Otago limped to the finishing line of the ITM Cup on Saturday with a depressing 46-24 loss to Manawatu at Carisbrook.
The loss confirmed the side finished dead last in the competition.
Graham did not mince words when describing the season and last Saturday's effort.
"The season was very disappointing and I was very disappointed with the performance on Saturday.
It deteriorated throughout the game and by the end of the game it was unbelievably bad.
"But we've got to work out where we go from here.
"The board has been chatting informally over the weekend and we start looking at new plans tomorrow," he said.
"Five years ago we were in a final and now we're at the bottom.
"That is the culmination of a lot of bad management.
"Once you get into this situation you've got to just start again."
Graham said the board owed it to the public and sponsors to get things going and get things right.
Players may not have their contracts renewed and he said there were some exciting prospects the union was attempting to get.
He hoped to announce new signings in a month.
But the union did not have a huge war chest it could call on to entice players.
"We are looking at breaking even this year which is a big improvement on previous years," Graham said.
"Next year again presents us with another set of challenges, and we are looking at setting new budgets now.
But we are helped in that they are bringing the salary cap back, so unions which are spending $2 million and we're only spending about $1 million will be brought back a bit."
Graham, who coached the Otago side to that final in 2005, said there was much good work going on behind the scenes in the Otago union but admitted so much depended on the performance of its top team, which people took notice of.
He warned there was no simple answer to getting it back into the top echelon, and Otago had fallen so far because of various areas not addressed over many years, "when things just haven't been done right".
He said coach Phil Mooney's future was another issue to consider.
Graham said at the start of the season he was optimistic the side would finish in the top seven.
"You've got 14 teams and there is not a lot between top and bottom.
"But you've still got to win them. That is what it comes down to, winning games."
He felt the side played well in the Ranfurly Shield challenge, but never progressed after that.
