Report on 2021 UH football controversy finds no broken rules

Mar. 17—An independent review of how the University of Hawaii and its athletic department handled complaints and issues surrounding the tumultuous 2021 UH football season and then-head coach Todd Graham has found no broken policies, rules or laws, according a report released by the university today.

However, recommendations in the 570-page report by the Georgia-based athletic consulting company College Sports Solutions include that UH do a better job communicating about its existing policies and procedures to address complaints from student-athletes, and that UH consider creating language in coaches' contracts and establishing standards to address how all coaches treat players.

The UH Board of Regents, which commissioned the report, is scheduled to discuss it and the university's next steps at its March 23 meeting.

"From our review it appears that appropriate policies and procedures were and are in place to hear, address and react to student-athlete complaints and issues," the report said.

Complaints raised about Graham and his program through the 2021 season, including allegations of a negative team culture and severe language toward players, "although not common, do occur in major college football programs," the report continued. "The efforts to deal with the specific UHM football issues were dealt with appropriately and in a timely fashion throughout the season by University and athletics department personnel, and in our opinion, did not warrant official notice to the Board during that time."

The review said that UH Board of Regents policies were followed; no criminal behavior was found; no rules, regulations or policies of the NCAA, the Mountain West Conference or the Big West Conference were violated; "and there were no major public behavior issues that went unreported to the Board."

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