Todd Graham Introduced As Hawai‘i Head Football Coach

Wow Aloha everybody this this past week has been a exciting one for sure frankly maybe the most exciting one during my tenure here that's that nothing worthwhile is ever easy but we are warriors and with teamwork and diligence we are here today is an exciting day for Hawaii football when we lost our football coach a week ago my first concern was for our players these guys put in the work on the field and in the classroom 118 games this past two seasons and then it seasons as champions these guys matter to me I met with all of them as a group I listened to what they had to say they were alone I encouraged them to tell me how they were feeling I also spoke with them in smaller groups and appreciated one-on-one conversations as well these are great young men looking for a new leader we wanted someone who cared about them as students and athletes someone who would teach them how to be better individually and inspire them on how to be better as a team we also wanted so and not necessarily a homegrown guy but someone who shared their values who understands the job opening created a lot of interest from a lot of coaches locally and nationally legitimate canidates from all over the country were reaching out it was awesome the the sea talent we have on this team they see fierce competitive spirit we have on this team they see the Brotherhood because we all know they weren't reaching out for just a job there was intense pressure to move quickly but I wasn't going to sacrifice quality for time there was just too much at stake like I said there were a lot of candidates who could do the job some were internal and some were not our goal was to find the best head coach for this team and this program a coach who could build teach inspire and lead Todd Graham has impressive list of credentials 12 years head coach coaching Spears to d1 a 95 61 record pac-12 coach of the year conference a USA coach of the year also shared Hawaii Bowl champion when I was in another life that was a good life multiple division championships in Conference USA in the pac-12 and 10 bowls in 12 years but that's not why Todd is here he is here for our guy Todd is a player's coach he has incredible knack for teaching and developing players to be the very best they can be he shares our values of Ohana which was demonstrated by the time we you know by the time my wife and I actually ought to spend with him ins wife penny we welcome penny here and while we look forward to meeting your six children he values hard works where he respects the diversity across all cultures that make up this island this program and this team he is a teacher he's a professor of football this football team is not broken this football team is just getting started please welcome head coach of the University of Hawaii Rainbow Warrior football program Todd Graham I don't think thank you so much it's such a great honor and privilege to be here I want to thank David oh you need it oh I'm sorry all right well I'll leave it alone then but I want I want to think president Lassner and and David for believing in me it's it's a great honor and a privilege for me to be here I wanted to share a little bit about about who I am and what I'm about first I want to start off by I know he mentioned penny my wife standing up there pinning all right see you know I'm a good recruiter all right and because most the time I get that how did you're married to her very very very fortunate I mean this you know we've had a great adventure and being educators and you know moving our family and coming here is something that is a big move and it's one that we're very very excited about and but I'm very thankful that I have a tremendous wife and and a great family because that's that's really when I talk to you about who I am I'm a person I talk to the players today we talked about faith we talked about family and we talked about football and so I'm just very grateful to penny for you know 31 years of traveling all over and coaching football and it's been a great joy it's a great joy to be a teacher so I'm honored to be here and I wanted to start off and talk a little bit to the people of Hawaii now this is your football team I'm very humbled and very honored to be your coach and one of the things I told our players today is that I will work hard to earn your trust to earn your respect and will be a program about winning championships and winning will be defined by not only what we do on the football field but what we do in the classroom what we do in the community and I want these young men that come through our program to be championship husbands of integrity to be championship fathers and to know what it is to live a championship life and so that's something we talked about what I call your best mentality you'll get my best every day and you know that's that's something that I'll commit to this program but the people of Hawaii I'm I'm so honored to be here I'm so honored to be your coach I can't wait I'm excited that a lot of times when when you go through transitions you come into a place and and you got to figure out how to win and and the next step here is to win the Mountain West championship so that's that's what I'm excited about [Applause] tell you tell you a little bit about our brand of football we're going to attack we're gonna play the game with great speed and great physicality will be the hardest working will be the most discipline most physical and best prepared team in the country that's that's that's our focus every day is to win everyday and how we do things obviously doing that by being the givers of respect and everything that we do I will expect our players to compete in the classroom with the same passion they compete on the field with because I want to win that championship and that's how you get it done how you do anything is how you do everything one of the things I want to commit is that I can tell you what I'm going to do is I'm going to be a learner I've got I've got a lot to learn obviously when you should come into a new endeavor that's important but I can tell you this I'm a person about relationships I care I was the first person in my family to get a chance to go to college and get an education and football afforded me that opportunity it changed my life coaches and teachers impacted in my life I wouldn't be standing here if not for them and not for my mother and for my family and that's who I represent and so I will work hard every day to make a difference in young people's lives and to make a difference in this community and our focus will be this community and we start talking about recruiting and recruits it's a University of a life and so we don't this state and that's why our priority will be and obviously I've got a I've got a lot to learn but but I'm ready willing and able and I'm excited for the opportunity I want to talk a little bit I'll talk to the players today we had a great meeting man I was you know I told him I watched him last year physically dominate to pac-12 teams I was thoroughly impressed with obviously a bowl champion and I was very very impressed this morning I'm very very thankful for the coaches that have come before me and the players that have come before me here one of the things it's important to me in the way I grew up is is to honor the past and honor the people have been here in the great tradition of this program and so I want our former players out there to know that this is your program that you know I'll be reaching out to you I'm hoping to be able to communicate with you guys via email as well as at home football games one of my priorities is every game I meet with former players the people that strap that helmet on I have great respect for and so I wanted to shout out to them and tell them how honored I am to be here one of my mentors and great friend is a man by the name of coach dick Tomey and a great man and I hope that I can impact this community in in at least a little bit in the way that he did because he impacted me as a coach and had a big influence on me and I know he's smiling down today our recruits as soon as I'm done with this press conference I'll be on the phone with you and you know I come in and my whole deal is it's not about a sales pitch people don't really care about what you say they care about what you do and so I'm looking forward to to talking to them meaning that many of the young men that made that sign on early signing and they committed to our program I'm gonna be on planes and coming to see you and come to see your parents wanting to reach out to a the parents of our existing players and I know transition is tough but I don't take it lightly that your son's future is in my hands and that influence and that responsibility I want you to know that I'm committed to helping them be champions in life and how their dreams are my dreams as we move forward I want you to know the you know our focus as a football team on the core set of values character smart disciplined tough and will be a program about winning championships how our style of play and how we're gonna do it we're going to we're gonna air it out we're going to every place I've been I've averaged almost 40 points a game as a head football coach we'll have men that are great teachers and we'll put will will play an explosive exciting brand of football will attack and everything that we do and play the game with great speed in physicality very honored to be here god bless you and gobos coach you've been out of coaching for two years you said recently they to take jobs but you passed on them because you wanted to find the right fit the right location the right culture what is it about Hawaii that makes you feel that is the right fit yeah obviously you know one of the things I'll share with you is it's being out of the game I can tell you that that that the last 24 months has been probably the greatest learning experience of my life I was I believe the good Lord put me on this earth to impact young people and be a teacher and I'm gonna tell you I will never take that for granted because yeah I can tell you I've missed it getting the players I just see a bunch of our players in here and getting to visit with them today and and and being a building it lead and impact young people's lives is something that man is important to me so that that's one big thing I think you know in my life my priorities are my faith we're very spiritual family we are you know families what's important to me the way I approach being an educator is very family driven family centered I've been here and visited here it's one of our and I can tell you we're gonna buy a house I think east of here and and it's our forever house because I can tell you my wife and I mostly I've got five college graduates probably should have mentioned that very proud of that we've got one seventeen year old that's that's fired up to be a part of it but really that to me it was a great fit in that the values that that this state and this university is about I believe that that I fit and I'm gonna tell you this I've learned I've made mistakes in the past and I've made I thought I could win anywhere and and you have to fit a place and so I you know if you ask me in one word to describe Who I am I'm all about relationship and to me when I think of Hawaii I think of the experiences I've had here the people that know here the kids that I've coached that have been from here that that's how I describe the light first time welcome coach thank you uh when you were at Arizona State I'm sure you got the opportunity to recruit the state of Hawaii when you look at high school football players in this state just in general what kind of athletes do you see well one of one of the things that I'll tell you it's kind of interesting a young man that played for me in 2010 that came here and played you know when I took a job your players are calling you and congratulating you and he made a point when he called name's Nelson Coleman played middle linebacker for us it was a great player and he said man coach he said let me tell you now those guys out there bring it and we actually won that game but you know and I told the players one of the things that really the game of football I love because it emulates life it's tough it's hard it's physical right and when I when I think of the attributes of what it is to play here and the style of football one of the things that watching those games and watching them it wasn't any you know it wasn't any fluke when they when they beat the the pac-12 teams this last year I watched them out physical them and so that's the thing that I know I know that you know that will recruit the best and the brightest with the best character that fit our program right here from from these islands first and so you know I there's a competitiveness you know that that I think in the in this region that is unique and so that's something I'm excited about in our players to tell you now I'm a passionate guy and you know what I love about this game is it is hard it's difficult to win I'm gonna tell you winning ten football games is hard to do what they accomplish this is pretty amazing and obviously we got we got unfinished business and that's that's go in that championship one more for me real quick sir player development something that I think is really big in college football and it's listed here on your resume what's the recipe for player development well my big thing I'm an educator and a teacher you know everybody wants to go fast right we're gonna be fast tempo we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna play the game at a blistering pace think it's very difficult because for a defense to be able to operate in that kind of pressure obvious you've seen the emergency of merchants of the spread offense and just how difficult that is so points are going gone up you know big time and so you know the key to doing that is if you have young people and you have a set of values and you you sign young people and you recruit young people and you develop young people and coaches with character first and then you recruit young people that are smart and you're organized it produces something called discipline and we're going to be able to operate faster and more efficient and more physical than the opponent because of our discipline does that make sense so developing staff and developing players to me it is about is about education it's about teaching we integrate technology into teaching what we're going to do offensive and defense Lee is going to be complex one of the things I told the players is they're not learning a whole new terminology yeah you know the success here you know you can research it and the success here has already been designed there's a design to be successful here and I can tell you I like it I ever any offensive coordinator we have here's gonna tell the ball fifteen times deep down the field because I like that and fans like that and it scores touchdown so that's that that's kind of how we're gonna do it defensively we're going to attack we're going to we're gonna be hard to prepare for in three days and to do that it's easy to sit up and say that but it's hard to get done and so you know it developing them starts with you develop their heart then their mind then the body body follows but we're going to teach and we're going to train and it's set you know we talked this morning about winning championships everybody's fired up but I'm gonna tell you now we're gonna go to work because no one's gonna outwork us and that and you know what I mean by that is being smart about how we go about working and there's lots of things that we can do I'm excited about I think there's lots of things we can do in development with our players and we'll be very methodical and who we bring here and how you know obviously you know that's something that's really important to me and I've had the you know privilege of developing assistant coaches have gone on to be head football coaches and in selecting the right people for the right fit here but those coaches will come in and adapt to our players the players are not going to adapt to the coaches does that make sense I mean from a terminology standpoint and and then from from a standpoint sports training them physically it's just you know just just its everyday training to operate faster and more efficient with the discipline that it takes dominate what do you make of the roster you're inheriting and how do you think it aligns with what you want to accomplish on both sides of the ball well I'm very impressed you know I think we got things in place that we can do the things that we've talked about you know I think you know obviously you can improve there's no question about that but I like the roster I like I tell you I don't think I was I've never been in a meeting I told David this I was I was impressed with our young men this morning as much as I've ever been impressed with any group I've ever met with I mean I was impressed and so we've got they've done some hard work they've done some grinding here they've done they've developed and trained these guys pretty well I think and because I you know the brand I think we have a physicality a base of physicality I think we got some guys who can run I think we got some speed obviously can't ever have enough speed you know that this you know that the art you know how you play the game is speed explosive power and and I think the tempo is what defines who we are because our odile we're not trying to trick anybody we're trying to create a fifth quarter by the pace in which we go and then when things get tough then you find out what people are made of and and I like the base that we have here [Music] firstly raising money for the program absolutely I you know you know my deal is I told our players that that part of me asking them to give their best every day I told him I don't anybody have a great attitude I want your best attitude every day your best period and so when it comes off iya slee there's lots of things we can do to to maximize the development of our players with with technology in classroom settings and and in improving you know our nutrition and proven how we train proven the the apparatuses that we have to initiate great training there's all kind of things we can do and part of that involves money and so we will work hard I think when you have a great cause when you have a great cause in your heart and you're doing things the right way people will get behind that cause and so we've been I've been fortunate enough to do that and I think it's all about relationship you know you know I've been over the last you know 12 years to be in division one football coach I have not had one you know I mean obviously got a win I mean you know you have to win period and but define winning define winning other people people will get behind you know I think you know a team that has scholar ballers that are you got a football team operating at 3.0 or higher GPA you get your graduating your football players you you're doing things with class and character and integrity and not me no no median standards I'm talking about high standards when it comes to that and people people will activate and be about that cause and and I just think that that's part of my job is it they they deserve my best too and so whatever I can do to advance this university this community I represent this state this university in this athletic department so I'll be as involved as is my my superiors want me to be the coach do you have a timetable on your staff higher and will whoever you hire as an offensive coordinator how much will that affect the offense that you decide to run in Pacific's well like I said I mean we're going to run I mean I mean basically you know we're going to be a for widespread no hado fast-paced offense we're going to stretch the field vertically and horizontally you know obviously the run-and-shoot has been here for forever I think it's worked pretty good so like I said we'll have an offensive coordinator that believes and then our we'll have one philosophy here I've defined that today and I've got I've got a great candidate pools I've obviously got an idea of what I want to do I'm not hiring all my buddies I'm gonna hire guys that fit here and and I'm gonna be very very I'm a process guy I'm not going to make emotional decisions and I'm gonna take my time to make sure that we get it right and so but it we would like to get that done yesterday but we'll we'll move as quickly as need be but I anticipate the next few weeks you'll making great progress in that but like I said I think it's one of the things I've learned in transitions is that in transitions we just won 10 football games so why would you come and completely change what you're doing why wouldn't you take in the look at that film and the things that we did great let's build upon it you know we're gonna run four verticals they ran four verticals last year whatever they called it last year this will run column and so lots of times with coaches and that's I guess that's my educational background is that I'm just not willing to do that we're not changing terminology we're there's gonna be some new things but we're going to build upon the things that we've done right because what I want to be doing is is is is winning a Mountain West championship next year and to do that it sets you back all the things you have to to relearn does that make sense let me just do plan to talk to roll vich about the returning staff that is still here in in Manoa that about retaining them I'm gonna I'm gonna work hard my first priority was our players today my next priority is is retaining the best and the brightest and the quality people that are here they want to be a part of what we're doing I will rehire everyone that that ever everyone we hire out hire and so so absolutely that's our priority our party right now my number one priority today was our players and then obviously when I leave here is going to be adding to that list of with recruits but staffs really really important and we just won ten foot ballgames so I imagine there are some pretty quality people here so we're gonna work hard to try you know today I'm not you know saying when how that process is gonna go what's gonna go but obviously those people are being considered coach yes sir Robby Curran ESPN Honolulu I wanted to welcome you first and ask you this is might be similar to Texas in that high school football and football generally is important here how do you reach out how do you form those relationships particularly with high school coaches and local parents well it's just one handshake at a time with our fans with our fan base one of the things I love about football is man when you win everybody loves you and and so if you lose you know they're not gonna like you so that's just the way I love that about football the purity of that high school coaches I consider myself a high school football coach in 2000 I was the head football coach at Allen high school I grew up and my goal in life was to be a high school football coach and give back you know I didn't have a dad and and so so coaches my 7th grade coach was my dad and so getting to know them and when they know that you're pouring into their players and they know that you're making a difference what I cared about when I was a high school football player I cared the college coach came in I expect them to take care of my players and and when you're talking about the young man's future their education their development it's a big deal and so it's not something that you come in and meet immediately happens you get out one handshake at a time and you earn their trust and you earn their respect and you do that by by taking care of their young people and and and helping their helping them reach their dreams all right gobos you [Applause]

Channel: University of Hawaii Athletics Department - Manoa

Views: 8,681

Rating: 4.7971015 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: VusymXyQ2ss

Length: 25min 2sec (1502 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 22 2020