In an emotional announcement, Hawai'i football assistant coach Ikaika Malloe said he accepted the defensive coordinator's job at Yale.

"This might have been the most stressful decision I ever made," said Malloe, a Kamehameha Schools graduate who coached UH's defensive tackles and special teams in 2008. Malloe's wife also was raised in Hawai'i. They have three children.

"My heart will always be here," Malloe said. "It's been a dream of mine to not only be a coordinator, but to one day be a head coach. You'll never know if you'll get another chance. I don't want to regret not taking it."

Malloe and Yale head coach Tom Williams, a former UH defensive coordinator, were on the same staff at Washington.

"He's an awesome coach," former UH long-snapper Jake Ingram said of Malloe.

UH head coach Greg McMackin praised Malloe's work during "the transition year."

Malloe welcomes the challenge. "You've got a local boy at an Ivy League school?" he said, laughing. "Now I have to brush up on my English."