The University of Hawaii Board of Regents will address the status of the UH football team’s morale at the board’s next scheduled meeting Jan. 20 after a state Senate informational briefing online Thursday that lasted nearly three hours.

BOR chairman Randolph Moore and UH president David Lassner, athletic director David Matlin and football coach Todd Graham sat through more than an hour of public testimony. The testimony, mostly from former players and parents, was critical of Graham’s management of the team since he was hired in 2020.

Much of the criticism focused on Graham’s relationships with players. Many have complained about him on social media, and several of the team’s best players have transferred.

Graham, who has an overall record of 11-11 in his two seasons at UH, has also come under fire from many Rainbow Warrior fans.

Before and after the testimony the UH officials answered questions from members of the Senate Ways and Means and Higher Education committees, focusing on a wide range of allegations, including verbal abuse and ignoring concerns of student-athletes, among them mental health issues.

UH refuted some claims, including that Matlin and Lassner failed to address student-athlete complaints about Graham and that injured student-athletes, including a women’s basketball player, were treated poorly. Graham also denied a claim of addressing some players by swear words instead of their names.

“I do love these players,” Graham said. “I want to try to make a difference. Obviously we’re not perfect.”

The coach and UH officials said they are working toward improving communications, including restructuring the football team’s leadership council so all players are represented.

“I believe the athletic director has taken the steps to address the challenges,” Lassner said.

Matlin said he met with football players after complaints about Graham reached a head on social media early last month. He said he did not speak publicly about steps he was taking because of confidentiality issues. After those meetings, Matlin said he met with Graham in “not easy discussions about what went wrong.”

Graham just finished the second year of a five-year contract that pays him $800,000 per year. He can be let go without cause if he is paid half of his remaining contract; that would be $1.2 million now.

Sen. Glenn Wakai asked Matlin if he would buy out Graham’s remaining contract if the funds were available.

“No, right now it’s so fluid,” Matlin answered.

When pressed by Wakai, Matlin said, “That’s hypothetical. Of course, not ‘no matter what.’ It’s not a very fair question.’”

UH officials described the briefing as one-sided.

“That was cherry-picked,” Lassner said after the testimony videos. “This process is unbelievable. Substantial (written testimony) was in support (of Graham) and it was not allowed. We just listened to an hour of one side of the story.”

A YouTube video of the hearing can be found at 808ne.ws/GrahamVideo and written testimony can be found at 808ne.ws/GrahamWritten.