Success more than wins, losses

Opinions in Paradise

It was intriguing, as I look back now, to watch the metamorphosis of Davis Brown’s attitude toward a player when that player began making significant contributions to wins and losses.

Brown was my college basketball coach. I didn’t play much, and so had plenty of time to make these observations.

Brown was a generally nice person, but if a player wasn’t one of the first eight in the rotation, he had difficulty relating to him. Brown spent more time talking about players’ grades for the sake of eligibility rather than with the intent to produce well-rounded men.

Wins and losses: it was how Brown measured himself and his program.

The concept is semi-tolerable at the college level. I’ve known high school coaches who traced the same map.

Keli’i Morgado is not one of them.

“I care about these boys and their well-being,” the Kaua’i High football coach said.

Those words are easy. Nearly every coach says them; it’s politically correct. The phrase is probably in the “Things-a-Coach-Should-Say” handbook.

Dig just below the surface, though, and often care for a player is found to a certain point: wins and losses. But you have to dig for a long time before reaching that point with Morgado.

“Yeah, this program probably needs to win,” he finally says. “But how do you measure success? I think we’re already successful.”

Then he begins backing it all up.

He tells you about his first season as Kaua’i’s varsity coach. It was 1999, and talented players carried the Red Raiders to a 3-2-1 record. But “problems” were rampant and infecting his program.

“When the administration hired me, they said they wanted a better overall experience for football players than had been available,” Morgado said.

So he gutted the house. He ripped off the roof, tore down the walls and piece by piece removed even the cement foundation.

He was the only man standing.

Then he began rebuilding, brought in his own staff – most of whom are older, willing to work hard without the glory wrought by winning seasons – and started teaching an entirely new offense and defense. He made hard choices, like asking players who approached the game – and his team – with the wrong attitude to find something else to do with their fall semester.

“I bit the bullet,” Morgado said. “Started making sacrifices, always with an eye to the future.”

What a brutal immediate future it was. Kaua’i finished 0-8 last year. Players – what few there were – had a difficult time picking up the new schemes. But their attitude, and that of their coach, hardly wavered. Instead, genuine care was displayed.

There were constant grade checks, patience, understanding and encouragement. Need proof? Despite that 0-8 record, the Red Raiders’ roster size has increased by a third this season.

What is the measure of success?

“I owe a lot to the guys who played for me last year,” Morgado has said many times. “The seniors sacrificed their final year because they believed in what the coaches and I were doing. I am forever in debt to them. They helped me pour the cement for the new house we’re building.”

The structure is taking shape because Morgado cares about his boys and the community for which they play.

That was the Kaua’i football team at the Special Olympics several months ago. Decked out in Red Raiders’ jerseys, players and coaches crowded the stands at Vidinha Stadium to support the athletes and, Morgado pointed out, “to learn to appreciate their own God-given ability.”

The coach also said he is constantly seeking other off-season community endeavors for his squad.

“We are always going to the community for support,” Morgado said. “We want to give back to them in any way we can.”

And he wants to give to his players, too, as many opportunities for success as possible. SAT prep courses are in the works for this year along with the constant grade checks. And then there was the calculated trip to the University of Hawai’i football camp this summer.

“If I can just get these guys in front of a college coaching staff,” Morgado said, “those with the ability may get picked up or may decide to go to a smaller school because they see they have the talent. If they go with a letter from June Jones or one of his coaches, it’s like the golden ticket.”

One may fear initially that Morgado wants to pipeline kids to college for the service of his own ego. Those concerns are quickly addressed.

“My college experience was unbelievable. I learned so much about so many things,” he reminisces. “I want as many of my kids as possible to move on and have the same opportunities, to get off Kaua’i for awhile and see a different world.”

That Morgado calls them “his kids” rather than players brings to light another aspect of caring. That is, the coach detests hazing. It is the act that brings the harshest penalty during the Red Raiders’ summer camp.

“I hate it,” Morgado said. “I didn’t let it be done to me in school, and I never did it to anyone. I don’t think it brings a team together. I think it tears it down.”

So how do you measure success?

“The mother of one of the boys saw my wife after summer camp and said,’Knowing coach’s policy on hazing, I was able to sleep through the night last week.'”

Things are moving in the right direction at Kaua’i.

Morgado recently spoke to the players, families and coaches of the Lihu’e Pop Warner Association, expressing his excitement about the years to come, his eagerness to work with all of them. They were receptive.

The coach was accompanied at the meeting by 20 Red Raiders. Not because he asked them to attend, but because those players believe in what’s happening to Kaua’i football. And were willing to back up their belief with words. As the meeting wound down, starting quarterback Kamo’i Refamonte, the Red Raiders’ best overall player, stood and addressed the audience.

“Don’t be afraid of change,” he told the boys. “It’s fun up here and you guys are going to do things we never could.”

Will the Red Raiders win six KIF games this year? No.

Will they win four? Perhaps.

Two? Maybe.

Will they be successful? You bet.