grant from the business appraisers, CPAs and accountants at Canon Consulting Group, Hawaii's premier business valuation firm who are proud to support Hawaii Public Television and the University of Hawaii's fine athletes. By K5, the home team, your home for University of Hawaii Sports.

By K -I -N -E -F -M, the Hawaii Music Station playing the best of yesterday and tomorrow. And the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly, the Union representing the 3 ,000 UH faculty members on all campuses from Maui to Manoa, from Hawaii to Hilo. You