The University of Hawaii is not only courting native son Tommy Lee, the University of Utah offensive coordinator, for its head football coaching vacancy, but it is talking with Ute head coach Ron McBride about the job as well.
In fact, the Rainbows may have more interest in McBride than Lee. Athletic director Hugh Yoshida talked with McBride Tuesday but had not contacted Lee by about 7 p.m. Hawaii time Tuesday, even though Lee is in the Islands on a Ute recruiting mission.McBride said Wednesday morning that he had a very preliminary discussion with Yoshida when the Hawaii AD called him Tuesday.
Ute athletic director Chris Hill says Hawaii called him Monday night to ask permission to speak with Lee and added it might want to talk with McBride, too. Hill granted both requests.
McBride and Lee, who was endorsed by a story Tuesday in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, say they are concerning themselves with recruiting for Utah, don't want anything to interfere with that recruiting and are not pursuing the Hawaii job. But both have strong interests in the Islands and admitted interest in the job.
Lee has family there and is one of Hawaii's best-known football names, along with his younger brother, Cal, coach at Honolulu's St. Louis High. Cal Lee is another name linked with the Rainbows' coaching search.
McBride has always recruited heavily there and says it's his second-favorite spot behind Utah. "If there is any place in the country, other than Utah, that I would want to live, it would be in the Islands," McBride said. "Utah is my favorite place on the face of the Earth. Other than Utah, Hawaii is the only other place I would ever consider that I would like to live."
McBride has been part of Utah football for most of the last 21 years, spending a year at Wisconsin in between. He said in a Deseret News interview in August 1997 that Utah is his dream job. He was also interviewed by Hawaii three years ago, the last time the job was open.
McBride says the fact that Hawaii's program is at rock bottom -- on a 15-game losing streak and 5-31 in three years under coach Fred vonAppen, who was fired Monday is actually the intriguing part of the job to him. He enjoys rebuilding programs, which he did at Utah.
Asked if he'd rather start over or have a program like Utah's, that is established and on the verge of making another step up, McBride said he couldn't choose.
"I'm not particularly happy with the three or four reasons we didn't come up with what we needed to come up with," said the 59-year-old coach. "We're close to getting over the edge, but we haven't gotten there. That's my No. 1 concern to get this program over the edge, to take one more step."
Utah is 62-43 in nine seasons, with six straight winning seasons -- including 7-4 in 1998 -- and only one losing season, his first. He has taken Utah to four postseason bowls, and Utah missed out on its fifth in the last week when it was a finalist for three different bowl berths.
McBride says he has not yet had an end-of-the-season discussion with Hill and feels only the pressure he puts on himself for an unfulfilling year that saw the Utes lose four games by a total of nine points. Three were to teams that were either WAC division co-champions who are going to postseason bowls (BYU, San Diego State) or a divisional runnerup (Wyoming).
Hill said his perception is that McBride is fairly happy in his job with Utah.
Though McBride says his "priorities are at Utah -- I'm not looking for another job," he wants to listen to what Hawaii has to say and notes that he's long-time friends with Yoshida.
Asked if he had any inclination toward leaving Utah, he said, "I guess if I was ever going to leave, now would be as good a time as any."
He cites "just general reasons," going back to the "appealing" part of the Hawaii picture -- its dilapidation.
McBride says money is not an issue. The Hawaii program has struggled financially for years with poor attendance and the Islands' current economic downturn, but McBride says, "it's a good job" that needs a coach who understands Island culture and players. That's a strong point for both McBride and Lee, the latter heavily endorsed by McBride to the Star-Bulletin and Deseret News.
The 57-year-old Lee has been in Hawaii since Monday night recruiting. "In some respects, I wish I wasn't here," Lee told the Deseret News by phone from Hawaii Tuesday evening. "All I've been getting is calls."
And all he's trying to do is recruit players for the Utes.
The Star-Bulletin met Lee at the airport Monday night to talk to him about the position and ran a Tuesday story saying Lee should be the choice and painting a dreamy "what-if" scenario in which Lee's hiring could bring native sons like Darnell Arceneaux and Kautai Olevao back to the Islands from Utah to finish their careers.
Lee said he has not heard from anyone with UH and hasn't tried to contact anyone at the school. "I'm too busy. It's the first day of recruiting," he said. "I'm not pursuing the job; I have a job. If they're interested in talking with me, I'll talk with them, but I came on a recruiting trip. It's not a trip to find a job.
"My brother is mentioned too, and if my brother wants the job, we're not going to battle each other."
Lee did call the job possibilitiy "intriguing" and added: "Obviously, my family's here, and there's some possibilities to investigate. But, obviously, I'm happy where I am, and Ron has been very good to me. I like Salt Lake. But it is a head job, and if things got to the point where they were interested in talking to me, I'd talk with them.
"But I think a lot of things are premature, and everybody seems to be mentioned, and I don't know if they're talking to anybody yet," Lee said.
Yoshida told the Star-Bulletin the Rainbows need to fill the position soon to begin recruiting.
Among the dozne mentioned for the job are Arizona assistant Duane Akina, Brigham Young offensive coordinator Norm Chow, Navy assistant Kenny Niumatalolo and Southern Utah coach Ray Gregory.
Chow was quoted in the Honolulu paper as saying he thinks he asked too many questions the last time he was interviewed for the Hawaii job and is unlikely to be considered this time.
Gregory, a 35-year-old former Rainbow assistant, chuckled when asked if he was a contender for the job.
"The only people who have contacted me are reporters," he said. "Would I like the job? Who wouldn't? It's paradise, man. I was there for two years and I had a blast.
"Do me a favor, would you? Give them my number."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.