It is homecoming week at San Jose State and, in the case of some of the Spartans' football coaches, home really is coming to them Saturday.

And, they've been waiting.

"When I first signed up for this gig here, I just wanted to know when that (Hawai'i) game was and when I found out it was the 22nd of October, I circled it," said Joe Seumalo, the Spartans' defensive line coach, who is a former UH player and graduate assistant coach.

"It was a game that would have a lot of meaning for me as well as Coach (Dick) Tomey and for a bunch of other guys on our staff that have some ties," Seumalo said.

Between Tomey, who was UH's head coach for 10 years (1977-86), Seumalo, who played (1985-88) and coached (1999-00) at the school, and three others, Brent Brennan, Ken Margerum and Tom Williams, who coached during the Fred vonAppen (1996-98) era, there is no shortage of Hawai'i ties. Or, apparently, incentive.

"When you compete against your friends, whether it is golf or football, there is an extra incentive," Tomey said. "I've been looking forward to the game simply because there are a lot of people coming to the game that we know and care about."

Brennan is the uncle of UH quarterback Colt Brennan, who he tried to recruit to San Jose State. And UH linebacker B.J. Fruean is a nephew of Seumalo.

With family members on opposing sides, "this is kind of like the BYU game back when I used to play," said Seumalo, who still keeps momentos from his UH career at his desk at San Jose State.

But, Tomey said, "We're like every other football team that is in our (1-5, 0-3 WAC) situation. We're just anxious to play. Obviously, playing Hawai'i is good news/bad news. I love all the particulars involved but I know how good a team they are."

Tomey has opposed UH one other time since leaving Manoa, a nationally televised 27-6 victory to open the 1998 season while he was at Arizona.

"Since we played over there and that was the first time, it was kind of a special feeling," Tomey said. "We had a get-together the night before with about 40 ex-Rainbow players."

For this one, Tomey said the Spartans are expecting something more than the 14,685 they have averaged over their first two home games.

"Hawai'i is going to have a bigger visiting crowd, I'm told," Tomey said.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com.