Ferd Lewis: Todd Graham needs to get up to speed as UH coach

Before his first head coaching appearance at Aloha Stadium, Todd Graham was asked how he came to advertise his University of Tulsa offense as “The Run-and-Gun.”

“I’m trying to make a livin’, man,” Graham quipped. “It sells tickets.”

A little over nine years after that Hawaii Bowl-record 62-35 blowout of the University of Hawaii in 2010, Graham is back — and this time the mission is to sell tickets for the Rainbow Warriors by putting up points in bunches for them.

The Christmas Eve performance apparently long resonated with the then-Hawaii Bowl executive director, because David Matlin, who is now the UH athletic director, selected and announced Graham’s hiring Tuesday evening, supplying a surprise ending to the week-long drama.

Graham, who will be introduced as Nick Rolovich’s successor at today’s 2 p.m. campus press conference, will be charged with not only keeping a wide-open offense and winning games from where the ’Bows left off, but the considerable task of enticing fans back through the rusty turnstiles of Aloha Stadium.

That was a tall order that not even a 10-5 record and Mountain West Conference division championship could consistently meet at a less than half full facility in 2019.

But it shouldn’t cost UH that much, at least initially, to have their most experienced hire since College Hall of Fame-bound Clark Shaughnessy in 1965 give it a shot. Graham is 95-61 over 12 seasons as a head coach at Rice, Tulsa, Pittsburgh and Arizona State but might have come at a bargain rate, at least initially.

That’s because the 55-year old Graham was due a reported $12.8 million buyout by his last employer, ASU, that, according to the contract, is to run through June 2021.

It was one of the most lucrative buyouts in college football history, eclipsed by Charlie Weis’ $18.9 million at Notre Dame and Willie Taggart’s $17 million at Florida State.

The length and financial terms of UH’s deal with Graham have yet to be announced.

What is known is that Graham’s last regular-season opponent, Arizona in 2017, will be first up for him as the ’Bows head coach, with an Aug. 29 season opener in Tucson.

While Graham has been away from the sidelines since his dismissal from ASU, he apparently hasn’t strayed far from coaching while anticipating an eventual return. Graham told the Arizona Republic that in addition to coaching his son, Michael — “I’ve got tackling sleds in my backyard. I’m sure people are wondering what kind of crazy person lives there …”

He has also regularly watched and studied tape while trying to meld some NFL concepts to the college game and visiting other coaches, including his friend Bill Belichick, the newspaper said.

At Tulsa, Graham’s teams twice led the nation in offense (2007 and ’08) and the Golden Hurricane broke speed records in getting there. In the 2010 season, often employing a no-huddle approach, they averaged an offensive play every 23 seconds and were known to require just 14 seconds from setup to the snap.

Keeping the UH program on an upward trajectory while attracting fans back to Halawa might not be a snap. But it is definitely a task that needs to be accomplished with all possible speed.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.