Jeff Reinebold is the leading candidate to replace Jerry Glanville as the Hawai'i football team's defensive coordinator.

Head coach June Jones said there are two candidates from the Mainland and Reinebold, the Warriors' defensive line coach the past two seasons.

Jones said there is no rush to name a defensive coordinator before the April 2 start of spring training.

Jones said the Mainland candidates have National Football League experience, although he would not identify them or their backgrounds.

But Jones said "Jeff certainly will be considered."

And Glanville, who accepted the job as Portland State's head coach, endorsed Reinebold.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again: 'Sun God' is a very good football coach, one of the best I've worked with," Glanville said.

Earning that nickname because of his bleached hair and solar-bronzed skin, Reinebold helped develop defensive ends Ikaika Alama-Francis and Melila Purcell into pro football prospects.

Reinebold also was the point man in signing 10 of this year's UH recruits. Rivals.com named Reinebold as one of the nation's top 25 recruiters.

Asked about the opening, Reinebold said, "That's not something I'm going to publicly campaign for. I told June I wanted to make a contribution. When this whole thing started, it was his decision as to what contribution I would make."

Strong safety Jake Patek said: "Coach Jeff would do a good job. He would keep the same kind of schemes."

Reinebold said he shares Glanville's philosophy of gang tackling and multiple blitzes out of a 3-4 alignment.

"Here's the thing: I say 'blue' and Jerry says 'blue,' it's blue, but it may be different shades of blue," Reinebold said. "The last time I made a tackle in a game was 1981. That's a long time ago. The same thing is true with Jerry. It's always about the players.

"Jerry has done a tremendous job in two years of getting this thing pointed in the right direction. Whoever takes that responsibility, his job is to continue to pursue the same course. We've gone from really bad (defensively) to better than average, and now the tougher step is to take it from better than average to being really good. What the program deserves, what the people who watch the games deserve, what former players deserve, is a defensive football team to be proud of. Whatever role June gives me in doing that, I'll be happy to do it. To me, that's all it is."

Assistant coach Mouse Davis is expected to join Portland State as offensive coordinator. Whether Davis goes or not, graduate assistant Dennis McKnight will be promoted to full-time coach in charge of the offensive line, Jones said.

If Davis stays and a Mainland coach is hired as defensive coordinator, McKnight still will be promoted, Jones said. "We'll find a way to make it work."

Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.