Hawaii head coach Nick Rolovich's mind works in unique ways compared to his college coaching brethren. That was on full display earlier this week when he hired an Elvis impersonator to follow him around at Mountain West Media Days...and that was his backup plan after finding out that he would have needed a permit to get a monkey to accompany him to the annual event.
In an effort to build some camaraderie among the coaches of the league, Rolo had the idea of bringing everyone a unique gift to give them at Media Day, and then just before he left he decided to shoot off an email to the head coaches of the league in an effort to start a new tradition.
"The new guys got the email and they weren't sure if it was a first-year trick or a rookie hazing type deal, but we all know that we want to beat each other and we all know that we're in a very tough profession, and this is one way to at least build that relationship in a way where we can show respect for each other."
By now you've got to be wondering who brought the best gift. Rolo explains that Rocky Long has to be the winner of the first annual gift exchange after giving coaches a 12-pack of San Diego's finest craft brews, AND long went the extra mile by having the beer delivered to each coach's room so it was ready upon their arrival (no word whether it was on ice or not).
According to the Idaho Statesmen, other gifts included BBQ sauce (Nevada's Jay Norvell), honey (Utah State's Matt Wells), a Las Vegas branded gift pack of golf balls, towel, etc (UNLV's Tony Sanchez), candy and cookies (Hawaii's Nick Rolovich), and potatoes (Bryan Harsin of Boise State).
Hear more from Rolo on the unique event in the clip, and go ahead and let your mind wander about all the fun this could be in the SEC, Big 10, Big 12, ACC, and Pac-12.
#HawaiiFB's Nick Rolovich started a "coach gift exchange" for #MWFB media day last year; he though Rocky Long came out on top this year: pic.twitter.com/XrtwgLd9Sp
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) July 27, 2017