Rich Hill’s body language in the third-base coach’s box might not always project stoicism as much as Les Murakami’s did.

But the new University of Hawaii baseball coach promises it will in the first inning of every game, in tribute to the man for whom the Rainbows’ home stadium is named.

Murakami, who coached UH for 30 seasons, including to the final of the 1980 College World Series, was not an animated base coach.

“I’m gonna fold my arms across my chest, in tribute to Les, for the first (UH) batter every game,” Hill said, agreeing with an idea from sportscaster Scott Robbs.

It was a familiar pose by Murakami, who, without a word, seemed to be telling the batter, “I’ve already done my part by putting you in the lineup. Now prove me right.”

Not that the Rainbows of yesteryear were on their own to just try to bang the ball over the fence on every pitch. Although there was certainly some of that going on at times, they often played small ball, using the dimensions of their home park and prevailing winds to their advantage.

And that’s what Hill plans to do, like Murakami and Mike Trapasso before him.

For this first season — which opens with a four-game set starting Friday at home against Washington State — he’ll work with what he has.

“The brand has to really fit the personnel that you have,” Hill said. “That’s one of the reasons I admire (New England Patriots coach Bill) Belichick. He’s able to win so many different ways. Running game, passing game, defense. That’s the staple of how we go about it. There are fundamental principles. Pitching wins. We want to develop frontline guys to take us into the seventh inning, and a durable closer with wipeout stuff.

“You gotta play defense at this level, too. You look at the College World Series, and you’ll see all eight teams are up there in fielding percentage,” he added.

”We were power-laden at San Diego,” said Hill, whose lineup there included Kris Bryant, the 2013 national Player of the Year who hit 31 homers in 62 games. “But the Big West lends itself to a different brand of baseball. We want to really crush mistakes and be two-strike Warriors. We’ll steal a base when we can and put ourselves in positions to be opportunistic.”

A decade before Bryant, Hill shared the Toreros dugout with Brian Green. Green was an assistant on Hill’s staff in 2002 when USD made its first of eight NCAA Tournament appearances in Hill’s 21 seasons there.

For the next two seasons, Green was on Trapasso’s staff at UH. This week he opposes Hill as Washington State’s third-year head coach.

“He was very instrumental in our first (West Coast Conference) championship,” Hill said of Green, who remains one of his best friends in college baseball. “If I had a son who had Division I talent, I’d want him to play for him.”

His first season doesn’t start until Friday, but unofficially Hill is already on a winning streak as the ’Bows’ coach.

Everyone in attendance agrees he crushed his introductory press conference last July. If they kept score it would’ve been something like the 19-0 no-hitter the current varsity put on the alumni on Feb. 5. And, by all accounts, he’s also won over the former ’Bows too old to take the field … which is a good thing, since many of them are now youth and high school coaches or influential in other ways.

Hill has even made the rounds of youth leagues.

“A huge part of the impact we can have is not just on our 35 players, but also the keiki of Hawaii,” he said. “We want to infuse our cultural things about our program, being that great teammate, that great student. I’m going to speak at everything I can, every opening day, every banquet, to brand our program, so they all grow up wanting to be Rainbows.”

Those are winning words. The victories on the field can start Friday.

Some records indicate Hill, 59, has 1,078 wins as a college head coach, while others, including UH’s, show him at 1,079 — and that’s a number ardent Rainbow baseball fans know, because it’s how many victories Murakami retired with.

“I had a great opportunity to meet with Les a few weeks into the job. He showed me around the stadium and we talked in the locker room for an hour,” said Hill, who was a freshman infielder at rival San Diego State in 1980 when he first became aware of Murakami, now 85.

“It’s just amazing about Coach Les, that he still has this presence. He still commands the room, he’s still the man. He was at our preseason event with 600 people and still holding court. Those type of leaders, with their charisma, their mana, they are rare.”