By any name, Ian Shoemaker seeks to help implement a highly productive football offense at the University of Hawaii.

On Thursday, Shoemaker was named the UH football team’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

Shoemaker replaces Bo Graham, whose play-calling was widely questioned in 2021. Todd Graham resigned as UH’s head coach on Jan. 14, and his eldest son was not retained on new UH coach Timmy Chang’s staff.

In three seasons as Eastern Washington’s offensive coordinator, the Shoemaker-directed Eagles averaged 537.1 yards and 41.3 points per game. The Eagles’ offense ranged from five-wide sets to pistol formations employing run/pass option concepts. The Eagles favored a no-huddle alignment and often rapid tempo.

Shoemaker and Chang will craft an offense that matches the players’ skill sets.

“What I hope is it is super hard for people to defend,” Shoemaker said. “That’s the most important thing. I’m not concerned about the name. If you want to call it the ‘run and shoot’ and have some of those things … if you can define what we’re doing offensively, it’s easier to defend. What I want to do is whatever fits the athletes.”

Shoemaker said he prefers a balanced attack, which would mean blending the run-and-shoot’s drop-back passing with RPO schemes in which the quarterback is a dual threat.

Shoemaker said he is willing to coach from the sideline or the coaches’ booth during games. He coached at field level for five seasons as Central Washington’s head coach, where he won league titles in 2017 and 2018.

In 2019, Shoemaker’s first season at EWU, the Eagles led the nation in total offense (524.8 yards per game). In 2021, EWU had a strong start, lost two in a row, and then Shoemaker resigned on Nov. 9. “It was a mutual separation,” Shoemaker said. “We decided after those couple losses, it just wasn’t going to work anymore. And that’s the reason we kind of separated as far as leaving Eastern at the end of the season.”

Shoemaker and Chang did not have a previous working relationship when the offer was made. Shoemaker said he will work in unison with Chang, and was not concerned who would call the offensive plays.

“I’m a no-ego guy,” Shoemaker said. “I’m not worried about who’s in charge, who’s calling it. What we’re going to try to do is build the best offense we can, and try to score as many points as we can, and take care of our players and our program, and put them in the best position to be successful. I’m excited about making that build happen.”

UH also finalized the hiring of Thomas Sheffield as associate head coach and special teams coordinator. Sheffield (special teams) and Chang (receivers) coached together at Nevada the past two years. Both accepted coaching positions at Colorado State when Jay Norvell resigned as Nevada’s head coach in December to join the Rams in a similar position.

Sheffield welcomes his second-in-command role.

“I want to help (Chang) any possible way that I can,” Sheffield said. “Anything he can’t deal with at the time, throw it on my desk. I’ll be his right-hand man and take care of everything. Whatever the job may be, I’ll get it done. That’s kind of the blue-collar mentality I’m also going to help bring to this deal.”

Sheffield praised Chang’s work ethic and the passion for returning to his alma mater as head coach.

“This one is personal,” Sheffield said. “I’ve seen what he does when it’s another school. But this thing is personal for Timmy Chang because this is home. This is his state. This is his alma mater. This is his football team.”

UH also announced Matt Chon has been named chief of staff.