Making a case for Dick Tomey as a College Football Hall of Famer | Justin Spears

Regardless of sport, passionate sports fans have fallen into the Hall of Fame discourse at some point in their lives.

Sometimes the Hall of Fame takes are sizzling hot like the attention-grabbing fajitas at Chili's, but we're going to take a measured approach with ours — and it's OK if you disagree.

But entertain us for a second, as we make a case for why former Arizona head coach Dick Tomey should be in the College Football Hall of Fame.

The Tomey Effect

Tomey was a baseball player at heart. He played catcher for DePauw University in Indiana, but started his football-coaching journey in the early 1960s at Miami (Ohio), where he was mentored by longtime Michigan Wolverines head coach Bo Schembechler. 

Tomey adopted Schembechler's "The team, the team, the team" mantra when he became a head coach at Hawaii in 1977. Between his time with Schembechler and becoming a head coach, Tomey coached under coaching greats such as Dick Vermeil and Terry Donahue at UCLA, where he helped the Bruins win two Rose Bowls. 

When Tomey took over the Hawaii football program, he embraced the "Ohana" culture and prioritized recruiting from the islands — and not just Hawaii, but also American Samoa and Tonga.

Tomey hailed from the big island of Indiana, but quickly became the godfather of Polynesian football and the Rainbow Warriors rose to their first-ever Associated Press ranking in 1981; they also had their first national television broadcast in '81. Hawaii defensive lineman Al Noga became the program's first-ever first-team AP All-American in Tomey's last season in 1986. 

Tomey also ushered Hawaii from playing as an independent program into the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) in 1979. Tomey was named WAC Coach of the Year in 1981. 

Tomey left Hawaii as one of the winningest coaches in program history with a 63-46-3 record over 10 years. Tomey's protégé, June Jones, passed Tomey for all-time wins in 2006. Jones (73) and Tomey (63) rank behind Otto Klum (84) for the most wins in program history, albeit Klum coached for 19 seasons from 1921-39. 

Tomey went from Oahu to the Old Pueblo after the 1986 season and succeeded former Arizona head coach Larry Smith, who accepted the same role at USC following the Wildcats' run to the Aloha Bowl. Coincidentally, Arizona's last game with Smith was in the same stadium Tomey coached in for a decade.

Arizona took its lumps early on. Even though Arizona had College Football Hall of Famer Chuck Cecil in the defensive secondary, the Wildcats were 4-4-1.

However, in the pre-transfer portal era of college football, Tomey built the Wildcats into a winner and led Arizona to a 7-4 record and third-place finish in the Pac-10 in Year 2. The following season, Arizona was 8-4 and capped the 1980s decade with a win over North Carolina State for the Copper Bowl in Tucson.

Arizona continued its success into the 1990s and produced the winningest decade in UA football history. The Wildcats averaged just over seven wins per season in the 1990s, and two of the program's 10-win seasons were in 1993 and 1998. The Wildcats' 12-1 team that defeated defending national champion Nebraska in the 1998 Holiday Bowl is considered arguably the best team in UA history.

Tomey stepped down as the winningest coach in Arizona history after the 2000 season and the program hit rock bottom with John Mackovic, who was 10-18 with the Wildcats. Arizona went on a 10-year bowl drought and didn't eclipse 10 wins until 2014.  

While Arizona struggled to recapture the success it had under Tomey's leadership, Tomey was an associate head coach under Mack Brown at Texas and helped the Longhorns win their first-ever Rose Bowl in 2004. Tomey was also a defensive back assistant coach for the San Francisco 49ers for a season. 

Tomey transformed San Jose State football from a three-win team in his first season to a 9-4 record and New Mexico Bowl win, the Spartans' first postseason victory in 16 years. Tomey retired following the 2009 season and ended his SJSU stint with a 25-35 record.

San Jose State is the only program Tomey didn't have a winning record with, but the lack of resources and the challenges of recruiting high-level players to the Bay Area, compared to other programs, make SJSU one of the most difficult jobs in Division I football. 

Tomey's disciple, Arizona head coach Brent Brennan, has often shared the differences between coaching at the UA and San Jose State. Even though Brennan had three seven-win seasons and led the Spartans to a Mountain West championship and three bowl appearances, he had a 24-38 record.

The near-annual matchup between San Jose State and Hawaii in football is considered the Dick Tomey Legacy Game. The Spartans have owned the Dick Tomey Legacy Trophy since 2020.

Tomey's career record at Hawaii, Arizona and San Jose State is 183-145-7 (.557). Part of the criteria for coaches to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame is to win 60% of their games.

Tomey isn't toeing the win percentage mark like the late Mike Leach (.596), who was recently added to the upcoming College Football Hall of Fame ballot, and he doesn't have Rose Bowl wins or national championships, but he had at least one nine-win season at all three stops — at a time when building teams were done the old-fashioned way through high school and junior college recruiting. 

'Desert Swarm'

Under Tomey, the Wildcats were scrappers. Former UA softball coach Mike Candrea recently said Tomey "would take three-star athletes who were competitors and turn them into five-star players." 

It was the blueprint to Arizona's "Desert Swarm" defense. Tomey and his assistant coaches recruited unheralded and under-recruited players and pieced together Desert Swarm, a defense that featured two College Football Hall of Famers in defensive linemen Rob Waldrop and Tedy Bruschi.

In 1992, Arizona's defense only allowed 8.9 points per game and 65 rushing yards per game. The Wildcats caused four takeaways in their upset win over top-ranked Washington in 1992. 

The following season, the Wildcats only allowed 13.4 points per game and routed the Miami Hurricanes, 29-0, in the Fiesta Bowl. Arizona only allowed 331 rushing yards the entire 1993 season, which is one of the best marks in college football history. Bruschi's 52 career sacks tied the record for the most by any college football player. 

Leading up to the 1994 season, Bruschi, defensive lineman Jim Hoffman, linebacker Sean Harris and defensive backs Tony Bouie and Brandon Sanders were featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated. 

Arizona and its defense were a household name in college football in the 1990s. The Wildcats were even being dubbed a "good football team" by Keanu Reeves in the movie "Speed." 

Polynesian influence

Tomey had a strong pipeline of Polynesian players coming to Hawaii, many of whom became successful in their post-playing careers.

Former Hawaii offensive lineman Jesse Sapolu, who became a four-time Super Bowl champion with the San Francisco 49ers, is the co-founder of the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame in Oahu. 

San Jose State head coach and former Hawaii quarterback Ken Niumatalolo, who is the winningest head coach in Navy football history, played for Tomey before kickstarting his coaching career.

At Arizona, Tomey emphasized bringing Polynesian talent to Tucson. Arizona's list of Polynesian standouts under Tomey includes current defensive line coach Joe Salave'a, quarterback George Malauulu, offensive lineman Edwin Mulitalo and tight end Brandon Manumaleuna, among others.    

Tomey's Polynesian influence remains strong under the Brennan-coached Wildcats. Former UA head coach Jedd Fisch revived the Polynesian culture in the UA football program when he was hired in 2022 and Brennan continued it when he took over in 2024. Former UA receiver Tetairoa McMillan was named the Polynesian College Football Player of the Year. 

Arizona has 19 Polynesian players on its 2026 roster, which makes up 18% of the team. One of those players is star quarterback Noah Fifita, who is arguably the top quarterback in UA history and could statistically go down as the top passer in program history this upcoming season. 

Final verdict

Will Tomey ever get inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame? Maybe. Maybe he won't.

Between the success at three programs that all have their own unique challenges, along with the Polynesian influence woven into the fabric of UA football and the national recognition he brought to Tucson, Tomey makes a compelling case to be in the College Football Hall of Fame. 

Herman Boone (played by Denzel Washington) said to Bill Yoast (played by Will Patton) toward the end of "Remember the Titans," "You're a Hall of Famer in my book."

Tomey is one in mine.