As Arizona State’s head coach several years ago, Todd Graham walked off the football field to what equated to a zero-star Yelp review.
“This lady was just giving it to me,” Graham recalled. “We turned the ball over nine times and just gotten beat. … I stopped and looked at her. She thought, ‘Oh, boy, Coach is going to say something mean.’ I said, ‘No, I agree with you.’”
Now in his second season as Hawaii’s head coach, Graham has accepted the responsibility of a 1-3 start, particularly the Rainbow Warriors’ 17-13 loss to San Jose State on Saturday.
“I don’t want to be in a place that doesn’t want to win,” Graham said. “I don’t want to be in a place where fans aren’t passionate. You deserve the criticism. We embrace that, and take accountability for that, and work our tail off to get better.”
Graham said it was a “tough locker room” following the loss to the Spartans, the Mountain West’s defending champions.
In that game, the UH defense had its best overall performance of the season. But a partially blocked punt set up the Spartans’ 44-yard touchdown drive in the second quarter. On SJSU’s ensuing possession, backup tight end Dominic Mazotti broke away for a 46-yard reception to the 1. And while UH questioned whether Mazotti had fumbled near the goal line, Nick Starkel threw a 1-yard scoring pass. “So we gave them that seven,” Graham said.
On offense, quarterback Chevan Cordeiro threw for 242 yards on 18-for-39 passing. But four passes were dropped, and Cordeiro was pressured 12 times. During Tuesday’s news conference, Graham endorsed Cordeiro.
“It’s not a Chevan problem, it’s a preparation problem,” Graham said. “It all starts and ends with the coaches and what we’re doing. We’ve got to do a better job of getting our guys to execute. We’re not executing.”
While freshman Brayden Schager is a skilled quarterback and is ready if needed, Graham said, “Chevan’s our starter. We believe in him. I’ve been in this long enough to know when we’ve got a good product in him. It’s not him, it’s us. We’ve got to execute. We don’t have a quarterback controversy, we’ve got a winning controversy. We need to win.”
Graham said the Warriors responded with a strong practice on Tuesday.
“What are you made of?” Graham said of reacting to setbacks. “If you get knocked on your can, and you lose a game you should have won, and you didn’t play well, and you’re 1-3, what do you do? If you’re a winner, you go back to work, you take ownership and accountability. I’m accountable for everything. … You go to work. At the same hand, you have to examine what you’ve done well and what you haven’t done well. We’ve got to do better. We’re not doing things to our potential. That’s our responsibility.”
The Warriors will practice today and tomorrow on campus in advance of Saturday’s road game against New Mexico State. The Warriors have won all eight meetings, including three in Las Cruces, N.M.
