Associated Press
Coach Rolo
In a way, it was a surprise because Coach Rolo is a UH alumni who emphasized school and island pride to his players and fans. He referred to Hawaii as "Pride Rock", a name he got from the "Lion King" as a way to get his players to have pride in where they represent! Even more powerful was his slogan "Live Aloha, Play Warrior", emphasizing that his players be gentleman off the field, but still be aggressive on the field.
my photo - 2017
"Live Aloha, Play Warrior" slogan
on the University of Hawaii practice field
In another way, it wasn't a surprise because Washington State University offered him $3 million a year, which makes his UH salary (circa $600,000 a year) chump change in comparison. In fact, many Hawaii fans were forgiving of Coach Rolo leaving because of the salary difference. Hawaii has a high cost of living (though $600,000 should be more than enough to live on even here) and yet the university doesn't have the money to pay high salaries for coaches. Hawaii's population has been declining recently, making the pie of available money even smaller. We just don't have the big population fan base to pay the huge salaries of major college programs.
Also, Washington State University is in the Pac-12 and therefore has access to more lucrative TV pay-outs, whereas UH is in the Mountain West which recently negotiated a new TV contract that still not as lucrative as the Pac-12.
Coach Rolo's assistants included his former UH teammates Craig Stutzman & Brian Smith.
Jamm Aquino - Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Craig Stutzman, Nick Rolovich, Brian Smith
It was expected that one of them would take the head coaching position at UH, being that they're already in the system, they knew the offense and the players. Also being that both were alumni, and in Stutzman's case, he grew up in Hawaii. In fact, Stutzman joined the UH team straight out of high school back when UH was coached by loser coach Fred von Appen. To add insult to injury, Stutzman's 1st year as a UH football player (1998) was the year of infamous 0-12 season which got Fred von Appen fired. June Jones took over the following year, bringing the biggest turnaround (going from 0-12 to 9-4 the following year) in college football history. With all these circumstances, I would've expected Stutzman to stay loyal to Hawaii and take the head coaching position at UH.
It wasn't to be! Both Craig Stutzman and Brian Smith followed Coach Rolo to Washington State University
Being that this was recruiting season, UH needed a new head football coach fast.
They hired Todd Graham.
University of Hawaii Athletics
Todd Graham
It was a surprise hire being that Graham never played or lived in Hawaii. Usually, UH would hire coaches with Hawaii ties being that people coming from the outside would have to work really hard to earn the trust of the people of Hawaii, even more so for those of European-American ancestry (like Graham). It can be done, as former coaches like Dick Tomey, Bob Wagner, and June Jones were very well-loved in Hawaii. However, Fred von Appen was an example of someone from the outside who had a hard time fitting in here.
But being local isn't a guarantee of success in Hawaii as we learned the hard way with loser coach Norm Chow! He started off being embraced with open arms, but he bombed a lot of bridges in his short tenure here. I was so glad he got fired during the 2015, even though I'm usually the type of guy who believes in second chances and waiting until the season is over before making coaching changes. Norm Chow was that toxic & poisonous to the program.
Learn more about the dreadful Norm Chow era at
https://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-end-of-norm-chow-era.html
Tood Graham had college head coaching experience at Tulsa, Pittsburgh, and Arizona State. The teams had explosive offenses and aggressive defenses.
He's off to a great start in rehiring the assistant coaches who chose to remain at UH! It at least gives some sense of continuity for the players. He will continue to use the same offense, but will also add some tweaks he learned from previous coaching jobs
However, Todd Graham has a long history of moving around a lot. To be realistic, I wouldn't be surprised if he leaves Hawaii in five years.
That can be very frustrating for many mid-major programs who have difficulty sustaining consistently winning programs, especially when as soon as coaches of mid-major teams have some success, they usually get offered lucrative offers from major college programs with larger budgets. Then the mid-major teams have to start from scratch again.
In a way, UH has been blessed with coaches who stick around for a long time, even decades. Hawaii is a culturally unique place and those who fit in tend to be very hesitant to leave.
From a Fred Lewis article on Coach Rolo leaving Hawaii
https://www.staradvertiser.com/2020/01/16/sports/ferds-words/ferd-lewis-in-the-end-nick-rolovich-left-warriors-in-a-far-better-place/
(skipped paragraphs)It is rare that a coach of one of the University of Hawaii’s more visible athletic teams leaves for more verdant coaching pastures and bigger stacks of moolah.So exceedingly rare, in fact, that just three — Dick Tomey, June Jones and, now, Nick Rolovich — have done it in 43 years of the school’s Division I history across football, men’s basketball, women’s volleyball, baseball or softball.That’s something not many schools, especially at UH’s mid-major level, can say.
(skipped paragraphs)Fact is, we’ve been spoiled over the years by the steadfast dedication of Dave Shoji, Les Murakami, Riley Wallace, Vince Goo, Bob Coolen, Jim Schwitters and others, folks who have become UH lifers, if not statewide institutions.The nature of the landscape now is that their depth of devotion and commitment is almost extinct. In many cases they built programs, some painstakingly from the ground up, and took guardianship of them.But, then, times were often different, too. They had administrators who took a long-term view, they weren’t subject to social media firing squads after one bad season or weekend and nobody was waving a five-fold salary increase at them to leave.
then Ferd Lewis commented on Rolo's success
It might have been intriguing to see what Rolovich had been able to accomplish if he stayed another four or five years. But with the megabucks being thrown at football coaches these days by the TV-enriched Power 5 schools, that was as unlikely to happen as Rolovich being at a loss for goofy costumes.In the end, the bottom line is that Rolovich left UH in far better shape than he found it, which was just about all you can ask.
So while Todd Graham has a long history of moving around, we can at least hope he can continue the team's success while he's here!
Go Bows
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