RB/OL Coach Alex Gerke leaves for Utah State

About Gerke joining his friend Gary Anderson, the new Utah State head coach, Mac said:
“I hope he is successful there. Gerke’s done nothing but good things for us. He’s been an outstanding coach.” (HA)

Mac said that Gerke had the RB coach title but he also served as an:
“assistant offensive line coach.” (HA)

About Gerke leaving for Utah State, Mac said:
“Gerke spent most of his career in Utah. The (Utah State) coach is a good friend of his. He’s a Utah guy.” (HA)

About how he will not hire Gerke’s replacement until after NLI day on February 4, Mac said:
“I want to focus on recruiting. I don’t want to take anything away from that. I want to get the right fit for our staff. I don’t want to rush into anything.” (HA)

HA Note: “McMackin said Gerke’s departure will not hinder recruiting. Gerke and Smith collaborated on recruiting offensive tackle Brent Leonard of Saddleback College. Last week, Leonard signed a scholarship agreement with the Warriors. Leonard will enroll at UH in January.”

About how he expects the new hire to also work with the OL, Mac said that two OL coaches can work together:
“absolutely.” (HA)

About taking his time replacing Gerke, Mac said:
“I’m going to be patient and not jump into anything. I don’t like to make emotional decisions. I want to take my time. Besides, you can only have seven guys on the road (recruiting). It doesn’t hurt us with recruiting.” (HA)

Mac talks about their 2008 season and plans for 2009

About how he’s already started working on their 2009 season, Mac said:
“I’m already thinking about ’09. I’ve already started working on it.” (HSB)

About how he’ll take some time off now (this is a dead period for recruiting) in Vegas, where he and his wife own a home, Mac said:
“I’m going to take about a week to evaluate the season and make some decisions and go from there.” (HSB)

HSB Note: “Two days after the season-ending loss to Notre Dame in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl, McMackin had already identified two areas of emphasis for next season — sacks and penalties. Hawaii quarterbacks were dropped for losses an NCAA-record 59 times. The Warriors also tied a school record with 122 penalties and broke the UH mark with 1,097 yards in infractions.”

About how recruiting is critical to avoid the big losses on offense and defense that they had over the past two seasons, Mac said:
“Recruiting is a real key because we can’t go year from year and lose one or the other group. We’ve got to stabilize our recruiting.” (HSB)

About how their QBs know the system already, unlike last year, Mac said:
“We won’t have to teach the quarterbacks the package. Greg understands it, Brent understands it. We shouldn’t ever be in that situation again.” (HSB)

HSB Note: “Inoke Funaki started six games at quarterback and is expected to compete at running back next season.”

Reflecting on their season, Mac said:
“The players were supportive and loyal and we were all in it together. We had some good things happen and things that weren’t so good. This last game wasn’t so good, so we have to learn from that, recruit some good players and go from there.” (HSB)