Rich Miano finally landed a head coaching job close to his heart.
Miano confirmed Friday morning that he will be the new football coach at Kaiser, ending speculation about the program’s position opening.
Miano, 49, was a longtime defensive backs and associate head coach at the University of Hawaii before Greg McMackin "retired" last year. Miano applied for the Warriors’ head coaching job, but that eventually went to Norm Chow.
Recently, opportunity knocked and Miano, who has lived in the neighborhood for the past 34 years, opened the door.
"They came to me and asked if I’d be interested," he said.
Now Miano, who graduated from Kaiser in 1980, finds himself in a position to pay it forward.
"I’m excited about it. I’ve always preached to coaches in high schools and Pop Warner that they’re the ones who are noble and have a passion for coaching kids," he said. "I’ve always wanted to give back to my alma mater. Coaching high school, you make next to no money. It’s about the passion."
The former New York Jets defensive back said he plans to donate his coaching paycheck to his staff. He hadn’t hired any assistants as of Friday morning, but there has been plenty of discussion. If he has his way, Miano expects to cover a spectrum of ages and backgrounds with his first staff.
Tim Seaman, a former Kaiser coach, and former UH and Kaiser teammate Bryan Almadova are among his targets.
"He was my idol when I moved here and started going to Kaiser," Miano said of Almadova, two years his senior.
Miano is also enthused about retaining popular training coach Chad Ikei, another Cougars alum.
"We have the best strength coach in America. He’s there every day. I watched Chad do the same thing in Arizona," Miano said.
Ikei worked with Kaiser athletes through the spring while Will Lobendahn was still head football coach. Lobendahn was released last month after two seasons, and Ikei was one of his strongest supporters.
"We go back a long way, but I understand his loyalty to Will," Miano said.
Players can expect to see Miano on the track and in the weight room on a regular basis. Miano is nearly as fit as he was in his 10 seasons in the NFL; he operates the Speed and Quickness Clinic, currently run each Sunday at Mililani High School. He hopes to bring the clinic to Kaiser and the Hawaii Kai community at some point. It wasn’t that long ago that Miano was a Kaiser standout who walked on at UH, donned jersey No. 38 and turned himself into one of the best safeties in the program’s history.
"We’re going to bring pride back to the east side," Miano promised. "It won’t be easy. There’s a lot of great coaching with Arnold (Martinez) at Moanalua and Reggie (Torres) at Kahuku. Every school is tough."
