UH, SJSU to play for a Tomey trophy

When the Hawaii and San Jose State football teams meet on Nov. 9, they will play for a trophy honoring Dick Tomey.

Tomey died on May 10 after a battle with lung cancer. During a coaching career that spanned five decades, Tomey was the Rainbow Warriors’ head coach for 10 years and led the Spartans for five seasons.

Details of the trophy’s design and funding have not been finalized. But both teams agreed to mutually honor a coach who ranks in the top 50 in the FBS for most games coached (19th, with 335 games) and won (39th, with 183 victories).

UH coach Nick Rolovich and SJSU counterpart Brent Brennan came up with the idea to celebrate their former cohort.

“If there was anyone deserving of having a legacy trophy named after him, Dick Tomey is the one because of what he meant to the game of football,” Rolovich said in a news release. “I’ve had the privilege to coach with him (in 2011) and being mentored by him for many years, and he is responsible for me being able to sit in this chair. It’s only appropriate that both Hawaii and San Jose State programs honor him in this way.”

Tomey was UH’s head coach from 1977 through the 1986 season. He shepherded the Rainbow Warriors into the Western Athletic Conference while playing before large crowds at Aloha Stadium, developing future pros such as Jesse Sapolu, Blane Gaison and Falaniko Noga, and fostering the rivalry against Brigham Young.

He then coached at Arizona for 14 seasons, where he became the Wildcats’ winningest coach (95-64-4).

At San Jose Sate, his value was more impactful in the classroom.

“As much as we were successful on the field,” SJSU spokesman Lawrence Fan said, “we had great academic success under Tomey. We needed to right our ship as it related to APR (academic progress rate). We accomplished that.”