Feature articles on Coach Tomey facing the Warriors

Trying to minimize the importance of the game, Tomey said:
"I think it (playing at UH) has lost some of its special meaning over the years just because I have been there, now, a number of times." (HA, HSB)

HA Note: "Tomey was UH's head coach from 1977 to 1986 and his departure for Arizona came amid an uncharacteristically tearful press conference."

About how his first game in Hawaii after he left for Arizona was special, Tomey said:
"The first time I came back when I was at Arizona, it was very special." (HA)

Tomey said that now:
"we go every year. My family (and wife) Nanci (are) over there now. We're about to have a grand baby. Our daughter is over there having a baby. We have two daughters living there now." (HA)

About his feelings towards Hawaii, Tomey said:
"I love Hawaii and consider it home." (HSB)

"I love Hawai'i and I have so many good friends there, but going back there to play is just going back there to play a team that won the conference last year, that we have a lot of respect for. I love Mac (UH head coach Greg McMackin) he's a tremendous guy as I feel strongly about many of their coaches who I have a lot of connections (with). But we're just trying to win a football game 'cause we're coming off a loss that really hurt." (HA)

Asked about the special hold that Hawaii has on him, Tomey said:
"I just like the smell of the ... I like the flowers, I like the people. It has nothing to do with the university. I just love the people. I love the diversity of the population. The feel of things. It feels like home to me, it always has. I used to say that at Arizona (and) people would get mad at me. But, it does. It feels like home. I get off the plane, I feel like I'm at home. Nanci feels the same way and our kids feel the same way. And that doesn't mean I don't love San Jose, it just means, to me, it (Hawai'i) is a special place. It is more special, in my view, because of the people than anything else." (HA)

Before getting the UH job, Tomey said that he had been to Hawaii "three or four times" on vacation, and:
"I'd always said, '(gosh) how do you get this job? I mean, I'd love to work here.' " (HA)

About how nobody else wanted the UH job when he took it, Tomey said:
"when I took the job, nobody else wanted it because it was just ... it was a tough time in the middle of summer and all our players were quitting and they had lost to the alumni in the spring game. It was difficult." (HA)

About how Tomey has been looking forward to this game in Hawaii for a long time, Rich Miano (who played for Tomey) said:
"You know he's had this date circled for a long time." (HSB)

HSB Note: "If John McCain gets elected, he won't be the only septuagenarian president; next year Tomey is slated to move up from first VP of the American Football Coaches Association."

About Tomey, Miano said:
"He always had an aura, a presence. A great motivator, very inspirational." (HSB)