Nobody saw Hawaii’s 2-0 start coming. Not after how last season ended. But the way Nick Rolovich looked at it, if things were going downhill, he might as well go out doing what he knows best.



In Rolovich’s first season as Hawaii coach in 2016, the Rainbow Warriors went 7-7, winning the Hawaii Bowl. But last year, they bottomed out with a 3-9 record, losing nine of their last 10 games, and the departures started. Starting quarterback Dru Brown went to Oklahoma State as a graduate transfer, and leading receiver Dylan Collie left for BYU as a graduate transfer. In total, Rolovich says seven players transferred out. He described the mood of the program at that time as “miserable.”



When he arrived in late 2015, he decided to run an offense that fit the players in the program. Now, that had to change.



“We go and win a bowl game (in 2016), and I think this is what we need to be,” Rolovich told The Athletic this week. “Then...