It was 1975, and followers of Hawai'i high school football thought Ron Lee was crazy.

Crazy as a Mouse, as it turned out.

After a disastrous adjustment period, Lee's one-back passing attack matured into an unstoppable force, leading his Kaiser High and Saint Louis School teams to 14 O'ahu Prep Bowl or state championships the next two decades.

Now Lee, who learned the run-and-shoot offense from two of the masters — Mouse Davis and June Jones — and was the Warriors' receivers coach the past eight seasons is poised to become the offensive coordinator.

Greg McMackin, who was named UH's head coach yesterday, promised that Lee's offense will have the DNA of a Jones-led attack that was one of the most productive nationally the past nine seasons. Jones learned the basics of the run-and-shoot from his mentor, Davis, and transformed it into a more potent four-wide offense.

In early 1975, Lee realized his under-manned Kaiser team needed a way to compete against the talent-deep Farringtons and Kahukus. Back then, most Isle offenses had two- or three-back formations. In an effort to spread out defenses, Lee had experimented by aligning one of the backs wide, creating a one-back offense.

"We didn't have a lot of guys," Lee recalled. "We couldn't run the ball. We tried to put basketball players out there just to get the numbers."

Lee then called his brother, Tommy Lee, a college coach in the Northwest, for advice.

"He told me there was a coach in Oregon who was driving everybody nuts with his offense," Ron Lee recalled. "His name was Mouse Davis. I asked if he could set it up so I could come up and watch (Davis' practices)."

Davis agreed, and Lee attended Portland State's spring practice in 1975. Lee took notes of the drills and watched reels of film.

That fall at Kaiser, Lee implemented the run-and-shoot, which featured two wide receivers, two slot receivers and a running back. It was football's version of the 3-point shot, a spread-'em-out attack allowing a smaller team to compete.

"Everybody thought I was crazy when I did it," Lee said. "Back then, everybody ran the ball. Nobody passed."

Kaiser struggled in the scheme's infancy. But by 1977, few defenses could stop it. In 1979, Kaiser won the O'ahu Prep Bowl. Ron and his brother Cal then brought the offense to Saint Louis, setting the way for the most dominant run in Isle prep football history. The quarterbacks were John Hao, Jason Gesser, Darnell Arceneaux and Timmy Chang. One season, the Crusaders' offense included three future NFL stars — Dominic Raiola, Olin Kreutz and Chris Fu'amatu-Ma'afala.

Lee's offense will differ slightly from the scheme Jones ran successfully at UH. Jones is so brilliant he can correctly call set routes. For instance, Jones might call "H-corner," in which the slotback will run a route to the corner. Lee, on the other hand, prefers "H-option," in which the slotback, depending on the coverage, has the option of running a corner or post route. Lee's offense will be simpler, but have more plays. Lee said his schemes are based on plays Jones introduced in recent years.

In Jones' offense, the running back is used mostly as a backfield blocker, making up for the absence of a tight end. Lee prefers to employ a bruising fullback.

"I like to have a back who might not be as fast as in the past, but can pound it inside," Lee said.

Lee's Saint Louis teams always featured power running backs.

"That's what I like," Lee said. "They're not necessarily going to run, but (defenses) better respect the big fullback. They're going to have to hit him to tackle him. Whatever they give us, they have to respect the fullback."

Visit Tsai's blog at www.HawaiiWarriorBeat.com.

Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.