Hawaii head coach Todd Graham is entrusting his football offense to a tried-and-true formula.

Gary Joe “GJ” Kinne, who spent this past season with the Philadelphia Eagles as an offensive assistant, has been tabbed to direct Graham’s vertical-stretch, no-huddle attack.

Kinne, 31, is familiar with Graham’s offensive schemes. In three seasons under Graham at Tulsa, Kinne amassed 9,472 passing yards and 81 touchdowns. Kinne threw for 343 yards and three touchdowns in leading the Golden Hurricane to a 62-35 victory over UH in the 2010 Sheraton Hawaii Bowl.

“GJ was a bowl championship collegiate quarterback, and one of the best I’ve ever coached,” Graham said in a news release. “He also has experience playing and coaching at the highest level in he NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles. We are elated to have him lead our offense.”

Although Kinne has never been an offensive coordinator, Graham has a track record of success in developing play-callers.

As Rice’s head coach in 2006, Graham hired 28-year-old Major Applewhite to his first offensive coordinator’s job. Applewhite went on to become Houston’s head coach, and now serves as an analyst at Alabama.

Gus Malzahn had one season calling plays and Herb Hand had zero experience in that area when Graham hired them as co-coordinators at Tulsa in 2007. Malzahn is now Auburn’s head coach. Hand is Texas’ offensive coordinator.

In 2011, Graham chose 30-year-old Mike Norvell as Pittsburgh’s OC. Norvell, who also was Graham’s OC at Arizona State in 2012, is now Florida State’s head coach.

During his introductory news conference as UH’s head coach last week, Graham promised to build on the Rainbow Warriors’ hybrid offense that was rooted in the run and shoot, but also had run-pass option elements. Graham picked a coordinator familiar with the RPO and four-wide schemes.

After transferring from Texas, Kinne was at the controls of Tulsa’s hurry-up offense that splashed receiver routes vertically and horizontally.

Kinne signed free-agent contracts with the New York Jets, New York Giants and Eagles.

In 2017, he was hired as an assistant coach at SMU under Chad Morris. When Morris resigned after the regular season to join Arkansas, Kinne was elevated to SMU’s offensive coordinator for the 2017 Frisco Bowl. After that, Kinne went to Arkansas as an offensive analyst.

This past season, he worked with the Eagles’ special projects.

Kinne’s arrival came on the same day it was announced Corey Batoon had accepted an assistant coach’s job at Liberty. Batoon, a Saint Louis School graduate, was the Warriors’ defensive coordinator the past two seasons. Batoon will be reunited with Liberty head coach Hugh Freeze. Batoon was on Freeze’s staffs for two years at Arkansas State and five at Mississippi.

It is a bittersweet departure for Batoon, who described it as a “life-long dream” to coach at UH. He said he spoke with most of the defensive players before making his announcement.

“I’m excited for this young team,” Batoon said of the Warriors. “The sky’s the limit. I’m excited to see them take this up another level. … I’m so thankful for the chance to come back home, and all the aloha the people have shown me and my family. It’s been very humbling.”