Former Las Vegas Gladiators QB Nick Rolovich brings fun back to Hawaii

HONOLULU — Under first-year coach Nick Rolovich, Hawaii has already equaled its win total from last season and far exceeded its fun quotient.

During a break from spring practice, Rolovich donned an Army helmet and camouflage face paint and joined his staff in taking on the players in an extensive water fight — complete with water balloons, water guns and barrels of water — that he dubbed the “April Fools’ Day Massacre.”

“I think it’s important to have fun in life, no matter what you do,” said Rolovich, who at 37 is one of the youngest head coaches in the country.

UNLV (2-4, 1-1 Mountain West) will play the Rainbow Warriors (3-3, 2-0 MW) at 9 p.m. (PDT) Saturday at Aloha Stadium. Rolovich, who is familiar with the Fremont Cannon after spending the past four seasons as UNR’s offensive coordinator, said he’s planning on having a Pair-O-Dice Trophy made for the winner. He sounded serious.

“I’m having one created. My (7-year-old) daughter came up with the idea,” he said. “There’s two concepts right now, a palm tree with dice hanging as coconuts and a pineapple one. I tend to like the palm tree. I want to come up with something fun for the rivalry.”

Hawaii leads the series 15-10 and has won 10 of the 12 meetings in Honolulu, where the Rebels haven’t prevailed since 2000 — the first of Rolovich’s two seasons as quarterback for the Rainbow Warriors under former coach June Jones.

Rolovich led Hawaii to an 8-1 record as a starter in 2001 and passed for 4,176 career yards and 40 touchdowns. He still holds six school passing records — including single-game marks for touchdowns (eight) and yards (543) set in a 72-45 win over Brigham Young — and relished operating Jones’ Run-and-Shoot offense.

“It was a blast. If I could go back right now, I would,” he said. “I loved playing in that offense.”

Shortly after leaving Hawaii, Rolovich knew he wanted to return to his alma mater as head coach one day. He played six seasons in NFL Europe and the Arena Football League before retiring after the 2007 season with the now-defunct Las Vegas Gladiators.

“It was kind of like getting a punch in the face that you weren’t good enough to be Joe Montana, but I loved the game of football. I would never be able to leave it,” said Rolovich, a San Francisco native. “(Hawaii) was the perfect combination of football and aloha and good living and all that stuff.”

Rolovich returned to the Rainbow Warriors as quarterbacks coach in 2008 and 2009 and also was offensive coordinator in 2010 and 2011, as he helped Hawaii become one of the top passing offenses in the country. He also enjoyed success at UNR, guiding former Wolf Pack quarterback Cody Fajardo to more than 9,000 yards passing and 3,000 yards rushing in his career.

The Rainbow Warriors, averaging 226.3 passing yards and 29.2 points per game, are a work in progress. Much like second-year UNLV coach Tony Sanchez, Rolovich is trying to change the culture at Hawaii, which went 3-10 last season and 11-39 the past four years.

“I think these players felt like losers. They had a losing mentality,” he said. “Maybe I’m too much of an optimist, but I told them they’re good enough to win.”

The Rainbow Warriors lost three of their first four games — 51-31 to California in Australia, 63-3 at Michigan and 47-28 at Arizona — before winning their first two conference games over UNR (38-17) and San Jose State (34-17) in quarterback Dru Brown’s first two career starts for Hawaii.

The junior college transfer has completed 39 of 51 passes for 509 yards and four touchdowns the past two weeks and added a 62-yard touchdown run Saturday against the Spartans.

After piloting the Run-and-Shoot and learning the Pistol offense from former UNR coach Chris Ault, Rolovich has installed a spread offense at Hawaii that he said features several “elements from the evolution of college football.” But it’s still missing one major component.

“I need a cool name. That’s what I need. Maybe we’ll have a name contest,” he said. “If I come up with a cool name, hopefully it’s a productive offense.”

Unfortunately for Rolovich, Fun ‘n’ Gun has been used.

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0354. Follow on Twitter: @tdewey33