Kaiser’s beleaguered football team got more bad news Wednesday, when the school decided that it would be forfeiting the next two games, according to a source high up in the school’s administration.
The announcement is not a surprise. The Cougars had already canceled three of their games (including two league forfeits) due to low roster numbers. The next two forfeited games were originally scheduled for Friday at Aiea and Sept. 16 at No. 2 Kahuku.
Last Friday, the team played its first regular-season game and wound up losing 71-0 at Campbell.
The Cougars have two games remaining on their schedule — at home against Moanalua on Sept. 22 and at home against Waianae on Sept. 30. They are still waiting to play for the first time on their brand-new artificial turf field.
According to the Kaiser source, of the 22 Cougars players who played against Campbell, one has left the team and two others are not eligible.
A call on Thursday afternoon to coach Arnold Martinez for comment was not immediately returned.
At the beginning of the regular season, the Cougars had 19 total varsity players including seven who were ineligible — and that was deemed by Martinez and the administration to not be enough to safely play a game.
Just fold already.
just start an Eight Man League on Oahu! Maui county and Big Island have teams. We need one more league to have a state tournament.
This is getting ridiculous. Kaiser needs to do what’s right and call an end to the season right now. They are stringing along the opponents on their schedule and worst of all putting their own kids in danger. You can’t play with only 19 players against teams that have 50+. I can’t believe the OIA is even allowing this to happen.
It doesn’t help that the Kaiser coach is burying his head in the sand and refusing to explain himself.
These young men do not belong in D1 and they surely do not need to play just to get beat by 70!!
Fix the division…..Only the “have’s have and those that don’t get beat down…..OIA can and should do better…
That HC isn’t tough, they need to replace him or they will all be quitters! I hate soft coaches his team reflects it!
I thought this coach was bragging about the turnout he go at Moanalua.
Got to be tough to build a football program at Kaiser. Half of all Hawaii Kai kids go to private schools. Any any good ones get recruited by the ILH
Its funny how the jv and varsity basketball teams have huge numbers on their team. I guess the interest isnt there since Miano left.
No young man or young team deserves to lose by 70 points in high school. Please fix the divisions so these kids can compete. Allow them to join another team if needed to play. Right now in div I its only two or three teams that can compete in red and blue and the rest are feasted on…..
This is a tough smart coach that Kaiser should be very happy to have. I hope they can get enough boys out next year. I don’t know why you think this coach is soft but he anything but and he can def build a program
OH BOY!!!!
Don’t forget When Miano was at Kaiser he got paid a full day for teaching just one class a day??!!
Wot about the rest of da faculty who teach da whole day!
TAXPAYERS MONEY WASTED!!!!
Also Miano was housing a player from Maui! When a transfer from Ewa beach (Campbell H.S.) had to catch a bus to Hawaii Kai every school day!!!
Kaiser did 2yrs in D1. 2017 Kaiser staff did ask to play in D2!!!
But O.I.A. MADE no changes!!!
‘Iolani has to put one of their dbs on da d.line so they ask to go to D2.After 2yrs. of playing D1!
Wot does I.L.H. do?
Allow them to return to D2.
I.L.H. cares about their KIDS!!!!!
KIDS FIRST!!!!
Programs look good only on paper….it’s all an illusion my friend. Boys won’t come out because of the coach and what does the administration do? NOTHING
Very sad for the boys and coach needs to move on to rebuild again with a new coach who genuinely cares for the community and football team…..anyone available?
Plenty kids like play just not for him.
To: Stop it
Why don’t u Coach bradduh??!
Let me address a few of the comments, first when Rich was at Kaiser, yes he taught only “one” class but that class was all day, the same kids but all day. So its not fair to give the impression that he worked only an hour or so a day.
Secondly you can’t really compare basketball numbers to football numbers especially since one is a collision sport and SIZE does matter more.
Thirdly Sure a lot of kids in Hawaii kai go to private schools but Kaisers JV team 2 years which should be this year’s varsity team had 47 players and most if not all are still there.
Fourth calling off the season is not the answer the kids who have been out there since last spring deserve a chance to play whatever games they can, especially the seniors who may be looking to play at the next level, it does not hurt the opponenets because they will continue to practice regardless of a game or not. I watched Anuenue play with 19-22 players week after week when they played in the league so it can be done.
Yes Since Rich left sure the program has fallen off, but he is not the answer he and his staff did a great job and left the program in great shape moving forward but the future success of the program is in the hands of the kids, the parents and the administration, kids and parents should not say they will let they’re kids play or not play based on the coach, you don’t like the coach well tough suck it up its a simple life lesson, now that being said the administration needs to find coaches that fit their program in this case Kaiser had a coach prior to the start of last year who the kids liked and respected and had been working with the team all off season even after the former head coach resigned, he had no obligation to do so but he knew the kids needed guidance and continuity going into the next season, but when it came time to hire he was not selected, they went with a resume of an oitsider over proven dedication to the program. My understanding is that they even created a “new” position on staff for the new coach which is fine I guess and brings me to my final topic, The Coach he has to be more open more accessible and more realistic about his program he came in and first thing he did was speak negatively about the former staff and downplayed their “D2” title saying they didn’t win it the fairly and that he was going to do things right way, whatever his opinion was it should have been kept to himself as some players were still there from the previous teams, he needs to engage the student body more get out in campus and build relationships with the kids, the reason for hiring him and then giving him a position was to have a coach on campus who could be there for the kids and check up on them to make sure they are doing what they need to do on and off the field, so why is it so many kids are academically ineligible? Where are the checks and balances for the players in the off season? I have complete confidence that the Kaiser football program will one day return to the days of old with the current coach or with a new one, well that I will not comment on, all the stake holders just have to stop the madness and put the kids first, then and only then will the program begin to heal and move on. If these comments offended anyone I apologize but I have been around Kaiser long enough to know what it will take to turn the program around.
The OIA 2 year cycle is ending after this season. Don’t be surprised if they move to a 3 Tier system. People just have to be patient, cant change the system midstream cause a team or teams, is either rebuilding or have fallen on hard times. Its unfortunate that kids decide not to play due to who is the Coach or they practice too hard, too much conditioning, favoritism, etc, as the kids themselves lose out on playing the game. Its a one shot deal in their lifetime that will never come around again. Play for the love of the game! Cancelling the whole season is not the answer as the team worked too hard in preparation to call it quits. We all feel for the Cougars as the 2017 season has been only 1 game thus far for them w/possibly 2 more. Victim of circumstances. All look forward to the day when participation increases to field a team w/all Hawaii Kai kids.
The saddest part of this situation is the seniors on the team have been robbed of opportunities to play the game they love and have probably been dreaming of this moment since a early age. Geographic exceptions should have been offered for them to play for other teams this season as most if not all will not play after this season. That’s memories lost forever.
As to young teams or young players should not lose by 70 points as commented by Randy, that’s life. It is a teaching moment and lessons can be learned. It happens every weekend in every state on every level. Winning isn’t everything although it does keep morale up.
8 man football is a better option to be adopted on Oahu than a third tier. It would benefit more schools statewide and allow the teams in the two remaining to have options for opponents they face (neighbor island, continental or cross league).
What makes you think I’m already not coaching, Pastor V.?
JV has only 34 eligible with only freshman being allowed to come out at anytime.
This is some of what is wrong with Kaiser Football and the so called coaching right now:
1. From the beginning of summer practice, Coach Martinez has been showing favoritism towards the JV team, yet I thought he was hired to be the Varsity coach.
2. In practices, the JV team gets more reps than the Varsity team. Why are they even practicing together????? No other team does inter practice with the JV and the Varsity. If he would separate them, both teams would get more reps. Is this against OIA rules?????
3. The JV team got their equipment before the Varsity, so the Varsity boys got the left over equipment, like the older helmets and pads. What Coach does that?????? That is sending a message to the Varsity boys that they don’t count. No other team does this. Varsity is always priority. You have to pay your dues.
4. Martinez spends more time coaching the JV team and he also coaches the JV games. What! I thought he was the Varsity Head Coach????? He has a JV Head Coach, but I guess Martinez just took over his duties.
5. Because he coaches the JV team during their games, the Varsity was on their own; with no coaches during the trip to play Campbell. This does not happen in any other school. I think they rode the bus with the AD. Unreal??????
6. Neither Martinez nor any other coach spent time with the Varsity team while they were waiting on the side to play Campbell as the JV game was still going on. Boys waited for around 2 ½ hours on their own. No Pre game prep or strategy for the Varsity boys; no guidance whatsoever!
7. Martinez purchased brand new team compression shirts that he gave to the JV team for their games. The Varsity did not get these shirts or anything new! Who does that?????? The JV team is also wearing game pants that were purchased last year for the Varsity team. Last year’s JV team was not allowed to wear these pants.
8. There are not enough Coaches on this staff. Martinez has a few real coaches, some Flag Football coaches; with one of them being the OC. Who the heck does that? He also uses parents to coach because he does not have enough staff. Do these parents have any Football knowledge? Were these parents screened for a criminal record? I think Coaches have to go through that. What Coach does that too??????
9. This guy has been coaching for a number of years, but he can’t retain real coaches for this staff. I wonder why?????? Coaches that have been with him in the past have said they do not want to coach with him ever again.
10. During all of the practices at Koko Head Park, when the JV team and the Varsity team did separate; the Varsity team practiced in a small area of the field while the JV team took up most of the field and they actually got to practice on the football field area while the Varsity was at a small patch of grass by a softball team and the Pop Warner team.
11. Why didn’t the team practice on Kaiser’s lower field????? The team took space away from the softball team and the Pop Warner guys, who are supposed to practice there. I thought this guy was an experienced Coach??????
12. Kaiser Varsity Football has low numbers because a lot of them quit during the summer. Martinez drove them off. There are a lot of boys that want to play Varsity Football, but not for this Coach because his favoritism, unfairness and ethics.
13. From what I have seen, the JV team has around 40 boys and the Varsity has around 20. Why doesn’t Martinez pull up some JV boys to field the Varsity team like what every other Coach does? I can’t understand this! In every other school; the Varsity team takes priority. A lot of the JV boys are bigger than the Varsity boys too.
This is just a small inkling of what Martinez is doing wrong with the program. I could go on and on, but I am saving the rest for the D.O.E.
BTW, THE KAISER ADMINISTRATION DOES KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING, BUT THEY CHOOSE TO IGNORE IT. TOO BAD FOR THEM, I SEE SOME FUTURE LAW SUITS COMING THEIR WAY…….
P.S. The VP that hired Martinez is a good friend of his and used to be his AD at Moanalua, which is another school where the parents wanted him out! HISTORY IS REPEATING ITSELF………..
INSIDER
To:Loyal alum
Rich used to run away from campus ALL the time,was not at school ALL DAY! But I was!
That’s why the players used to not go to class,or go to class late,and sleep in the locker room!!!!
To Kaiser 2003: LOL, Everyone knows that you are the Dad that is always kissing the Coach’s butt. Hahahaha. Didn’t you graduate in the 90s? Stop trying to hide your age.
@loyalalum
Comment 13:
Come on. He was the asst Ad’s assistant in a fsc class. And he hardly went in! Tell the truth. Sosa let him do whatever he wanted.
So Sad for the Seniors … thank you for finally shedding some light on the situation.
If this is truly what is going on at Kaiser, then Martinez needs to go. It sounds like his focus is on “the future” but that is absolutely no reason to sacrifice the current varsity boys and make them suffer.
The scenario about the Campbell game is especially troubling. Was the 20 varsity boys truly just waiting around by themselves and not stretching or getting warmed up for the game? Can anybody else confirm?
To Kaiser 2003, I must have hit a nerve cause and was right about who you were because you removed your comment, which proved my me right. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH. For those that didn’t read it, it said that the Hawaii Kai parents were crybabies and his buddy, ARNOLD was going to weed out the bad and build the program from the ground up.
I thought there were no bad kids, just bad coaches.
I think you are the same guy that posted about after the Campbell game and used one of the player’s name, which is a no no.
@So sad for the seniors, you hit it RIGHT ON THE MONEY! I saw all of that you had mentioned and more while watching most of the practices at the park. Thank you!
@Falcon future, that is absolutely what happened at the Campbell game.
Is one of the duties of a Varsity Head Coach to break the varsity players hearts and make them feel less? and to Coach the JV team when their is already a JV Head Coach?
Please come back Coach Cam or Rich!
^^^ Thank you for the confirmation.
The silence from Coach Martinez and others at Kaiser is deafening. Many other coaches in this situation would normally come out and express to the media how proud they are of the boys for continuing to fight against the odds and that they not giving up. Like I said before, Coach Martinez is instead burying his head in the sand like he got something to hide.
I sure hope the workers at the newspaper are reading these comments and will do their jobs to let people know what is really going on. If the Kaiser varsity is trying to play games with only 20 boys and they are not preparing properly, they are being put in a very dangerous situation.
“so sad for the seniors”. Thank you for letting everyone know what is happening at Kaiser. As a parent that sometimes watches the practices, I also saw what you have explained, but did not really know what to think because my son is on JV and he has not played football until this year. I understand it now and see that it is wrong what Coach M is doing to the varsity boys. I am now thinking that this is a safety issue for the JV and Varsity with shared practice. Does the OIA allow this? If the boys got more reps from practicing separate, wouldn’t they be more prepared to play? I did not know that some of the Coaches on the field were parents too and Flag Football parents too. OMG
Better yet who cares about all of it. It’s high school.
RE: too funny…. Who cares? 1 word to Too funny…. CAMARADERIE.
camaraderie |ˌkäməˈrädərēˌkaməˈrädərē|
noun
mutual trust and friendship among people who spend a lot of time together: a genuine camaraderie on the football team.
Ok so whoever posted with the name Vance is def not the Pastor V you are referencing… I am He and would never comment on this article either way, even though I def have my feelings as my son plays for Kaiser…
There’s apparently more than one Vance in the world… mahalo and God Bless
Moanalua Blue please share what did u guys do?
Kaiser is going through the same and very sad hearing comment 30. The kids are hurting.
We need help!
Keep drinking the poison u jokes. Its about the kids.
Some of the potential Kaiser players clearly went to Kalani to play football for whatever reason (district boundary changes? better coach? Better program? Etc.) Not too long ago….Kalani football was where waialua football is now in D2 football, one of thebottom teams….but now Kalani seem to be contenders in OIA D2 football. Hmmm….coincidence?
Seniors…now tell the truth boys. U guys came out during spring and summer training whenever u felt like it or u didn’t come out at all. U were never committed to ur team and teammates and u chose to quit the team. No coach in their right mind would take a quitter back. U think u can jus come out in the middle of the season. Try go do that at any other school…u would get the same treatment. Stop acting like the victims. If u guys all stayed and worked hard with the kids that are on the team now they would have had numbers from the beginning. Coach kept telling the varsity boys that from the beginning. Since when do kids think they can jus show up and play football without training for it. This is a physical contact sport. so the varsity team did that to themselves. Some didn’t take care of their business in the classroom and that hurt their teammates as well. U all need to start looking in the mirror instead of pointing fingers. This is ridiculous already. What people don’t know is most of the information posted in this comment section is inaccurate. I’m a varsity parent who understands the unfortunate circumstances. There’s a lot of factors why the season went the way it did this year. People jus gotta stop pointing fingers and take a look in the mirror. This madness needs to stop.
Congratulations JV team! Awesome game last night! Way to work hard from the beginning and sticking together as a team and loving the game of football….that’s why u r having a great season. Keep up the good work!!
I wanna also add that I do feel sorry for the seniors that are on the team and have been working their butts off everyday since February. Not the quitters and the ones that can’t make grades. They are the ones that did that to the team. My son is a junior and has another year ahead of him and I’m looking forward to a better season next year. I don’t know why JV parents are attacking the coach. They should be enjoying watching their kids have fun and enjoy the winning season they are having so far. The are 3-1 !!! Way to Represent kaiser boys
Thanks @ Moanalua Blue!
JV team is 2-2. Won Radford, Aiea, forfeit Mililani, lost Campbell
May end up 2-5 or 3-4 coming up against Big red, Moanalua, and Waianae
Had to delete some posts in here. The same IP address posted as five different people. Please comment with the same name and let’s keep it clean on here. I don’t want to have to start banning people.
Thank you Billy.
For the very few parents who are still for the football program at Kaiser, please leave the children and parents who don’t agree with the program out of it. The program is being critiqued as it can be, because it’s a public school where people there are in public eye and constructive criticism can be given.
However, those who disagree with the football program aren’t criticizing those who are for the program or their children.
Keep it civil. It’s about the best interest for ALL the kids.
@varsity parent. Wow, that’s a broad net you are casting, calling all these boys who want to now join as quitters.
I will agree with one thing you said—there are a lot of inaccurate comments, but the inaccuracies are on both sides.
I also agree, it is not ideal to add players half way through the season, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say this isn’t an ideal season. We really wouldn’t know what other schools would do because guess what, they all have teams.
Some of these kids asked to join team the Monday after tryouts, not mid-season, this is also the Monday after it was announced we would have a modified schedule. Again, not ideal but adding just a few kids would have greatly improve chances of playing more games, not to mention the two they hoped to play. The most recent request of players asking to join also included some senior players pleading to the coach to reconsider. Have you ever considered why these kids want to join now or for last couple weeks? It is because their friends on the team are asking them to join. This team is in jeopardy of not having enough to play Moanalua, which is homecoming and now senior night. If it means adding few so we can play this game then do it. But then again, we had more than enough to play Aiea and we did not.
Also, these kids all played football before so it’s not like there will be a huge learning curve.
BTW— when a senior player asked the coach to allow more kids to join so “we can save our season”. Do you know what your coach said…“our season is fine”. That is your coach in a nutshell, but please don’t take my word for it.
You may be “fine” with how this season is turning out, but do not dismiss or criticize the concerns of parents who think it is anything but fine. In fact, I’d used a different “F” word to describe it.
As much as you think you know, you really don’t know much, and I say that as respectfully as possible. You don’t know what we have experienced, the lies we have been told not to mention the complete lack of respect given to players and parents. If you had an open mind, you would consider not all that he says is gospel, in fact far from it. We did our homework about this guy, I suggest you do the same.
How is the jv 3-1? Anyway you look at it, the forfeit most certainly counts as a loss. You sound like one of his disciples.
#ABA
Aloha, I have a daughter on the Kaiser Varsity cheer team. She’s been a sideline and competition cheerleader since her freshmen year and it’s been an amazing journey. What makes our program successful are coaches, athletes, administration and parents that work together and support each other no matter what obstacles come our way. This year we are 37 cheerleaders strong. They practiced all summer to cheer at football games. They practice week to week wether we have a game or not and when we do have a game they show their pride and support for Kaiser High School holding their heads up high.
This football program is not all about football. It’s about cheerleaders, band members, other sports that depend on the fundraising in our concessions.
We have been planning senior night since their freshmen year and the unknown has been a challenge. We are looking forward to a memorable senior celebration. We have 11 senior cheerleaders to honor and we hope that you all come out and support them too.
Just know if your goal is to have a program each coach, athlete, parent and administration needs to make an effort and work together as a team. Do it for the kids, it comes from the heart. All you need to do is believe💙💛
At Varsity Parent and Another Varsity Parent, I spoke to every varsity parent on the team and confirmed that none of the varsity parents made post #32, 33 & 34. Hmmmmm. Those posts are also suspiciously close in time too. Please reveal yourself and stop faking the support. Please be real and have some integrity.
LOL, fake news is everywhere!
I will say again that the workers at the newspaper should actually try and do a article with Coach Martinez and some of the “real” players and parents to see what they have to say about this big mess.
The info in these replies is clearly getting out of hand, but the newspaper not helping matters by doing nothing.
@Varsity parent, aka another Varsity parent, aka, that parent from the Kaiser cherishes the pain article that posted about a varsity player and his family, naming the boy, which was bad, aka, Live Aloha from Mililani forfeit article, aka JP from Kaiser modifies season article, we all believe that your are that certain JV dad, so please post as yourself, so there is no fake support shown. If you truly support what the coach is doing, please show that in your own name or profile instead of faking that you are a varsity parent or player. That is the right thing to do.
you guys want the real scoop???? ASK THE KIDS! ask the ones who are affected the most by this decision. ask the ones who worked their butts off just to have their season cancelled. ask them….