Hawaii football coaching search: Early look at potential candidates

Here are candidates and not in any order, with a quick breakdown on why they would be a good fit.

Robert Anae, BYU offensive coordinator:

He started off his coaching career at Hawaii as a graduate assistant in 1986-87, and he grew up in Hawaii. Since then he has been the offensive coordinator at BYU (twice) and Arizona with solid results. He also has coached within the Mountain West with a stint at Boise State and UNLV. However, Hawaii may want to go with someone who has head coaching experience.

Kevin Clune, Utah State defensive coordinator:

He spent the 2014 season as the defensive coordinator at Hawaii and actually had that Warriors unit ranked in the top half of the Mountain West in total defense, yards per play, scoring defense and rushing defense. Coaching at Hawaii he is aware of what it takes to recruit and bring in talent, plus coaching within the Mountain West over the past few years helps.

Don Bailey, Hawaii offensive coordinator:

His offense at Idaho State prior to Hawaii was prolific at the FCS level, but so far on the islands it has been lackluster. Part of that could be due to talent on the field and playing a very front loaded schedule. He lacks experience and has only been in Hawaii for one year and it is his only year at the FBS level.

Kalani Sitake, Oregon State defensive coordinator:

This could very well be the front runner, outside of maybe June Jones returning. When Norm Chow took over the head coaching job at Hawaii he nearly lured Sitake away from a Pac-12 defensive coordinator job at Utah for the same spot at a Mountain West school. Roots are there with the state and disregard a bit of the defensive results at Oregon State, because he was a big reason why Utah was able to be competitive in their first years in the Pac-12.

Todd Orlando, Houston defensive coordinator:

This is probably at the bottom of this list and his only real connection is that he coached at Utah State as their defensive coordinator for two seasons, and it is his only coaching job West of the Rocky Mountains. However, his defense speaks for itself, especially what he has done at Houston in just one year. Houston has a top 30 team in total defense, 17th in scoring defense and 13th in sacks.

June Jones, former Hawaii and SMU head coach: Count Jones as the most official of these as he plans on applying for the position. He is the school's all-time winnigest coach and led them to a Sugar Bowl berth.

Nick Rolovich, Nevada offensive coordinator:

Rolovich not only played college football in Hawaii but he was a coach for two stints with the Warriors. In 2003-04 he was the quarterbacks coach and then in his second go around from 2008-11 where he first served as the quarterbacks coach and then took over as offensive coordinator in 2010. Outside of Jones, he has the most experience in this list coaching at Hawaii.

Rich Miano, Former Kaiser H.S. (Hawaii) head coach:

This name has been thrown around as a possible candidate, and is the extreme long shot. He has coached for just two years as a head coach and it is at the high school level and just for two years. He is not currently coaching as he resigned prior to the 2015 season. He did play at Hawaii and played in the NFL for 11 seasons.