Soon after the dedication service on Valentine’s Day, squatters took over the Alexander Waterhouse Sports Facility on the University of Hawaii campus.

Squat lifting is the foundation of the UH football team’s weight-training program. And in the facility that associate head coach Chris Brown calls the “Iron Church,” the Rainbow Warriors have shown they are a heavy-metal band of brothers.

Center Maurice Ta‘ala and Daniel “Sauce” Williams have each back-squatted 635 pounds.

Quarterback Brayden Schager, who has squatted 455 pounds, has been instructed to ease on his 500-pound goal and maintain his overall strength.

Tylan Hines, who is moving from running back to wideout, said he has fully healed from ankle injuries that limited him to four games last season. Hines is working his way to matching personal bests of a 505-pound back squat and 335-pound leg press.

“They do a lot of squats, a lot of single-leg stuff,” said Ryan Ishihara, who recently was promoted to head strength/conditioning coach of the football program.

Entering the spring semester, head coach Timmy Chang wanted to move up the start of the 15 days of spring training to February to allow more time for players to gain strength and heal from ailments ahead of training camp in July.

In February, Kody Cooke, who led the strength/conditioning program the past four years, accepted an assistant athletic director’s job at Tulsa, his alma mater. Ishihara, the top assistant under Cooke since 2021, was promoted.

“I’m embracing it and really appreciative of the opportunity and chance to carry out Coach Chang’s vision and standard he wants for his team,” said Ishihara, who grew up in Ewa Beach, played cornerback at Moanalua High, and earned a degree in athletic training at Linfield College.

After conquering multiple injuries as a player, Ishihara switched his emphasis to strength/conditioning training.

Now “I get to deal with everyone all the time instead of just their injured times,” Ishihara said. “It’s my way of competing. When I see our product on the field destroying another team, that’s where I get my gratification and sense of competition.”

Ishihara said his priority is improving speed and quickness. And that begins with leg-strengthening drills, such as squats and plyometrics.

“I want to get the players to be as fast as possible,” Ishihara said. “When guys are putting out highlight tapes of people running away and scoring, I want to contribute to that. Everything revolves around speed. Strength revolves around speed. I think power revolves around speed.”

Brown, who also coaches the linebackers, helps with the weight training. As a UH linebacker in the early 2000s, Brown bench-pressed a maximum 500 pounds, squat lifted 605 pounds, and benched 225 pounds 42 times.

During offseason training last year, players did a cycle of disciplines totaling 64 lifts. This spring, the total was increased to 272 lifts per session. During a recent workout, Hines bench-pressed 135 pounds 53 times, bringing his total number of lifts to 325.

Former UH cornerback Kenny Patton, who runs a sports-performance program, has served as consultant on speed training. Many of the drills are designed to correlate to football moves.

“It’s an honor to work with Coach CB and the rest of the staff,” Ishihara said. “And also Coach Kenny. He’s the best in the state. I’m honored and taking it all in and trying to learn as much as I can from them. And add my own flavor here and there.”

Ishihara said the Warriors have benefited from “Braddahhood Grindz,” a nutritional program founded by restaurateur Ryan Tanaka.

“We’ve really improved upon the amount of resources and funding that we’re giving into their nutrition,” Ishihara said. “The players are reaping the benefits. They’ve had some time to grow into their bodies. They’re getting shakes built into the program. Their calorie counts are through the roof. Their muscles, their bodies are really benefiting from it.”