Thread by @maddelucchi

"I know what discipline looks like. Todd Graham likes to disguise it as discipline, the way he treats us, the way he talks to us. The verbal abuse towards us, it's stuff I wish you guys could hear." -Leonard Lee who played for UH in 2020 and 2021

"People who worked for the school for years... they said they couldn't work over there anymore." -Leonard Lee

Leonard Lee says he was kicked off the team for speaking in the public Twitter forum.

"I know there's a certain level of discipline, but there's also a sense of respect and love that you should feel from your coach... That was never the case with him [Todd Graham]." -Leonard Lee

"The consensus in the locker room is that guys aren't happy with him in charge." -Leonard Lee

Mercado Kim clarifies if he was informed that he was kicked off the team.

Lee responded, "There's kind of a general knowledge that once you get off the group chat you're kind of done there. So I was informed that I wasn't in the group chat anymore." -Lee (continued in next tweet)

"I messaged my coach and said 'Are you gonna call me or are you gonna hide behind kicking me out of the groupchat?'" -Lee

Lee says he met with Trent Figg (associate head coach/DBs coach) who told him it was because he missed 2 days of practice. Lee asked why Figg had not contacted him. Per Lee, Figg said, "I heard you talking bad on Twitter so I just assumed you were done with football here."

Lee goes on to clarify the gap between the treatment of walk-ons and scholarship players.

Derek Thomas (Hawaii D-line 2018-2021) is introduced to testify.

"Dave Matlin held a meeting with the football team and asked what we were looking for in a new head coach... There were 2 requests: We would like someone with ties to Hawaii and someone who's a personable person... Matlin went and hired the complete opposite." -Thomas

Thomas cites his own Christian faith and calls Todd Graham "a hypocrite," noting how several players on the team felt like he was the exact opposite of the person he preached for his players to be.

"Coach Graham liked to use confirmation bias. So he had these predetermined ideas of who you were as a person." -Derek Thomas

Thomas points out a specific example of a player whose father attended practice and said he was confused about the team's "no families at practice" policy when he had seen Graham allow certain people to come.

Thomas says he's holding off on some details because he's planning to write something more in detail on his own accord.

Justin Uahinui (Farrington HS grad who walked on in 2017 and eventually earned a scholarship) is next to testify. Says coaches forced players to take the vaccine and he feels it should have been a personal decision.

Uahinui claims Bo Graham said in a meeting: "As a player, you don't have any rights. If you want to play, you gotta take the shot. You should do whatever it takes to play. Like if we say stand in line and put a gun to your head, you better be the first in line."

Uahinui is asked and says he believes he was cut because of his religious beliefs against taking the vaccine law. He cites HIPAA law, which applies to privacy not autonomy, but I digress.

Mililani HS football head coach Rod York is now called to testify.

York cites three of his players at Mililani who stayed home and attended UH. He says, "I cannot comment on specifics and I can only get one side of the story from my players..." But he goes on to hint that he's worried about his players attending UH in current circumstances.

"We wrote a letter today because we are so concerned for other players who are suffering mentally and physically from injuries and not getting help from UH." -Marie Eletise, the mother of Michael Eletise, who medically retired after last season

"Michael has post-concussion syndrome. We have put him through hundreds of hours of treatment over this last year on island with experts here. In June, we went back to Coach Graham and said, 'Here is all that we're doing for Michael.." -Marie Eletise (continued in next Tweet)

"'Here are the test results. Here are the brain scans. Michael's brain was permanently damaged from football. Please help us. Help us keep him in school. There's gotta be a way that maybe the University can help financially because..." -Marie Eletise (continued in next Tweet)

"we're thousands of dollars in debt from his treatments from concussions he received in football and we sat in Coach [Todd] Graham's office and he made us lots of promises, but honestly none of them have come true." -Marie Eletise

"We love this team. We love this island. We don't want to do anything to hurt the program. We believe in UH football. We are proud that Michael is going to be an alumni.. How many times am I going to have to beg for this football department to help our son?" -Marie Eletise

Pastor Nofo Eletise breaks down a bit as he recalls when Michael first told him he wanted to quit football.

Nofo says Michael sat his parents down and said, "'Dad, I don't want to play football anymore. I can't handle my depression anymore. I went up to my position coach Sam Bennett for two weeks and asked for help. He said he'd give me help, but never did.'"

Darryl McBride (UH alumni and former player who co-hosted the Twitter space that ended up blowing up) is called to testify now

"During that time, we allowed a lot of the players to give their testimonies not knowing what would come up... I understand that everyone thinks these guys are kids, but they range from 18 to 24 so we're dealing with grown men that had the courage to speak up." -Darryl McBride

Tina Thomas (Derek Thomas' mother) is now called to testify

Tina Thomas made a post on Facebook discussing how Derek was treated and she says Todd Graham's wife (Penni Graham) private messaged her on Facebook, "I'm sorry that your son didn't work hard enough."

Derek's sister reached out to Penni and, per Tina, Penny screenshotted the message and sent it to Derek. Tina says all of the messages are saved and that she took down her original post "because I felt attacked and my son was being bombarded by messages from Penni Graham."

"Todd Graham was overheard calling Hawaii a 'third-world country' because the vending machine did not have Dr. Pepper." -Tina Thomas

Michael Green, a sports agent who lives in Hawaii who has worked on the stadium authority, begins going into a serenade about "the culture of a Polynesian athlete" that has some uncomfortable tone and I'm assuming he has some weird way of tying this to Graham.

Green says Matlin was told not to bring Graham here because of the massive buyout that ASU had paid to him, but doesn't offer specifics. He continues to name-drop other folks from around local sports, still unclear how he has any specific knowledge that warrants testimony.

Green tied Chevan Cordeiro to the late Colt Brennan, pointing out how Cordeiro felt forced to leave while Brennan decided to stay. He ends calling Matlin to resign and adds: "I can guarantee you that there will be businessmen in this town that will help you buy him out."

Lassner now complains that there was not supposed to be open testimony originally, which is true and says "This was cherry-picked testimony."

That is the end of public testimony, but all other testimony will be public record.

Randolph Moore is now asked by Kim if he had been previously informed of these accusations. Moore responds, "Not to this level of detail."

Kim points to UH's mental health policy and raises questions about whether this was followed. She goes on to point to policy that says board should have been informed of these things.

Moore says that the committee's minutes would reflect abiding by the policy. Kim immediately points to the minutes and says there are no instances of athlete mental health in the minutes.

Kim points out that Moore is also the chair of the personnel committee. She asks why he hasn't called a special meeting following the public allegations. "We certainly want you to do your job, but sometimes some of these things are urgent." -Kim

"So what is the board gonna do about it?" -Dela Cruz

"I can't speak for the board until the board actually meets in December." -Moore (I'm assuming he meant January)

Lassner now asks for an opportunity for Matlin to respond and they oblige

"I'm going to be very honest. Not everything that was said was true..." -Matlin
He goes on to give a timeline of his perspective on events

Matlin says he heard about the issue of team morale towards the end of the season and held a players-only meeting with players. He said he was impressed by several players who stayed for 4 full hours.

He said the meeting allowed him to dispel some false rumors that had spread on the team (like a misnomer that Michael Graham had received a scholarship, which he did not) alongside learning of legitimate issues.

Matlin says he then had a series of meetings with Graham over the next few days "and I can tell you they weren't easy discussions. But I think we came to some real honest understandings about what went wrong and what needs to be done to improve." -Matlin

Matlin says Graham agreed to correct his use of language, to create a committee of players elected by the team to empower athletes to have a direct line of communication with the head coach, and to add some mentors to help Graham adapt to coaching in the islands.

State senator Glenn Wakai asks if they could get an opportunity from Todd Graham to hear him respond to the claims of mistreatment. Graham is added to the call.

Graham thanks the committee for an opportunity to speak, acknowledges there are things he could do differently, and discusses his own passion as an educator. Not much different from his statement to reporters after the Twitter Space and my report at SFGATE.

"I do not think we have a toxic environment in our locker room. I am demanding... But obviously, there are things that I've learned. There's things you have to evolve. There's things you have to get better at." -Todd Graham

Sen. Wakai asks Graham how to reconcile the "litany of negative commentary" with what he is saying. Senator Wakai asks "Are they all wrong?"
Matlin now interrupts and says this is just a subset.

One senator snaps back at Matlin about his complaints of cherry-picked testimony: "It wasn't a popularity contest! This was people who were complaining about disturbing things... We have some mental health issues that none of you guys are understanding right now!"

Graham answers the original question and denies any allegations of verbal abuse.

Graham is asked if he's lost control of the team and says no but continues acknowledging that he is reflective and things he would do differently. Still does not speak in any specifics beyond his original statement back in December.

Dela Cruz returns to chair Moore: "Why wouldn't you just pick up the phone and call the president?"
The chair says he has talked to the president and AD, but does not elaborate. Dela Cruz pushes for more specifics.

Moore tries to fallback on the board only being supervisory and Dela Cruz pushes back, "But this is your policy." Moore responds saying there isn't anything for the board to do.
Dela Cruz: "So you don't see a sense of urgency?"
Moore: "In the next two weeks, no."

Senator Kim now asks Graham: "We heard from a player saying they were removed from the roster. Did you ever speak with that player prior to removing them from the roster?"
Graham: "I really don't think I'm at liberty to talk about interactions with the students."

Kim points out the player has already come out publically and asks again.
Graham says: "The player did not show up for two days of practice."
Kim: "That's not the question. The question is did you speak to them?"
Graham: "No. His position coach spoke to him."

Senator Kim then asks if they did an exit interview with the players who left
Graham: "All the players that have left and went in the transfer portal, especially the top players, I had multiple conversations with before they left."

Senator Kim goes back to the timeline and cites LB Darius Muasau who gave public comment on December 19th in support of changes less than two weeks before he entered the portal.

Graham: "From Darius' standpoint, when I talked to him, he told me he was leaving because it was a better opportunity." In this case, Graham appears unworried about breaking any privacy laws despite this player not speaking publically. Interesting.

State senator Kurt Fevella says he received a letter that accused Graham of calling Black players "porch monkeys" and Polynesians "pineapple pickers."
Fevella: "Did you ever talk to players like that?"
Todd Graham: "Absolutely not. I would never do that."

Sen. Kim asks board chair Moore if he views this as just a football issue. Moore says it is a mental and physical health issue. Moore does make sure to slide in that most of Eletise's football experience came before you UH, preemptively trying to skirt liability for his injuries.

Sen. Kim directly addresses Moore that she views this as urgent. Pointing out that the legislature does not have the power to hire/fire, but the whole state

Sen. Fevella returns to Matlin citing another letter he received from a women's basketball player who claimed to bring similar complaints of misconduct to the AD that were not responded to.

Matlin responds to the discussion of the letter: "On that specific issue on that student-athlete... she was not released from her scholarship."

Matlin goes on to cite the University's policies and says he stays up at night worrying about mental health. But he also adds, "We've invested a lot into that. I'm very proud of our medical team."

Sen. Wakai points out that Todd Graham never apologized for anything in his public comments and asks if David Matlin could afford to buy out Graham would he?
Matlin says no. Goes to common administrator's "I believe in people" response.

Matlin argues there is a lot of misinfo about the transfer portal and implies this is being blown out of proportion. Again, UH has had more players enter the portal than anyone in the conference.

Sen. Kim points out that UH had the highest among the conference and that the only programs close were ones with coaching changes. Matlin says two schools in conference have had more than UH at this point (he does not clarify if those programs had coaching changes or not).

Sen. Gilbert Keith-Agaran asks what the selling point for the University is given all the negative press.
Graham cites the negative press and lack of stadium as two big hurdles, but says "What we're selling is what we've always sold: relationship and opportunity."

Sen. Kim points out that's why the committee is concerned because UH has always had big hurdles because of $, distance, relationships were always the selling point. "Even current coaches have said stuff. Of course they're not gonna come forward because their job is at stake."

Sen. Kim asks for coaching extensions to be put on hold at this time. Sen. Dela Cruz notes that and adds that at this point the ball is in the board's hands and adjourns the meeting.