DALLAS — People around college football tell you that, at 40 years old, Louisiana Tech head football coach Derek Dooley is somebody to keep an eye on for the future.

At the University of Hawai'i, that is very good advice — but in a much more immediate sense.

When the Warriors open their Western Athletic Conference season tomorrow at Louisiana Tech, history suggests Dooley will again be a formidable opponent for someone nearly 20 years removed from his playing days.

Two years ago in his Division I-A debut as a head coach, Dooley nearly derailed the Warriors' march to the Sugar Bowl before the bandwagon got rolling. The Warriors, 28-point favorites, eventually won, 45-44, in overtime that Louisiana night on then-defensive coordinator Greg McMackin's own bold blitz calls. But it was the closest — and most unexpected — threat in their unbeaten regular season.

It was very nearly a season that turned on, of all things, the haka, and a couple of daring gambits that told you a lot about Dooley as a future adversary.

A year earlier Dooley's predecessor, Jack Bicknell III, complained to high heaven about UH's haka at Aloha Stadium. All it got him was increased scrutiny for the future. But it was an episode — and potential opportunity — not missed by Dooley who, suspicion had it, adroitly timed keeping his Bulldogs on the field at Joe Aillet Stadium in 2007 just long enough so it would coincide with the start of UH's haka, earning the Warriors a penalty on the kickoff.

The 15-yard penalty got the Bulldogs the ball at the Tech 44, setting up the game's first touchdown. Then, Dooley rolled the dice again with Tech very nearly pulling off an onside kick on the way to a quick 14-0 lead.

Not that we should have been surprised at his gamesmanship, perhaps. He comes by some of it naturally, being the son of ex-Georgia Hall of Fame coach Vince Dooley. But after his playing days at Virginia, Derek went to law school and became a product liability litigator in Atlanta before returning to football.

That he is a fierce competitor should not be lost on UH, either. Two years ago UH players claimed he was the originator of curse-peppered remarks directed at the Warriors' Davone Bess after a sideline catch. Last year at Aloha Stadium, Dooley's displeasure with a second-half interception thrown by the Bulldogs' quarterback just moments after Tech had gained the ball on a blocked kick resulted in a sideline rant that was a hit on YouTube.

Truth be told, Dooley could be 2-0 vs. UH and probably should be at least 1-1. You can bet those prospects do not sit well with Dooley.

Which is why the Warriors should grasp by now the lengths he might go to begin squaring accounts.