The leader of the best pass defense in Division II football last year is joining the Hawai'i football coaching staff.

Dave Aranda, 31, will coach on the defensive line, specializing in tutoring defensive ends.

"I'm very appreciative to be here," said Aranda, who arrived in town Friday. "The coaches seem like great people. They're very welcoming, very humble for what they just put together."

Aranda and freshly hired UH head coach Greg McMackin will be reunited. Aranda was a graduate assistant and defensive assistant at Texas Tech when McMackin served as the Red Raiders' defensive coordinator.

Aranda, who is married and has two daughters, was Delta State's co-defensive coordinator last season. In 2007, the Statesmen led Division II in pass-efficiency defense (77.9 rating), was second in total and scoring defense, and third in run defense.

Earlier this month, he accepted the job as Southern Utah's defensive coordinator when Ed Lamb was named as head coach. But when UH promoted McMackin, Aranda received Lamb's permission — and blessing — to move to Manoa.

"Part of you feels like Bobby Petrino or something," Aranda said. "Coach Lamb was very understanding. That made it a lot easier for me. It was a blessing in that way."

Aranda also was the defensive coordinator at his alma mater, Cal Lutheran, and linebackers coach at Houston, when the Cougars played the Warriors in the 2003 Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl.

Aranda will bring a unique — and modern — approach to coaching. Skilled in multi-media techniques, he has used computer-generated visual aids to help his players.

For instance, he produced a video interspersing footage of an All-Pro defensive lineman and one of his defensive ends. The video was synchronized to music.

A defensive end "might say, 'OK, (the All-Pro) is leaning this way, I might want to do that,' " Aranda said. "You want to do all kinds of fun stuff."

The best way to reach Generation Xbox, Aranda believes, is to relate to them with videos, music and other multi-media forms.

"Instead of having a fox-hole mentality and 'this is football and everything else is separate,' bring the best of everything else to it," Aranda said. "We should use whatever (players) go through in their daily lives — music, videos, clips from favorite movies."

Aranda arrived in time for the stretch run in recruiting. His wife and children remained in Cleveland, Miss., where Delta State's campus is located.

He said his wife is packing their belongings to ship to Honolulu. She will stay in Mississippi until she can sell their house.

"It's difficult being a coach's wife," Aranda said, noting he and his wife have been together since their sophomore year at Redlands (Calif.) High School. "You get to take off and live in a nice hotel, and recruit, and stay up late with coaches while she's trying to pack, sell the house and raise two girls."

He said it is 20 degrees with "some freezing rain" in Cleveland.

"They can't wait to get out here," Aranda said.

Aranda said he already has plans for his daughters.

"We're going to the parks," he said. "The zoo is going to be a big part of our lives, too."

Aranda is the seventh coach on McMackin's staff. Rich Miano, Cal Lee, Ron Lee and George Lumpkin were retained from June Jones' staff.

Two former Warriors — quarterback Nick Rolovich and center Brian Smith — were added to the staff last week. Rolovich will coach the quarterbacks, and Smith will be in charge of the offensive linemen.

There are two spots left to fill. McMackin is expected to hire a coach to oversee the defensive tackles. The last opening will go to a coach who can work with the running backs and offensive linemen.

Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.