His teams won seven state baseball championships in a row.
They did it in every way possible, from power hitting to small ball, using the element of surprise and superb fundamentals.
But when the time came to take a breather, Eric Kadooka was fully prepared to walk away. The longtime Punahou coach is retiring as of this morning, when he meets with school officials.
Kadooka, 43, put 11 years in as head coach at Punahou and five more as an assistant.
"In our minds," he said of himself and his coaching staff, "we felt that we always did it the right way. Play your best, do it the right way, behave properly. Do your homework. The program is bigger than all of us."
His teams won an unprecedented seven state crowns from 2004 to ’10, turning the program into perhaps the greatest in Hawaii prep history. His walking away isn’t a shock.
"I didn’t know when I was going to make the decision, but this is the best time. I haven’t even talked to the kids. We have a meeting on Saturday. I was hoping they wouldn’t know until I told them. I’m trying to do this the right way," he said on Thursday.
Coaching, he added, is a privilege.
"It’s selfish to coach. You’re asking so much sacrifice from so many people to let you do what you do," he said. "I’m so thankful to Punahou for the opportunity. (Then athletic director) Tom Holden gave me a shot. He didn’t know anything about me, but he hired me. Now we’re the greatest of friends. We went through the thick and thin. He was at all our games, saw the lows and saw when we won it all. I made him proud."
His wife, Lehua, is an assistant volleyball coach at Punahou and also a club coach.
"I’m 100 percent sure about this. Myself and my coaching staff felt it was time for us to leave. Between our personal lives with our families and work, it takes a toll. I would ask myself every year, do I have the energy to do this? I finally said, no. The pressure got greater the more we won. I finally had to look myself in the mirror and it’s time to pass this along. Our program created an identity for myself out of high school. I used to that to go to college and get a job," Kadooka said.
It brought Kadooka, a former Buffanblu infielder, great joy to see the byproduct of his players’ year-round work ethic.
"The proudest thing is I can honestly say every Punahou alumni is so proud. I’m proud of what we did. Half of my staff is alumni guys, baseball alum. It makes me extremely happy to hear they’re happy and proud," he said. "It’s not a specific championship team I’ll remember the most, but it’s the kids and the good relationships we have, putting so many kids into college programs."
When Punahou won the state title in ’04, it ended a lengthy stretch.
"It was a long spell, a drought since 1989. I felt like it was partly my fault as a player," he said, noting that he’s not going to recommend a replacement. "I’d like to see somebody … no, that’s not my place."
With that, it could be the end of a dynasty in Hawaii high school sports.
"It’s a new chapter in my life. I love coaching, I’ll coach again. But it’s just too much. It requires too much," said Kadooka, a civil engineer at Wilson Okamoto Corp. "I gotta work. I’ve got a mortgage. I can’t be leaving every day at 2:30."
