After a winless 2022 season, the Kamehameha football program is looking for a new head coach.

The school announced Tuesday afternoon that it was letting Abu Ma’afala go after seven years running the program.

A Class of 2002 graduate of Kamehameha, Ma’afala went 17-34-1 in six seasons after taking over for Doug Cosbie, who resigned after the 2015 season.

“I’m grateful to Glennie Adams for giving me the opportunity to coach,” Ma’afala said Tuesday evening. “I’ve been blessed with this chance to give back. I coached in an unconventional way. I love all the players I coached in the past (seven) years. Whatever they need I’m here for them no matter what.”

In a letter sent to players and their families and released to the media, athletics director Rob Hesia said Ma’afala will remain on staff and fulfill his duties as an athletic relations associate in the Kamehameha athletics department.

“After seven years as our head coach, the difficult decision was made to pursue a new direction with our program and allow our student-athletes the opportunity to experience new growth as athletic competitors,” Hesia wrote.

Ma’afala never had a winning season at Kamehameha but found his best success last year coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic when the Warriors went 3-3 with two wins over Saint Louis and one over Punahou.

The wins over the Crusaders snapped an 11-game losing streak to Saint Louis dating back to 2013.

That momentum couldn’t continue into 2022, as the Warriors suffered their first winless season, going 0-7-1, with the lone tie coming against Moanalua.

They lost twice to Punahou by a combined score of 121-14, including a 69-7 game on Oct. 15 that was Kamehameha’s largest margin of defeat against the Buffanblu in 191 all-time meetings, which is the most games between any two schools in the nation.

“This season, as difficult as it has been, we’ve had adversity, but this is one of the most fun seasons coaching for me,” Ma’afala said. “This group of kids just wouldn’t quit, taking haymaker after haymaker and coming back every week. I had a great coaching staff doing all they could so our kids could feel the elation of winning.”

Since the ILH changed formats and moved Kamehameha into a three-team Open Division with Punahou and Saint Louis in 2017, the Warriors have gone 4-19 against their ILH counterparts.

Twenty-eight of the 52 games Ma’afala coached over six seasons were against either the Crusaders or the Buffanblu.

Kamehameha has not won an ILH title since 2009, when it also went on to win its last state championship.

That is also the last time it has played in the state tournament.

A search for Ma’afala’s replacement will begin immediately, according to the letter.

“Transition always places a heavy burden upon all affected. It is with respect and aloha for Coach Abu, our players, and our community that we move forward with this next step in our program evolution,” Hesia wrote. “As head coach, Abu leaves a legacy of helping our young impressionable players become good and industrious men of strong character and moral fiber who use their talents and passion to ho‘ola lahui.”