Waianae has a new football coach

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Nick Abramo
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Waianae has a new football coach

Post by Nick Abramo »

Head wrestling coach Matt Murakawa is now the interim head football coach for the Seariders varsity football team. He was the JV head coach.

It's the 17th Hawaii high school coaching change since November 2019.

Toggle over to BedrockSportsHawaii.com for the Waianae story that includes a list of the 17 coaching changes.

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Re: Waianae has a new football coach

Post by gopunahou »

I’ve lost count of how many times Waianae has changed coaches since Matsumoto left.

They remind me so much of Nebraska football. Great in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s, but have struggled since the millennium began.
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Re: Waianae has a new football coach

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Re: Waianae has a new football coach

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gopunahou wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 10:29 pm I’ve lost count of how many times Waianae has changed coaches since Matsumoto left.

They remind me so much of Nebraska football. Great in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s, but have struggled since the millennium began.
I wonder if like Nebraska, the game seems to have passed them by.

Nebraska used to be known for their wishbone option running attack. They had perfect offensive lines. They were huge, bigger than anyone else.

Waianae also had a vaunted rushing attack during their dominance. It seemed like a steady dose of power running and a few passes to the tight end here and there was how they wore teams down.

Now at both the high school and college level, it seems like RPO’s/spread offenses/quicker passing games are the norm.

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Re: Waianae has a new football coach

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ChadFukuoka wrote: Wed Jul 07, 2021 3:20 pm
gopunahou wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 10:29 pm I’ve lost count of how many times Waianae has changed coaches since Matsumoto left.

They remind me so much of Nebraska football. Great in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s, but have struggled since the millennium began.
I wonder if like Nebraska, the game seems to have passed them by.

Nebraska used to be known for their wishbone option running attack. They had perfect offensive lines. They were huge, bigger than anyone else.

Waianae also had a vaunted rushing attack during their dominance. It seemed like a steady dose of power running and a few passes to the tight end here and there was how they wore teams down.

Now at both the high school and college level, it seems like RPO’s/spread offenses/quicker passing games are the norm.
Kahuku’s always won with dominant running games, but every year they’ve won state titles (save for 2006 probably), they’ve needed a decent passing game. They killed us with key pass completions each time we faced them in the title game. Their lack of a passing game also cost them against St. Louis in 2016.
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Re: Waianae has a new football coach

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I don't know, but can only speculate, that some of Waianae's talent has possibly trickled down to Kapolei over the years.
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Re: Waianae has a new football coach

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My3Cats wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 8:13 am I don't know, but can only speculate, that some of Waianae's talent has possibly trickled down to Kapolei over the years.
It seems like Kapolei has had a ton of talent at the skill positions on offense over the past several years, but that hasn’t translated into competing for championships. Despite them only finishing in the middle of the pack, they seem to have more than their fair share of players going on play in college. Maybe it’s just due to Darren Herdandez being a good promoter in getting his players recognition.

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Re: Waianae has a new football coach

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On the subject of teams with better pasts than presents, I always wondered if Iolani can reach its 1990s level, which is probably the best decade in Iolani history. That decade saw them produce four winning seasons in the ILH and a respectable record against us and Kamehameha. Not to mention talented players like Brian Ah Yat, Joe Igber, Uriah Moenoa, and Donny Mateaki.
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Re: Waianae has a new football coach

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gopunahou wrote: Sun Jul 11, 2021 10:08 pm On the subject of teams with better pasts than presents, I always wondered if Iolani can reach its 1990s level, which is probably the best decade in Iolani history. That decade saw them produce four winning seasons in the ILH and a respectable record against us and Kamehameha. Not to mention talented players like Brian Ah Yat, Joe Igber, Uriah Moenoa, and Donny Mateaki.
My guess is that Iolani would have to do some major recruiting. Their school typically attracts the nerdy, Asian kids, small, not too athletic. The athletes that they do normally attract can be really good, but not enough to make much impact on team sports. Brains, not brawn.
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Re: Waianae has a new football coach

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My3Cats wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 8:05 am
gopunahou wrote: Sun Jul 11, 2021 10:08 pm On the subject of teams with better pasts than presents, I always wondered if Iolani can reach its 1990s level, which is probably the best decade in Iolani history. That decade saw them produce four winning seasons in the ILH and a respectable record against us and Kamehameha. Not to mention talented players like Brian Ah Yat, Joe Igber, Uriah Moenoa, and Donny Mateaki.
My guess is that Iolani would have to do some major recruiting. Their school typically attracts the nerdy, Asian kids, small, not too athletic. The athletes that they do normally attract can be really good, but not enough to make much impact on team sports. Brains, not brawn.
Iolani has historically done well in both boys and girls basketball. They have also had success at softball, baseball, and both boys and girls volleyball.

It seems football obviously requires size, so maybe that’s why they were middle of the pack in the ILH back then, or only dominating at the D2 level.

Maybe it’s a size thing, but Iolani has been successful at many of the non football team sports.

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Re: Waianae has a new football coach

Post by gopunahou »

ChadFukuoka wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 1:22 pm
My3Cats wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 8:05 am
gopunahou wrote: Sun Jul 11, 2021 10:08 pm On the subject of teams with better pasts than presents, I always wondered if Iolani can reach its 1990s level, which is probably the best decade in Iolani history. That decade saw them produce four winning seasons in the ILH and a respectable record against us and Kamehameha. Not to mention talented players like Brian Ah Yat, Joe Igber, Uriah Moenoa, and Donny Mateaki.
My guess is that Iolani would have to do some major recruiting. Their school typically attracts the nerdy, Asian kids, small, not too athletic. The athletes that they do normally attract can be really good, but not enough to make much impact on team sports. Brains, not brawn.
Iolani has historically done well in both boys and girls basketball. They have also had success at softball, baseball, and both boys and girls volleyball.

It seems football obviously requires size, so maybe that’s why they were middle of the pack in the ILH back then, or only dominating at the D2 level.

Maybe it’s a size thing, but Iolani has been successful at many of the non football team sports.
Those Iolani FB teams from the 90s would've belonged in D1 (if D2 existed), regardless of what Coach Look tells you. There was one year (1993) that they tied for first and beat ST. LOUIS. They also had a respectable record against us and Kamehameha. They had more size back then they do now. Strength, however, has always been their biggest strength.
Punahou Football: 12-1, 2008 ILH and State Champions! 11-0, 2013 ILH and State Champions, a team for the ages!

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