Brian Smith is officially the Warriors' OL coach

About getting to coach with Rolo, Smith said:
"Nick and I always had a good relationship since we stopped playing together. And once we both got into coaching we talked about coaching together, because he's a quarterback guy and I'm an O-line guy, it kind of fits that we'd try to work together somewhere. But a lot of that just becomes talk. So it's awesome that we're going to get that opportunity to work together at our alma mater." (HSB)

Asked if Rolo sang "Reunited" to welcome his former roommate to the UH coaching staff, Brian Smith said:
"I will neither confirm nor deny that he sang that." (HA)

HA Note: "In UH's 8-1 stretch run in 2001, Rolovich was the quarterback and Smith the center. They used to practice long snaps in their apartment hallway."

About their snapping practicies, Smith said with a smile:
"Never broke anything." (HA)

About how it was useful for him to be Rolo's roomate, Smith said:
"One of the good things about being a quarterback's roommate is I'd get to ask a lot of questions. 'What's going on with this play?' 'What are you looking at?' " (HA)

About how coach Cav, the OL coach at the time, made sure UH's centers knew the pass routes in the offense and could identify defensive coverages, Smith said:
"It made it easier to learn the calls." (HA)

HA Note: "Smith kept the playbooks from his five UH years. He added to it when he tried out with the Baltimore Ravens and Green Bay Packers, when he was a UH graduate assistant (2003), and during coaching stops at Cal Lutheran, Oregon State and, last season, Portland State. He worked under Cavanaugh at OSU and under Mouse Davis, the inventor of the run-and-shoot offense, at Portland State."

About how Smith knows the offense well, Rolo said:
"He's very knowledgeable of the system from the O-line to the receivers. He knows everything about the offense. He'll be able to do more than a lot of people who know the offense but not the pass protection. He'll be valuable to the program." (HA)

About being a 27-year-old coach will help him relate to the players, Smith said:
"When you're a young coach, you have to be able to separate yourself from the players. You can't be their buddy. Some young coaches get into trouble because they think of themselves as still being players. I'm definitely not a player anymore." (HA)

About how he'll teach his OL the full offense, Smith said:
"We want to have communication. If everyone's on the same page, there's understanding of the scheme ... and you have a better chance to succeed." (HA)

About how he and Rolo (who is engaged with a 5-month-old son) will be roomates for at least another week, Smith said with a laugh:
"The way I snore, he might be on his way again." (HA)

About the difference between he and Coach Cav, Smith said:
"I'm a little more toned down from where Coach Cavanaugh was. I'm definitely a teacher, I have high expectations for my players and I am demanding. It's a little different personality, but I think I get good results from my players." (HSB)

About the year he spent as a coach at Portland State with Mouse Davis and Jerry Glanville, Smith said:
"We were constantly talking about the same people and following the program." (HSB)

About how Glanville gave him his blessing to go after the UH job, Smith said:
"He was really understanding. He knew it was a good opportunity for me. Hawaii has a great program right now and it's just going to get better. I learned a lot from Coach Davis this last year as far as the run-and-shoot offense goes and what he's looking for in players and how he attacks defenses." (HSB)

About Smith, the 3rd member of UH's 2001 team (Rolo, Stutzman), GM said:
"He's just like Rolo, a leader. I saw that in him in 1999. He's a student of the game and a scholar. In talking to Mouse and June and Dennis McKnight, they all said he knows as much about blocking schemes for the run-and-shoot as anyone. He played in it, and he learned all the finer points. ... He's a scholar of offensive line play." (HSB)

HSB Note: "Smith's playing career at UH spanned from 1998 to 2001, experiencing the program's lowest depths and some of its peak moments. He was part of Fred vonAppen's last recruiting class and started at long snapper as a freshman in 1998 when Hawaii went 0-12. VonAppen was fired after the season and June Jones orchestrated the nation's most dramatic turnaround ever the following year. He started all 24 games his junior and senior years, closing his career by snapping the ball to Rolovich in a 2001 season capped by a landmark 72-45 win over Brigham Young."

About looking at the OL with a clean slate, Smith said:
"The great thing about new coaches coming in is that there is a clean slate. Those kids are all starting out fresh and I'm looking forward to pushing them and seeing how they get better and seeing who rises to the top." (HSB)