Nolan Tokuda was a huge part of the Leilehua football renaissance in the early part of the 2000s, and now he is the school’s athletic director.
As the football coach, Tokuda brought the Mules to the Division I state championship game in 2004. 2007 and 2008, and that included a 20-16 victory over Saint Louis for the ’07 title. That same year, Leilehua won the OIA championship.
Since then, the Mules have been a tough competitor in the OIA and state ranks.
Tokuda took over for outgoing athletic director James Toyota on July 1. Mark Kurisu has a few months under his belt as the head football coach in place of Tokuda.
“I love my dream job,” Tokuda texted Hawaii Prep World Friday night. “The greatest part of it, we have great coaches who love the kids, know the sports that they are teaching and they know how to teach. They are all committed to going the extra mile for our student-athletes in life first, school second then sports is last. That is the priority in that order. In addition, we have tremendous support from our principal Jason Nakamoto and the entire administrative staff as well as assistant athletic director Nate Higa. Nate has been instrumental in helping me adjust in my new role and makig some great suggestions to improve our program. And last but not least, I am being mentored by (former) longtime athletic director Richard Townsend. Learning from one of the best has humbled me and I feel so blessed.”
Damn right Nolan Tokuda can coach. No way his Leilehua team should have beat St Louis in the 2007 state championship football game. St Louis had way better players. Initially, not a single one of his players on that championship team was offered a Div 1 football scholarship. But they won the highest divison of Hawaii state football, so schools came back for another look at the players. Only school, Idaho, bottom 10 of NCAA Div 1 football, finally came up with a late offer to Robert Siavii. How many times did Nolan Tokuda’s teams knock off #1 seed Kahuku? Punahou could never beat Kahuku in the big game. But I think success went to his head, and Coach Toku-da started making his players do things that had nothing to do with football.
As a football coach, Tokuda was one of the best around. I still remember the days that the Mules was under coach Cass Ishitani. Back then, as the varsity struggled, Tokudaʻs JV Mules, with quarterback Bryant Moniz leading the way, was always meeting Kahuku for the championship. When Tokuda, under public demand from the community, took over, he didnʻt miss a beat and immediately restored to the glory it had under Hugh Yoshida. Also, Mililani head coach Rod York came from the coaching staff under Tokuda at Leilehua. Nolan is a good man and is going to do a fine job as AD at Leilehua. I only wish he came back to his alma mater at Aiea and revamped its football program.