Ferd Lewis: Hawaii football coach Todd Graham and Fresno State’s Kalen DeBoer instill toughness

FRESNO, Calif. >> On a freshly laid patch of sidewalk leading to Bulldog Stadium in 2004 Fresno State’s blood and guts football coach, Pat Hill, etched the message “Play Hard!” into the wet cement.

Hill now works as a KFIG radio analyst, but the message is still visible and altogether appropriate today as the University of Hawaii comes calling for the season opener against the Bulldogs.

It matches the constant, full-throated directive the two first-year coaches at new schools have given their teams about quickly establishing a “brand” for this truncated season in which both teams were without spring practice and have had minimal full-pad practices this fall.

Toughness, they have told their teams, will help them overcome hurdles and challenges as they otherwise try to find a hurry-up precision to their play in the eight-game, Mountain West Conference-only season.

In the nine months since he has taken over at UH, Todd Graham has preached a doctrine of toughness and “maximum all-out effort” for the Rainbow Warriors. Both as a whole and especially for a defense that has been getting a necessary rebuild after yielding 32 points a game in 2019 to rank 98th among 130 Football Bowl Subdivision teams in scoring defense.

It will be especially needed as the Warriors open the season with back-to-back road games against two of the most physical teams in the conference, Fresno State and Wyoming.

Graham said he longs for a return to the kind of dominating play Hawaii was known for in days when defensive plays drew oohs and aahs from Aloha Stadium crowds that were as loud as those accorded big offensive plays.

While we wait to see today if the message has taken hold at UH, be assured it has not been missed by Graham’s opposite number at Fresno State, Kalen DeBoer, who took over the Bulldogs 10 months ago.

“Being a defensive guy (Graham) is bringing a hard-nosed style to the Hawaii program, so we’re expecting a football team that is coming in here confident, physical and ready to go,” DeBoer said in a media conference this week. “We know we’re going to be in for a fight.”

DeBoer promised, “We are going to play hard and I can tell you that confidently because I’ve seen it in practice and on tape. We’ve talked about scratching, clawing and putting forth whatever it takes to get the job done. That’s what these guys are about now. I think you’ll see a group of guys that are going to fight and play tough.”

Some Bulldog fans will tell you that toughness was a missing ingredient last year when Fresno State slumped to an uncharacteristic 4-8 record (2-6 in the Mountain West) and was most noticeable late in games. And, they are pointedly counting on DeBoer, a former Bulldog offensive coordinator who replaced a medically retired Jeff Tedford, to re-instill it.

“Toughness,” De Boer said, “That’s the word that continues to come out with everyone I come into contact with as we talk to the alumni and proud fans of the Red Wave, you name it.”

In response, DeBoer brought in Hill, Derek Carr and others “to talk about being Bulldog tough,” which he defines as, “that toughness and grit it takes to be a Bulldog. And, mind-set it takes to win football games in Bulldog Stadium.”

Whichever team’s sideline you are on today.

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