The University of Hawaii football team is open to a mulligan on a 2020 season that was better than par.

The Rainbow Warriors’ 5-4 year was capped with a decisive victory over Houston in the New Mexico Bowl. But with a full offseason program, including 15 spring practices — workouts that were not available last year because of the pandemic — coach Todd Graham envisions this coming season’s Warriors to be faster and more physical while using the full menu of offensive and defensive schemes.

Graham said Kody Cooke, the assistant head coach who coordinates the football-performance program, is “the best strength coach I’ve been around. We’re all about speed and explosive power and dynamic flexibility. We want to put the fastest, most explosive, most physical team on the field. We had a lot of training (this offseason) we didn’t have in the past. It kind of feels like a first year getting all that in.”

Two months after Graham was hired as head coach in January 2020, the pandemic heightened. Spring workouts were canceled, training camp was postponed three times and then shortened to three weeks, and the schedule was reduced to only Mountain West opponents. UH was the only Mountain West team to not have a game postponed or canceled because of the pandemic.

The Warriors still have not been able to enter their locker room nor fully gather in meeting rooms. With Aloha Stadium unavailable because of a structural issues, the Warriors will play their home games on campus at Clarence T.C. Ching Athletic Complex, which is being retrofitted into a 9,000-seat venue for this season. They will play seven road games, traveling an aggregate 39,868 miles.

“We don’t look at things as challenges, we look at things as opportunities,” Graham said. “I tell our players, in life, it’s all about getting up. You get knocked on your can, you get back up. At the end of the day, we look forward to the challenges. We look forward to the grind. We look forward to the adversity. Our training and everything we do prepares us for that. That’s when your true character is exposed, when you face great adversity.”

Last year, NCAA teams were restricted in face-to-face recruiting. This year, the Warriors attended football camps on the mainland, met with recruits, and served as hosts for prospects, including one of the nation’s top offensive linemen.

Graham also is fully implementing a spread pro-style offense that he ran successfully at Tulsa and Arizona State.

“I don’t think last year we looked anything offensively like we’ll look (this year) even though we really got better and we had explosive players like (running back/receiver) Calvin (Turner) and (quarterback) Chevan (Cordeiro),” Graham said. “We’re going to be so much better. We’re going to be so much better coached, so much better prepared. But so will everybody else. Things are all relative.”

Graham said the no-huddle offense can operate at several tempos and with multiple groupings. Tight ends Kolby Wyatt and Caleb Phillips transferred to UH, and defensive end Jonah Laulu started at tight end in the spring game.

“We’re going to play fast, we’re going to be physical, and we’re going to be explosive,” Graham said. “We want to be a physical football team. To do that, you’ve got to throw the ball in rhythm, the high-percentage completions, and then be able to run the ball.”

Graham praised the development of Cordeiro, a fourth-year sophomore. “He’s stronger and faster,” Graham said. “He understands our system, and what we’re doing — pro-style system where you’re able to audible and get us the right play.”

Graham also is aiming high.

“Our goal, first and foremost, is to be Mountain West Conference champions,” Graham said. “But then they say, what’s your goal after that? Why wouldn’t it be to be undefeated. I mean, we want to win every rep, every play, every day, every game. In 2007, they were 12-0. Well, why would you not have that goal? And obviously, that’s a very, very, very difficult goal to accomplish. I’m being honest, but that’s how we goal-set with our guys. Our goal is to produce men of integrity and character and honor that represent this state, this rock, in that manner. We want to graduate 100% of our players. … We want to compete in the classroom with the same passion we do on the field.”

Graham added: “Our second goal is undefeated bowl champions. We want the ultimate. That’s our goal every day. That’s the expectation and work ethic in the way we do things. … To me, I would be cheating them if I gave them any other goal except. Like Vince Lombardi said, ‘We strive for perfection, and we’ll tolerate excellence.’ We don’t talk to them about any specific bowl. We want whatever undefeated bowl. And if we fall short of that, we want the one-loss bowl, whatever that one is. And those are all really, really good bowls. There’s a lot of challenges with that.”