Todd Graham will be introduced as the University of Hawaii’s 24th head football coach today. AP file photo

The Maui News and The Associated Press

Todd Graham has been hired as University of Hawaii head football coach, athletic director David Matlin announced Tuesday.

Graham will be introduced as the program’s 24th head coach today at 2 p.m. at the UH Athletics Department lecture hall, the school said in a press release.

Graham comes to Manoa with 12 years of head coaching experience at the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level, most recently with Arizona State, where he led the Sun Devils to five bowl appearances in six years. The 41-year-old from Mesquite, Texas, has an overall head coaching record of 95-61 (.609) with stops at Rice (2006), Tulsa (2007-10), Pittsburgh (2011) and ASU (2012-17).

Ten of his teams appeared in bowl games, four won conference divisional titles and three finished the season nationally ranked.

At ASU, Graham compiled a 46-32 mark. The 46 wins were the most in a six-year span in program history and put him third all-time in wins. However, the Sun Devils had disappointing seasons in 2015 (6-7 record) and 2016 (5-7), and he was relieved of his duties after a 7-5 regular-season campaign in 2017. He and his staff stayed on to coach the team in the Sun Bowl, which the Sun Devils lost 52-31 to North Carolina State.

Graham takes over for Nick Rolovich, the former UH quarterback whose four-year tenure at his alma mater ended last week when he accepted the head coaching job at Washington State. Rolovich led a resurgence of the Rainbow Warriors program, leading it to bowl games in three of his four years as head coach. This season, he guided UH (10-5) to its first Mountain West Conference West Division title.

Graham is a defensive coach who has embraced up-tempo offenses and seems to have a sharp eye for coaching talent. His offensive coordinators have included current FBS head coaches Guz Malzahn (Auburn), Mike Norvell (Florida State), Chip Lindsey (Troy) and Billy Napier (Louisiana-Lafayette).

That could help him at Hawaii, where the the Rainbow Warriors’ best teams in the recent years have showcased high-scoring, pass-happy offenses like the Run-n-Shoot employed this past season by Rolovich.