Why is EWA/Kapolei schools not winning football titles?

[HS Football Fanatic]

can anyone from leeward side explain why more particularly campbell and kapolei are not winning any football titles? if u told me mililani would win a state football title before those two i would call you crazy.

the ewa plains is prime with football athletes similar to areas like kahuku and kalihi, add on top of that the geographic closenees and convenience of the two school districts and i would drool over the possibilities of all the best athletes stacking up at either cambell or kapolei.

central oahu been doing that for years, the central oahu kids used to stack up at leilehua and now they are stacking up at mililani. both those schools now have 1 state title.

Kapolei pros:
- new facilities
- growing population
- decent polynesian sized community
Kapolei cons:
- is coach hernandez not popular enough to attract out of district talent (waipahu-waianae)
- coach hernandez has the wrong assistant coaches, several assistant coaches from kahuku with strong ties to the kahuku community however kahuku is too far for transfers to commute. That is the formula that York uses at mililani has assistants have deeper ties to kids from metro honolulu and they been recruiting hard.

Cambell pros:
- growing population
- big polynesian community
- coach amosa is well liked in the community
Cambell cons:
- the image of a run down community in "older ewa" may cause parents to send their kids elsewhere that is safer (like mililani)

First off, it's my understanding that Campbell has the largest enrollment in the state, so if you go by enrollment alone, Campbell should be state D1 football champs pretty often. Obviously, enrollment isn't everything. Also, I'm not sure that ethnicity is always a good indicator, either. Clearly, Poly kids are generally good in football, but so are popolo kids. My understanding is that Radford has the most popolo kids, so why hasn't Radford been state D1 football champs pretty often? I think both enrollment and ethnicity are oversold. I suspect that it's who the coach is, and whether the school is recruiting players. Therefore, if a school can hire a legendary coach--and recruit--that's a very strong combination. Right now, which school has the strongest combination of the two? I would say St Louis. Cal Lee is probably the most legendary high-school football coach in the state; and, I think most of us will agree that St Louis recruits. Therefore, I suspect that St Louis will start eclipsing Punahou, to become the premier football school in the ILH. As for the OIA, I think Kahuku will become the premier football school in that league. Even though Mililani has a larger enrollment than does Kahuku, I think Kahuku has more football talent. I understand that Mililani recruits, but I don't think that that can overcome the superior football talent at Kahuku.

Kahuku will BECOME the premier program in that league?

No, Kahuku IS the premier program in that league.

Not really; right now it's Mililani, and Mililani might continue its reign for another year or so, due to the players that will return from this year's championship team. But after that, I think Kahuku will reign.

[Tmanz]

Maybe the desert weather?

[cmak11]

Kahuku will be back on top....the recruiting days are over and I honestly think York will bail to Iolani first chance he gets.....Kahuku uses home grown players so they'll keep going..

[BullNuts808]

I think it would highly unlikely that York would go to Iolani. For one thing, his style is not typical of the Iolani style of coaching. He's done a great job at Mililani and would love to see him in the ILH but of all the schools. Its a shame that this is true but Iolani and York have extremely different coaching philosophies.

I would like to also say that although Hernandez does not win at the high school level he is a tremendous vehicle for pushing his kids to the next level especially Big time D1 school (UCLA, Wisconsin, Utah, Washington, etc.) . I would take a college offer over a high school championship ANY DAY!! Its sad but I can say that there are only a handful of coaches IN THE STATE that promote their graduating athletes to college. This is a tragedy!! Most coaches here tend to forget about their players after they finish their senior year.

[studfinder]

[quote="BullNuts808"]I think it would highly unlikely that York would go to Iolani. For one thing, his style is not typical of the Iolani style of coaching. He's done a great job at Mililani and would love to see him in the ILH but of all the schools. Its a shame that this is true but Iolani and York have extremely different coaching philosophies.

I would like to also say that although Hernandez does not win at the high school level he is a tremendous vehicle for pushing his kids to the next level especially Big time D1 school (UCLA, Wisconsin, Utah, Washington, etc.) . I would take a college offer over a high school championship ANY DAY!! Its sad but I can say that there are only a handful of coaches IN THE STATE that promote their graduating athletes to college. This is a tragedy!! Most coaches here tend to forget about their players after they finish their senior year.[/quote

Hernandez can't push you through D1 college if you don't have the grades or size. In this day and age with media at ones disposal, you can pretty much get yourself out there to coaches or go the PIAA route, but you still need to do your part. I rather win a high school championship game, be seen for my play on TV, and get a scholarship, then just getting a college scholarship. St. Loius, Waianae, Kahuku, Punahou, and now Mililani are champs and they send kids to D1 colleges and won championships. Seriously, if you have a hoard of talent and you can't win a championship, then something is wrong. Campbell has loads of talent, why can't they get to that next level? You start to look at the coaches and find out the problem. Hernandez is a great tool for taking kids to the next level, but if you only concentrate on the D1 kids and forget the Div2, D3, NAIA talent, that could be where the problem lies. I need to add in my alma mater Kamehameha, Cal Chai thought us to win both on and off the field and we won the championship.

[BullNuts808]

I like your points. I agree that championship teams get their players more attention. However, championships aren't the only answer as you stated there's more to it nowadays. St. Louis in the 80's was a great example of this "championships only" concept. For the amount of championships they won, their athletes had difficulty with playing at the next level. I'm sure that this has improved with Lee Brothers' gaining experience at the collegiate level. Nowadays, coaches should do more than just coaching teams. Kahuku is at an advantage because Leslie knows this concept as most of the mainland high school coaches do. There are some local coaches who get it like Mililani and Kaiser who go the extra step and take their players to college football camps to get their kids' exposure. You and I have seen great players at the high school level never make it to the next level. The shame is that it is still happening.

KS is another sad story. No disrespect. They have the outstanding athletes but coaching cannot put it together. Tafua was the best D-Linemen in the state but got no recognition for this. Kane got his exposure thru track & field not football. There's the real shame. I was closely affiliated with the athletic administration in the 90s and have nephews who play now and it seems to be getting worse. More descension and lack of unity. Its so bad there that parents are not longer allowed to watch practice on campus anyone. Too bad.