No rest for the blessed.
In the aftermath of the University of Hawai‘i football team's stunning victory over California in the 2025 Hawai‘i Bowl on Christmas Eve, members of the coaching staff dove straight into the next task: The singular NCAA transfer portal period for football, which ran from Jan. 2-16.
Despite losing multiple impact players and starters to lucrative paydays, the Rainbow Warriors emerged from it with an optimistic outlook for 2026. On Thursday morning, ESPN's Bill Connelly went so far as to place the 'Bows in the 2026 College Football Playoff in an early projection.
At the center of the team's activity was head coach Timmy Chang. In the midst of the evolving college landscape, college head coaches such as Chang still must play CEO as they call the shots at a micro and macro level for the respective programs they lead.
Chang, a former record-setting Hawai‘i quarterback, became a head coach for the first time in 2022 when he was hired to lead his alma mater. After going 3-10 in his first season, a steady climb for the Rainbow Warriors culminated in a 9-4 campaign in 2025.
In a Q&A with Aloha State Daily, Chang reflected on the team's breakthrough 2025 season, as well as his personal growth as a coach both on and off the field. Other topics include his future with the program, NIL, the team's upcoming set of spring practices, and more:
Aloha State Daily: Have you had the chance to reflect on the 2025 season and how special it was for you and your family?
Timmy Chang: "I had just a little time to reflect because of where we were at with the schedule and the recruiting cycle and the portal. But really grateful. I think more than anything, I'm just happy for the players. I'm happy for the coaching staff. I'm happy for the state. The boys, man, they played their hearts out all season. They played for each other. They believed and it showed. It all came together. Going 8-4 [in the regular season], I think we have lots of expectations and goals for ourselves personally. But just going into a bowl game and winning the game as we did, with all the special storylines that were behind it, I thought it was overall just really special and really grateful. But very, very happy for our coaches, players, the school and our state."
ASD: How much do you think you grew as a playcaller this past season? [Note: Chang calls the offensive plays for the Rainbow Warriors. A bevy of head coaches in the college and professional ranks tend to give up playcalling duties to focus on other head coach duties during the heat of the game.]
Chang: "I really think it helps when you got great coaches around you. I was fortunate to have coach Anthony Arceneaux as our offensive coordinator, being around [pass game coordinator/receivers] coach Jared Ursua for four years now, as well as a former teammate of mine in [offensive line coach] Derek Faavi and [assistant offensive line coach/run game coordinator] Winterhawk Leighton. Just having great rapport with those guys, I think overall, it just helps. And then the coaches do a great job of just organizing and having input, but also holding the standard. And then, the kids going out there and playing and executing and performing. You know, that's one thing. I can call plays, but they're the ones going out there and doing it and having to do it, and relying on the guy next to him. So, for me, I just try to call plays to put them in the best position. But at the end of the day, coaches and players, doing it together, executing, that's what it's all about."
ASD: You mentioned the quick turnaround from the season ending to the opening of the portal. How do you think the roster looks after the dust has settled?
Chang: "The transfer portal is twofold, right? It's retaining players and recruiting players. First for retaining, there's guys in our program that are staples. One of the first guys that comes to mind is Pofele Ashlock, going on his fifth year here, and just the ultimate mutual respect that he has for us and believing in us and wanting to be here. He can go get paid more money, but he just wanted to be here with us, and that means the world to me. Guys like Elijah Palmer and Jamih Otis, and then Micah Alejado. I told Micah I'm not going anywhere. I want to be here, but I want you here with us. And he made the commitment, and in doing so, what happens is that you got the core of your guys like Lester [Lagafuaina] that come back, Ethan Spencer, Dean Briski, guys that we poured into and developed, and they poured into us. They're able to then go recruit guys with us.
"The second half is now recruiting guys, and they did such a great job of helping us on getting the guys that we want, getting the guys that will come and help us take our take our team to the next level. I think we did that. Now we're really into the developing part and things like this morning. These [strength and conditioning] practices have nothing to do with football and they have everything to do with mental toughness and grit and all the things that are going to help us be mentally prepared for all the challenges that are going to come ahead."
ASD: What can you say about the NIL support that has come the team's way in allowing it to keep its impact players? And how much has seeking more funding added to your plate? [Note: In November, Chang, UH athletics director Matt Elliott and UH women's basketball coach Laura Beeman appeared at the Hawai‘i State Capitol to solicit additional NIL funding for the school's athletic department.]
Chang: "I'm so grateful. Last year, going into December's recruiting cycle in 2024, my analogy was going to a gunfight with your bare fist. We were transitioning from one athletic director to another at the time. I was able to have a meeting and really just talk about where we were at, what our situation was and there's people like the Downtown Athletic Club and encompassing groups, the Kawazoe Group, Liliʻuokalani Trust, Braddahhood Grindz. ... I don't want to leave anybody out. There are people that immediately came to help on retaining a lot of our players going into last season to have the season we had. We were feeling good about our season in 2025 but that wouldn't have been there if it weren't for those leaders and those groups that stepped up and just really made a commitment to helping us. Really, we couldn't have had that season without a conversation with those guys and letting them know, man, that we do need help, and we do need support in the NIL world, because that's the recruiting battles nowadays. That's the recruiting front with the rules that are passed now. It's not just about giving a kid a scholarship and an opportunity. In some cases, when kids have value or are really good, there is a big monetary business side to it now, and that's the world we live in. I think moving forward with asking the legislature for money, it's because we want our program to be good. We are a state school. We represent the state. We need help. I've now sat here for four years going through my fifth year and I've had my third athletic director here, and I believe in Matt's vision, and I'll support him in everything that he does and wants to do. He's battle tested in college athletics. But the fact of the matter is that we need support. We need help. There's 21 sports at the University of Hawai‘i, and we face our own challenges, and the budget is one of the top challenges. And then you add NIL on top of that.
"I look at our school as being our NFL. I look at our school being the premier university in the Pacific and I want to hold the school to that pedestal and give it the respect it deserves. When I look at our athletic teams, we are the team of the state. I want others to want us to be good at being good. We do need the support. And I think that's there's no other time than now. We need help and we need it now.
"As we looked at that team that played Cal, I mean, that team had 20 times more money than the team they played against, that's just the truth of it. We, the University of Hawai‘i, beat Cal, and Cal gives 20 times more money than what we have. That's just the world we live in. We want our kids to stay home. We want to give them opportunities in life after football, but we want to support them monetarily as they go through college, and as we live in revenue sharing and giving these guys opportunities."
ASD: As far as retaining staff members, [former defensive tackles coach] Jeff Reinebold has departed for the CFL. How did the attempt to retain other members of the staff go?
Chang: "Jeff made a decision to go and pursue professional football, but I think it's all part of it. ... I love our staff. I love the continuity of our staff. It really is all about continuity and being able to gel and go to work and appreciate the guy that you're working next to as well as knowing what their best interest is."
ASD: Is [defensive coordinator] Dennis Thurman returning? How did that conversation go?
Chang: "The conversation with coach Thurman is that we want you and I'm gonna do whatever it takes to keep you here. He totally expressed that he wants to be here, and so we're getting ready to go into season three together. And I couldn't be happier."
ASD: Did you see the ESPN projection that placed Hawai‘i in the 12-team College Football Playoff in 2026? Thoughts?
Chang: "It's nice, but we have to focus on being better, doing us. It's nice, but that's not our focus. Our focus is on getting better every day. We're more in tune with the process on how we get better. We know our opponents and we got to go out there and continue to work, because these games are going to be tough and that's what we're focused on. We're focused on getting ready to prepare ourselves spiritually, mentally and physically about the journey that is about to happen."
ASD: You were officially hired for this job on Jan. 22, 2022, almost four years ago to the day. How would you say things have gone based off what you were envisioning at the time? And how have the new rules each year changed that vision?
Chang: "It's never according to plan. I'm not in control of that, but in retrospect, just the growth process of becoming a head coach, going through the things that continue the growth process. It will continue until I'm not here anymore, and I take an approach of just learning every day and trying to get better. The journey is what the journey is. I think as we have our goals of what we want the program to look like, how we want it to be ran, how the players you bring in and the expectation of those guys, those are the things that you just kind of go through year after year after year to get what you need to get done. And then you end up having a good season, but it's a continuous growth process, and now it's like, 'OK, now how can we continue to get better, grow and build upon what we have been?' So, it's just been a steady improvement, and I'm very proud of the guys that I get to work with, the guys that I've been able to coach that are currently on the roster and in our past."
ASD: How are extension talks going? [Note: Chang's current deal expires after the 2026 season.]
Chang: "It's been expressed to me that the school wants me back. I expressed to them that I want to be here. And so right now, just waiting on what that is. The biggest thing, the message to the school is I just want to take care of my staff and I want to take care of our football players. If those two things can get done, I'll be here. And that's really what I want. It's not about me. It's about us. It's about us growing together. And, you know, I love it. I love everything about Hawai‘i. I love everything here, born and raised here. I love representing this state. I've been representing this Island for a long time now and will continue to do so. I want to be here."
ASD: When does spring ball start?
Chang: The first Tuesday of February.
ASD: What are you hoping to see during those practices? Will there be increased reps for the new quarterbacks [Maika Eugenio, Bjorn Jurgensen]?
Chang: "Growth and development, just from all positions. Yes, the other quarterbacks will take a lot of reps. Micah wasn't well for a lot of the season, he's such a tough kid. He played injured since Stanford on that ankle. It really never got to fully heal, but the young man just laid it on the line for his teammates. And so now it's just time to heal his body up as we take an early approach to spring. But we got Maika Eugenio and recently picked up another quarterback. We'd love to get the experience to those two guys as we continue to move forward. And then the other positions, the guys that we know are solid, know are our [starters], those guys will take a backseat more so for the guys that need to get more reps and play more and get more fundamentals and understanding of the scheme. We have a lot of young guys in spring, like a lot of rosters do across the country. We just want to get that information to those guys and get them lined up and get them doing the right things and continue just going and watching them on film, correcting them, correcting different issues that pop up so that they can be ready to play in August."
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Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
