It's more than just another offense.
Sure, University of Hawai'I football teams have featured various and assorted systems over its history — whether the Hula-T of the 1970s or the pro-set and spread option attacks of the '80s and early 90s.
But the Run-and-Shoot holds a place of particular distinction in the history and culture of Rainbow Warrior football.
Starting with the turnaround season of 1999, the Warriors delivered their most productive offensive performances running the four-receiver system and Timmy Chang — once a prolific quarterback in the system — is reviving that connection in his second season as head coach.
"It's become an identity in the state and that's why we had to go back to it and add that in to who we are," Chang said.
"The community has embraced the Run-and-Shoot, and that's what I love."
Chang is part of UH's storied lineage of Run-and-Shoot quarterbacks that includes Colt Brennan, Dan Robinson, Nick Rolovich, Bryant Moniz and Cole McDonald, each of whom remain prominent in the program's record book.
Eighteen of the program's top 20 receivers came through Mānoa during the Run-and-Shoot era with Greg Salas holding the school yardage records for a career (4,345) and single-season (1,889 in 2010).
"Once (quarterbacks and receivers) get on the same page, it's a fun offense to play in and a hard offense to stop," said Moniz, who teamed with Salas and fellow slot receiver Kealoha Pilares to lead the nation's top passing attack in 2010.
"It's designed that the defense is never right. Because if you're running this coverage, then we're going to run that way."
A former walk-on, Bryant Moniz is third all-time at UH in passing yards
UH's association with the Run-and-Shoot effectively began on Dec. 10, 1998, when June Jones agreed to a contract to take over as UH head coach. The Warriors have run the offense in 15 seasons during the head coaching tenures of Jones (1999-2007), Greg McMackin (2008-11) and Rolovich (2018-19). Combining those seasons, UH ranked first nationally with 564 passing touchdowns, second in passing yards per game (354.6) and sixth in scoring offense (33.6 points per game).
The Warriors finished in the top five in passing yards per game in 12 of the 15 years of the Run-and-Shoot era, leading the country three times (2002, '06 and '10).
"The players are all reading and adjusting on the run," said Dan Morrison, who served as UH quarterbacks coach during Jones' nine-year tenure. "It's kind of an offense that says, 'wherever you are, we're not.' Once guys get that, it's almost like if you take some kids and play 7-on-7 in the playground and the quarterback just tells everybody, 'get open.'
"It does take time. That's the growing part and then it takes off into a whole different atmosphere. They're more invested in the offense because they're the ones making the decisions."
Chang closed his college career as the NCAA's all-time leader in passing yards and converted from student to teacher in passing his experience on to the current group of quarterbacks led by junior
Brayden Schager.
Head coach Timmy Chang working with UH quarterback Brayden Schager
The Run-and-Shoot is the third offensive system UH has run in Schager's career at UH and spent the spring and summer acclimating to its nuances in player-run practices prior to reporting for fall camp.
"The biggest difference is reading coverage on the fly," Schager said. "I'd say this is a lot more coverage based. We're looking at defenders a lot more, we're trying to see coverages, whereas other offenses are more progression based and looking at receivers."
The quarterbacks and receivers routinely stick around after practice to get in extra throws and routes and those who coached or played in the offense point to the chemistry vital to the offense's productivity and the patience required in the process.
"There's a lot of options in the offense, so it's not locked routes," Moniz said. "So because of that, it takes timing and it takes a relationship with the receivers.
"It's something you just develop with time. It's nothing you can really fast forward. It takes time, but it works. It's been proven here year after year."
When Jones arrived prior to the 1999 season, the Rainbow Warriors were coming off an 0-12 season and in the midst of an 18-game losing streak that reached 19 with a loss to USC in the 1999 season opener.
Robinson, who had endured a punishing junior year, threw for a then-school record 3,853 yards and UH ranked second in the nation with 338.6 passing yards per game to help the Warriors finish at 9-4 in the largest turnaround in NCAA history.
Dan Robinson was the first UH quarterback to run the Run-and-Shoot in 1999.
Chang was versed in the Run-and-Shoot as an All-State quarterback at Saint Louis School before enrolling at UH and traded the starting role with Rolovich early in the 2000 and '01 seasons.
Rolovich eventually took command early in the 2001 season and put together a remarkable closing stretch with 1,548 yards and 20 touchdowns in the last three games of the season alone. He capped his career with a 543-yard, eight-TD performance in a 72-45 blowout of previously undefeated Brigham Young.
Chang had a similar closing surge in 2004 in throwing for 1,226 yards and 12 TDs in the final three games of the season.
After a transition year, Brennan's command of the attack and uncanny accuracy translated into a dynamic two-year run highlighted by an NCAA-record 58 touchdown passes in 2006, a 12-0 regular season in 2007 and a trip to New York as a Heisman Trophy finalist.
UH is the only school to twice have three receivers go over 1,000 yards in a season — in 2007 (Ryan Grice-Mullen, Davone Bess and Jason Rivers) and 2018 (JoJo Ward,
Jared Smart and Cedric Byrd II) with McDonald running the offense during Rolovich's term as head coach.
Jason Rivers is second all-time at UH with 3.919 receiving yards
Morrison now lives in Texas and worked with Schager — who lives about 10 minutes way — in the offseason and was a regular presence at practice for the first two weeks of fall camp. With decades of experience teaching the offense, he can trace a thread connecting the quarterbacks who thrive in the system at all levels.
"They're ego-less," Morrison said. "Their first reaction to (mistakes) is 'that's my bad.' The second is, 'how do I fix this? How do I get better?'
"They have that built into their personality. … They're not victims. They don't come in and say, 'how come the receiver didn't do that?'
"There are a lot of great kids that play this game. They have great arms and are smart guys and all that stuff, but that personality trait is pretty consistent."
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