Hawaii football coach Timmy Chang committed to run-and-shoot

Jan. 6—For his second season as Hawaii football coach, Timmy Chang is going "all in " with the run-and-shoot offense.

For his second season as Hawaii football coach, Timmy Chang is going "all in " with the run-and-shoot offense.

While co-offensive coordinators Ian Shoemaker and Roman Sapolu will assist in crafting the game plan, Chang will take over the play-calling duties.

"The main focus is I want to go to the run-and-shoot, " said Chang, a former record-setting quarterback at UH and Saint Louis School.

After four games last year, the Rainbow Warriors added run-and-shoot concepts to an offense that employed Air Raid, pistol, spread and run-pass option schemes.

"The playbook is about 70 % done, " Chang said. "It'll be run-and-shoot. ... I want to go to the run-and-shoot because historically we're good at it. That's what I know. That's the offense I've been in for a number of years at Saint Louis and the University of Hawaii. That's what I grew up doing. And we're really, really good at it on the island."

The scheme will be on display when the Warriors open spring training on Feb. 8. The 15 spring practices were moved up because of scheduled work on the Ching Complex and the grass practice fields that will be completed this summer.

"I think he's smart to go with that offense, " said Mouse Davis, co-creator of the four-wide passing attack popularly known as the run and shoot. "If you run it correctly, it's very difficult to stop."

The offense calls for receivers to run routes based on the defensive coverage. The usual alignments are two receivers on each side of the formation, or three on one side and a single receiver on the other side. Instead of two wideouts and two slotbacks, Chang would like to use a pass-catching tight end in place of one of the inside receivers.

"It'll be run-and-shoot, but there might be some added layers to it because I've got a tight end, " said Chang, who coached tight end Cole Turner at Nevada two years ago. Turner was the Washington Commanders' fifth-round pick last year. Caleb Phillips, who transferred to UH in 2021 after playing outside linebacker at Stanford, was named to the 2022 All-Mountain West first team as a tight end.

"You've seen us at Nevada, and you know this run-and-shoot, " Chang said. "If I can get the best of both worlds, I'm excited."

Shoemaker, who directed prolific offenses at Eastern Washington, called the Warriors' plays last year from the coaches booth. Chang said Shoemaker will continue to have a key role in game planning, development and dissecting coverages during games.

"I told Shoe he'll see a lot of my blind spots, and he'll think outside the box for me, and not just the run-and-shoot box, " Chang said. "He'll see problems coming. He'll have ideas because he's cut from a slightly different cloth but has been very successful in having a high-powered offense. That's why I hired him."

Chang added : "It's going to work out. This offense is huge. It's all about us winning. That's it. It's all about winning and putting all the focus on these kids."