Dave Reardon: Timmy Chang is no June Jones just yet, but he's better than having Todd Graham

Jan. 24—One of the biggest questions now that the University of Hawaii has announced its new head football coach is this :

Does Timmy Chang get to pick his own assistant coaches ?

If he does, how about June Jones and Rich Miano ? I have to credit our co-worker Paul Honda for posing that very good question.

What if Chang wanted one or both of them on board to help him, like Jones often had his mentor, Mouse Davis, on staff when he was the UH head coach ? Would that be allowed ?

Who would Chang have to ask ?

Would it be the athletic director, the university president, the Board of Regents, the state Senate, the governor ? Or would it have to meet the approval of some unknown sponsor who writes big checks ?

There are still no straight answers from UH on why Jones was lowballed and Miano blackballed, but we'll keep asking. And others will too, like state Senator Donovan Dela Cruz, who wants the BOR, or somebody, to take a closer look at what's going on at lower campus.

But, right now we need a timeout for a view of the bright side. For one thing, the UH teams that are in action now are on a tear. The basketball squads and men's volleyball are on a combined 12 game /match winning streak.

OK, you don't want to be distracted from the hot mess of a football program.

Yes, the bad news is that the Warriors don't have Jones as their head coach.

But the good news is that two weeks ago Todd Graham was the head coach and now it's Timmy Chang. On paper it might not look like an upgrade because of their experience levels.

But it certainly is in regards to investment in Hawaii. Chang is keiki o ka aina, kanaka maoli and a Warriors legend.

Since the turn of the millennium and before Colt Brennan, the name Timmy Chang was the one most associated with UH football. (Well, after June Jones, at least ).

Jones himself—as disappointed and frustrated as he is over that charade of a job offer—has moved on to healing and voiced his full support for Chang.

If you really are a UH fan, maybe you can give him a chance too—even if you were among the fools booing him two decades ago during a game at Aloha Stadium that Hawaii won against Alabama.

If you don't think Jones' support for Chang is sincere, you should have seen him crying at the postgame press conference because of the way Chang was treated by the "fans."

Since Friday's fiasco I've read about people who call themselves fans "canceling their season tickets." Well, that's a good trick, considering there weren't any season ticket holders last fall because spectators weren't allowed at most of the home games.

So, in that sense, the fanbase is literally starting from zero.

Sorry, there's so much strange stuff going on it's hard to stay on the positive path.

Here's a good thing : As Stephen Tsai reports, whoever it is who approves assistant coaches is letting Jacob Yoro and Abe Elimimian stay on.

Both are holdovers from better days when the Nick Rolovich era ended with the Warriors beating BYU in the 2019 Hawaii Bowl to finish 10-5 that year.

Seems like a million years ago, right ?

And it seems like two million but it's only been 18 since Chang and Elimimian represented UH before their senior season at the WAC media event at the Peppermill in Reno, Nev.

"He taught me well, " Elimimian said of craps lessons from Chang. "He won me some money."

They were both four-year starters. The Warriors finished with a winning record every season from 2001 to 2004. One set passing records, the other shut down the opposing WR1, before they were called that.

There also was no "targets " stat yet. After one game, Elimimian threw his helmet to the ground, shaking his head. When I asked why, he answered, "Man, no interceptions. Again." I had to remind him that was a product of him doing his job perfectly, and his guy never being open. Hence, no passes were thrown his way, and a major contribution to a Hawaii win.

That's how I remember Elimimian as a player. He expected better than perfection from himself.

If he hasn't yet, at age 39, Elimimian may have passed George Lumpkin for the record of most UH head coaches assisting.

"Norm Chow, Chris Naeole, Nick Rolovich, Todd Graham, and now Timmy Chang, " he said.

Did he ever imagine he and his fellow Warriors co-captain would be where they are now ?

"Not at the time we were playing, " Elimimian said. "But now, after going through a lot the last seven years here, nothing really surprises me anymore. Or shocks me, or gets me up or down.

"It's time to focus on moving forward."—For more Hawaii football, visit the.