All coaches at Kahuku High School, including football head man Reggie Torres and his assistants, have been asked to reapply for their positions.
Coaches at the school received letters nearly two weeks ago telling them the news. The positions were advertised the following Friday.
The letters were sent out as part of new principal Pauline Masaniai’s review of the athletic department. Masaniai took over for Donna Lindsey on Dec. 23.
"I wanted to do this a long time ago," Masaniai said. "I wanted a chance to notify each coach and express my appreciation for them and share the goals for our academic institution."
The deadline for the football positions is Wednesday, with the girls volleyball post currently held by Tehani Fiatoa to follow on Friday. The deadline for all other sports is Feb. 19. The school is currently interviewing for head coaches in baseball and softball.
Torres is 75-14 as the school’s head football coach, but went 6-5 last year after losing his entire secondary — all four of them Star-Advertiser first-team All-State picks — and offensive player of the year Aofaga Wily to graduation. It was the first time since Siuaki Livai went 2-5 in 1996 that Kahuku had lost so many games in a season.
Torres’ teams won the OIA in five of his eight seasons. The only other times the Red Raiders missed out were in 2007, when Kapolei spoiled their undefeated league season in the first round of the OIA playoffs, and in 2010, when Kahuku was penalized for an ineligible player.
Torres, a 1983 Kahuku graduate who has been a head coach at the school since taking over the judo program in 1992, has 21 OIA team championships to his credit and 11 state titles. He took states in judo twice, boys wrestling twice, football three times and girls wrestling four times.
Fiatoa took the girls volleyball team to states last year in her first season, but lost to eventual champion Kamehameha in the quarterfinals. The Red Raiders were the only team to take a set off the Warriors.
"This is part of our athletic program review," Kahuku athletic director Gillian Yamagata said. "We just want to make sure we have the best coaches possible for our student-athletes."