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Trouble In Paradise Out In Hawaii?
A Twitter Spaces from Hawaii players blew up
Contact/Follow @JeremyMauss & @MWCwire
What is going on in Hawaii?
The Rainbow Warriors finished their season on an impressive two game win streak, but all of that momentum came crashing down when impact players began to enter the transfer portal. The two biggest names being starting running back Dae Dae Hunter and starting quarterback and team captain Chevan Cordeiro.
The news of Cordeiro entering the transfer portal sparked a Twitter live space (I believe that is what you call it) hosted by RJ Hollis, a former Warrior player and now a member of the local media, and another former player Darryl McBride. There were over 300 listeners that stayed on for about three hours as some current and former players spoke about the issues within the program. It was an honest and eye-opening forum for many fans to listen in on.
https://twitter.com/KuuleiAgbayani/status/1466602223077449730
I won’t put out any names of players that spoke or what they individually said, but the common theme was that Todd Graham is not well liked amongst the team, other coaches and even the support staff. He has been verbally abusive calling players “worthless” and other negative terms that the leader of a program should not be using.
Another complaint voiced was that Todd Graham treats the starters differently than back-ups and it is causing division within the team. Not only are they not getting very many practice reps to prepare them should they be called upon during a game, but Graham will invite a select certain group of players to “team” get-togethers at his house. I don’t expect him to bring the whole team over at once, but it would be nice if he invited position group by position group and included the backups and walk-ons.
One player said that he would even come up to them in a group and only talk to certain players and ignore everyone else that was there. Graham does little to improve team bonding and camaraderie. In fact, players stated that they don’t really even know everyone on the team because in the off-season they are divided into groups and do not see each other. You can back up Graham and say that it is because of COVID restrictions, but let’s be honest, how many other programs have this problem?
Graham claims that the groups are split up by the player’s class schedules but it sounded like some groups are favored over others. This is almost the complete opposite of what Coach Rolovich did in his time here. Rolovich had the team split into workout groups, but he made a “live aloha” competition where the groups would be rewarded points for attending things like volleyball or basketball games together. It helped to build a community not only within the football program but the athletic program in general.
Players also spoke about other members of the coaching staff. It sounds like most of the assistant coaches are well respected and appreciated by the players, but there are some “Yes men” on the staff who don’t belong in the division one ranks because of their lack of football knowledge and coaching ability. The feeling is that they are kept around because they agree with everything Todd Graham says. They also said that game day is stressful because all Todd Graham does is scream at them. He is always flustered trying to control everything (probably why he calls so many ridiculous time outs) and he won’t even let them play music in the locker room before the game to stay loose.
Mountain West Wire’s 2021 Postseason All-Conference Football Team
Former players spoke about the Warrior culture that they helped to build and carry on in their playing days that now seems to be dead. This is troubling because it shows Graham’s lack of connection to his current players as well as alumni. Hawaii is a unique place and the most successful teams we have had in the past have embraced the local culture. June Jones and Rolovich used to talk about how important it was to sign local players because they are the heart of the team and will teach the mainland players the culture and bring them into their family. Chevan Cordeiro was born and raised in the islands and dreamt of being a Warrior his whole life so for him to leave it shows the dysfunction that is taking place.
The person who should be taking the brunt of this is AD Dave Matlin because he hired Todd Graham knowing that Arizona State was willing to pay him $12.8 million to get rid of him and let him bring on a staff of “yes men” including the ever incompetent Bo Graham. Surprisingly enough, the topic of Bo Graham was only brought up once by an alumni saying that there is zero offensive identity and the play calling is atrocious. The only way I see Matlin saving his own job is if he takes action and investigates player complaints against Graham. I understand that the University cannot afford to buy out Graham’s contract and pay a new coach, but this man is on his way to killing our beloved program and the saddest part is he doesn’t even seem to notice or care.
It was announced that the NCAA is creating an extra bowl game so that all bowl eligible teams have the opportunity to participate. It looks like the Bows will be taking on the Memphis Tigers in the Hawaii Bowl.
Hawaii Football: Warriors To Face Memphis in EasyPost Hawaii Bowl
Graham is ecstatic because it triggers a bonus within his contract but I can’t imagine too many of the players are happy about an extra 14 practices with a coach they are sick of. This should trigger the rest of the players that were thinking about it to enter the transfer portal in the coming days. The silver lining here is that the players who are still bought in are going to get some extra work and some game experience that will be beneficial going forward. Here’s to hoping that we are able to retain the rest of our roster and put on a good showing on Christmas Eve.
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