Waianae is looking for a new football coach.
Seariders athletic director Kekoa Kaluhiokalani said Thursday the school is looking to go in a new direction. Walter Young, who replaced Danny Matsumoto four years ago, is out after posting a 26-22 overall record.
Kaluhiokalani said the decision was made a few weeks ago and since that time, 20 applications for the job have poured in, including four from the mainland.
In the first year of the OIA-ILH Open Division alliance, the Seariders finished with a 1-8 overall record, including 1-4 in the OIA Open. They did not make the playoffs.
Young, a 1998 graduate of Waianae, was an assistant under Matsumoto for 11 seasons and was also the head coach of the Seariders’ junior varsity team for two years before taking over as head varsity coach in 2015.
He took the Seariders to the semifinals of the state tournament in each of his first three years and nearly upset heavily favored Kahuku in 2017, losing 10-7.
“I want to thank Walter for his service to the Waianae football program, for sure,” Kaluhiokalani said. “We appreciate what he has done.”
They should revamped all the sports at Waianae and give quality coaches a chance to apply and change the program down there on the west side . That’s just my opinion
Apply fir the Fai Lava!!!…..You would make an Amazing coach for these young upcoming stars!!…Bring the program back to its glory days!!..that’s just my opinion!!…Searider Strong!!…C/O 83!!
Re post…Apply for the Job Fai Lava!…You would make an Amazing coach for these young upcoming stars!!…Bring the program back to its glory days!!..that’s just my opinion!!…Searider Strong!!…C/O 83!!
AD Kaluhiokalani, please rebrand while you’re at it. The red Dub is being misrepresented in many ways.
They have to get a Leeward coast guy because ain’t no body trynna deal with that Westside traffic. Just saying. Perhaps Keala Watson? Hmmm.
Waianae reminds me so much of Nebraska college FB.
COACHES COACH!!PLAYERS PLAY!! THERES NO IN BETWEENS!! NOOONNNE!!! HIRE A HIGH ENERGY-NO NONSENSE GUY WITH THE TEACHING CERTIFICATE WHO KNOWS ‘OUR’ KIDS AND CAN BRING IN A CERTIFIED STAFF(SLOWLY) AND BUILD THIS DYNASTY BACK WHERE IT BELONGS–IT SHOULD BE A SLOW PROCESS–GET ALL PARENTS INVOLVED WITH THE BOOSTER CLUB AND GET BACK THAT OFF-SEASON PROGRAM–WE HAVE A WHOLE BUNCH OF GOOD BLOODLINE KIDS ON THE WAIANAE SIDE & WE HAVE TO PREPARE THEM FOR THE REAL-OPPORTUNISTIC WORLD. I-CAN YOU-CAN, WE ALL CAN & UNFORTUNATELY ITS A TOUGHER ROUGHER LEAGUE BUT IN THE LONG RUN WE WILL BECOME TOUGHER & ROUGHER–LIKE THE WAIANAE SIDE!! LETS GO OUT THERE AND ‘MAKE TINNGGS HAPPEN!!BULLDOG BORN BULLDOG BRED ALWAYS A SEARIDER TILL THE DAY IM DEAD AHUI HOU FROM KALIPONI
@Matt Motter – feels more like Notre Dame.
Good luck Kekoa we pray you find the right person for the job…..it hurts to see our Alma Mater who was always known to be Hammaz not do well…I don’t envy your position as the decision lies upon your shoulders do what you feel is right for the SEARIDERS imua team WAIANAE
BUTA WERNER
Let the coach coach and let the parents be there kids #1 fan not side line coach just saying
SEARIDER-DOGG, please come back when you can use better grammar! It’s making my eyes burn!
I think Coach Walter did a great job at the helm. Hopefully they get the right person to lead this historic Searider program. Unfortunately, with the new landscape of High School football divisions, it’ll be extremely hard for them to compete (& remain) in the Open division w/ the likes of St. Louis, Punahou, Kam, Mililani, Kahuku…etc on a weekly basis.
Thanks Nick for the story write up, many was wondering “What the heck?” Kind of an eyebrow raising change. Coach Walter did a great job leading the Searriders to the state tournament playoffs 3x prior to this past season, which was under the new classification format. The Open Division is tough. he was a commited, loyal son of Waianae and an Alumnus, who is an on staff faculty member. Know that dispite their success, they had problems out there w/the AD micromanaging. He couldn’t even pick his Staff and have the final say. disappointing to say the least. Coach helped a bunch of his players attend his Alma Mater; Whitworth College to continue their education and football experience through scholarships, grants and his college/football contacts. Sad to see an Educator treated this way, “moving into a different direction”. Maybe Waianae HS and Community needs to move towards a different direction and replace their Administration. Mr. Tokunaga, come out of retirement! Waianae needs you! Wonder what Coach Larry Ginoza, Harry Mitsui, Leo Taaca, Danny Matsumoto and other past Waianae Coaches are thinking?
Nick, please do a write up on the Campbell situation too where many of their Coaches were asked to resign and re-apply, especially football. Mahalo!
HS FB FAN, WELL SAID! AGREE WITH YOU!
Wow, are the Campbell administrators pulling a Kahuku move by having their coaches reapply? I thought that Darren Johnson had the program headed in the right direction. However, there were rumblings, within the Ewa community, about why Johnson had Kahuku transfers and former Kahuku coaches on his staff. These transfers and coaches were there only for this football season and then returned back to Kahuku. Also, heard the freshman quarterback that played JV and started the varsity game against Farrington, is another DE transfer from another school and community. Seems like some parents in Ewa are upset.
I have many generations of family that have been through Waianae High since the 50’s. The pride of the community still trives from within. The football program and the community need a change. The program needs a total revamp, start fresh and start Vanilla. Encourage fundamentals and Execution. Open the offense with play action. Yet keep it simple. The Community needs to come together and stand behind the New staff. Lastly keep the boundaries intact. What goes on in between the lines of the field. Is the Head Coaches responsibility…Period… Outside the lines is the responsibility of a Booster and Parent support group. Let’s bring back Searider Pride in 2019.
It is a difficult situation, but Coach Young wasn’t AD Kaluhiokalani’s “guy”. Coach Young was selected to succeed Coach Matsumoto after Matsumoto was ousted by the principal. Having coaches assigned to your staff is tough because philosophies might not align. Rumors are they already have a DC in place. Weird how you select a coordinator prior to the head coach. Maybe the supposed selected DC should be the head coach? Defensively Waianae was trying to blitz more against the new Open Division as to not get picked apart with the heavy passing schemes, total change of defensive philosophy required more than a year as Waianae previously played a lot of base/zone defense for years. We’ll see how the new coach fits and what actual control they have over their program. As for Mr. Tokunaga he was forced to deal with a micro-managing administration which ultimately led to him to leave having enough of it.
＠Choloropicrin
Probably referring to how there was a dynastic coach. Osborne for Nebraska, Ginoza for Waianae.
Answer me this my westside peeps.
With all the championships that are being won at the youth leagues why is it not transferring to the high school?
Nanakuli youth league baseball and football- hammahs
Waianae youth league baseball and football- hammahs
what is up?
ILH THEY ALL GET SNATCHED BY THE ILH LOL
Who? Where?
@ILH
Lol who???? The starting center for St. Louis is from Waianae and one of the DT. Kamehameha’s DE who has a couple D1 offers is from Waianae. This has been going on for years? Defrost Buckner is from Waianae 🤷♂️ Rex Manu was from Waianae. It happens and always did happen and that’s only the Waianae guys. Tua is from Ewa Beach, tui tele thats Farrington or McKinley 🤷♂️ So when you say who😂 that’s almost everybody 🤦♂️ But no excuse cause Kahuku and Mililani still find ways to compete. Waianae still competes just not at the consistent pace it had in the past. Waianae will figure it out cause their is a lot of talent that come from that community
Ha-Y-N
Ok. You named 4 players. where the rest?
I am speaking specifically about Waianae and Nanakuli. With all the talent that has risen through its youth leagues, and I mean strong, athletic studs, why isnt Nanakuli or Waianae winning more often??
I can honestly say that out of all the schools, Waianae has kept true to its roots and plays with their homegrown youth. It is always factored in that they will lose some to private schools but that was the case even when they was winning, whats happening now??
Surfing, girlfriends, $$money$$, started at a young age and dont have interest in the game anymore, etc. etc.
I hope the new coach will be able to rejuvenate the program and bridge the gap from youth leagues to HS to continue their winning ways.
Would they ever entertain the idea of bringing in an outsider??
@ILH you are definitely right. They win in pop warner, they win at the intermediate program, and they just won the open Division OIA Championship. I see your point👍
Can’t visualize a mainland Coach coming in for little pay, the commute is crazy, Super high demand for winning due to its programs rich history, kids and community is as tough as they come, cultural differences, etc etc etc
*Jv open championship
players play. coaches coach. cal lee recruits. that’s why waianae football has gone downhill since the early 2000s. hard to build winning programs when your generational top talents get poached for money and “educational opportunities”