Nelson Maeda is the new head coach of the Kalaheo Mustangs football team, the school announced Thursday night.

Maeda is a former head coach at Castle and Kailua.

“We are excited as coach Maeda brings a love for the game and 20 years of head coaching experience,” Mark Brilhante, the Mustangs athletic director, said in a statement. “As an educator, we look forward to his ability to instill core values into our student athletes. With his love for the game and his work ethic, we look forward to coach Maeda bringing pride to Mustang football.”

Maeda takes over for Darrell Poole, who stepped down as head coach after eight seasons. Kalaheo went 0-10 last fall.

Maeda went 96-116-2 overall in 22 years as a head coach and led Castle to the 2002 OIA championship. He went 91-103-0 in 20 seasons with the Knights from 1997 through 2016 and 5-13-2 with the Surfriders in 1980 and ’81.

Maeda was an assistant under Wendell Say at Aiea last season.