Respect, Haka, LWJ

Louisiana Tech head coach Derek Dooley talks about respect and sensitivity when discussing why the Warriors got penalized for performing the haka at his stadium. But when it comes to dealing with opposing players, Derek Dooley is like a school on a Sunday -- no class!

Adding fuel to what is becoming a heated rivalry, Hawai'i football players said slotback Davone Bess was the target of curse-peppered remarks made by Louisiana Tech coach Derek Dooley during the Warriors' 45-44 overtime victory Saturday night.

Bess said the incident happened after "I caught the ball and ended up on that side. He pretty much said a couple of words at me, man. Whatever. I let it go.

"All I said was, 'Don't disrespect me like that.' I didn't curse back at him or nothing. I respect him. He's a head coach. It doesn't bother me. But at the same time, I feel offended, you know. Somebody of his stature ... to disrespect me like that, it was unnecessary."

Man, I wish I knew what he said. Anyway, despite his potty-mouth, Dooley seems like a good coach, a crafty coach, and maybe he was just trying to fluster Bess or cause some sort of retaliation. It seems like Ferd Lewis wouldn't put it past him.

Dooley knew, for example, officials have been instructed to enforce the NCAA prohibition against taunting and understood the Warriors would do the haka on the road, flying in the face of a "directive" from the WAC office encouraging teams to keep it for home consumption.

Suspicion is Dooley timed getting the Bulldogs off the field so that the officials would be forced to call the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Something Frank White, the Hawai'i-based head of the crew, couldn't very well refuse to do under the letter of the rulebook or with a WAC associate commissioner in attendance.

Dave Reardon talks to Colt Brennan about the haka controversy, and here's what he had to say:

"I'm very disappointed and sad our conference would try not to allow it," Brennan said. "That tears at what college football is all about. We're representing a culture that is very unique. If it intimidates and scares a coach, that's his problem."

Awww damn, gotta love it.

Brennan said if UH can't perform the haka in front of the other team, then other schools should have to abide by the same standard when it comes to their traditions.

"Alabama swinging their arms (like elephant trunks), everything like that. If we have to stop, every school should have to stop," Brennan said. "But that's not what college football is all about."

Come on, WAC! Play UP!

Dave Reardon writes about Leon Wright-Jackson's sixth sense on the playing field.

How does anyone avoid tacklers in the open field when you can't even see them? How do you know danger lurks?

"I kind of got it built into me when I was little," Wright-Jackson said. "I had a coach who told me to keep my head on a swivel.

"I don't know, but I knew if I went to the right, there'd be no one on the right."

Running backs coach Wes Suan said no one taught that to Wright-Jackson.

"No, that's God-given, natural instincts," Suan said. "He's been in situations where people are chasing him, but he knows to take away the angle. The thing is he's got the speed that he probably would've made it anyway. But that's the sense that quality backs have. He knew that the guy had the speed and the angle that might catch him."

What guy?

"Some runners just know," said UH linebacker C.J. Allen-Jones, who played running back in high school. "They sense it."

Yeah, baby!