The Hawai'i Warriors represent the University of Hawai'i at Manoa in NCAA's Division I-Bowl Subdivision college football tournament. The history of the Warriors' football program dates back to 1909 when the school was still the College of Hawai'i, and the team's nickname was still the "Fighting Deans." Its first ever game held at the Punahou School was a 6-5 victory over the McKinley High School. The Warriors finished its first season with an even 2-2 win-loss card. Eleven years later, Hawai'i became a university and its team played its first intercollegiate game against Nevada on Christmas Day of 1920, unfortunately losing via shut-out, 14-0. Still, the team managed to finish their first winning season as a university with a 6-2-0 record. In 1923, after Hawai'i defeated Oregon State, 7-0, a rainbow appeared over the Moiliili Field which practically prompted reporters to call Hawai'i's athletic teams as the "Rainbows." In 1924, seven years after its first undefeated season, the Rainbows duplicated the feat under Coach Otto "Proc" Klum with an 8-0 record. The Rainbows extended this streak up to the following season, compiling a total of 18 wins, with no defeats in back-to-back seasons, earning the team the nickname "The Wonder Teams." In 1926 during the Armistice Day, Hawai'i hosted a game on its newly built home turf, the Honolulu Stadium but lost to the Town Team, 7-14. The Rainbows barely gotaway with a winning season that year with a 5-4 record. In 1935, UH produced its first All-American football player in Thomas Kaulukukui, the running back that led the team to an undefeated record in 1934 and set a school record the following year with his 103-yard kick return touchdown. His number, 32, remains to be the only number to be retired in Hawaii football history. Due to World War II, Hawai'i missed four seasons (1942 through 1945), only returning in 1946 as a Division II Independent football team. In 1974, after being renamed as the Rainbow Warriors, the team was elevated as an NCAA Division I school but was reclassified two years later into a Division I-A school. After an appeal by UH's athletic director, Ray Nagel, the team was reinstituted in the Division I level. In 1979, UH was admitted into the Western Athletic Conference as an expansion and played in its first postseason bowl game 10 years later, on a disappointing 13-33 defeat to Michigan State at the Aloha Stadium. The team would redeem itself three years later, winning its first postseason bowl game over Illinois in the Holiday Bowl enroute to its first WAC conference title, finishing the season with an 11-2-0 record. The team would duplicate the feat seven years later, claiming both the WAC title and another bowl game win, this time in the Oahu Bowl. In 2001, the team was renamed to simply the Warriors. Since 2002, UH has been a consistent contender in the Hawai'i bowl, only missing the postseason bowl once (2005).
Thus far, Hawai'i has claimed two WAC titles, and has appeared in seven postseason bowl games, winning five. UH has also produced one College Football Hall of Famer and six AP All-Americans. The Warriors currently have three known rivals, BYU, Fresno State, and Boise State.
After a successful 2007 season, Hawaii starts its rebuilding process with the hiring of coach Greg McMackin in January to succeed former coach June Jones.
