Morgado will coach at Kapa‘a

From wearing Raider red to Warrior green, Keli‘i Morgado will be the new head football coach for Kapa‘a High School for the 2008-09 season, school officials announced yesterday.

Morgado takes over the fledgling program that went 1-5 during the regular season and 2-8 overall.

Morgado is currently on vacation with his family and communicated with The Garden Island through e-mail.

“I was fortunate enough to be able to help my brother and some friends at Damien this year. As I helped them with coaching from the booth, I felt that I still had a lot of passion for this great game,” Morgado said in the e-mail. “Also, watching my team struggle at times during the KIF season, reinforced to me that my heart is still attached to football. I just feel as though I still have some things I would like to accomplish and something to offer the players, administration, and loyal fans of Kapa’a football.”

Morgado was previously the head coach of Kaua‘i High School and led the Red Raiders to four straight Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation championships. Under Morgado’s watch, Kaua‘i made history by appearing in the first-ever Division II state championship final last December, which was also the first football championship played by Neighbor Island schools.

Morgado is currently employed by Kaua‘i and will continue to stay with the school. He will commute to Kapa‘a in the afternoons for practice.

Earlier this year, controversy broke over Kaua‘i’s rescinding of Morgado’s coaching contract. In mid-January, all coaches were asked to reapply for their positions. They were told that this was as a courtesy to the new athletic director, Ross Shimabukuro who recently took over for Charlene Quinones.

By March, Morgado met with the administration and was offered a contract with seven stipulations. He had issues with three of them. The two parties agreed that Morgado would make a decision whether or not to accept the position. But that offer was rescinded the next day.

Their bout quickly became a public affair. Kaua‘i appointed the former junior varsity coach, Derek Borrero, as the new varsity coach. Morgado eventually took the school to court. He and his lawyer Eric Seitz drafted, filed and served a lawsuit seeking that Kaua‘i either reinstate the original offer to renew Morgado’s contract or reopen the hiring process. Morgado lost that injunction.

It wasn’t until recently that Morgado decided to apply for Kapa‘a’s open coaching position.

“My first move is to sit down with (principal Gilmore) Youn and (athletic director Greg) Gonsalves and get on the same page in terms of my philosophies and goals for the program,” Morgado said. “I have found that it is imperative to have an open line of communication with the administration where all parties can feel as though they have a seat at the table and where all opinions are valued. Filling a coaching staff is priority number two, but no less important than talking with the administration.”

Kapa‘a had its own football dilemma when former coach Sia Salausa stepped down as head coach before the season started. Coach Steve Kaui took over as the interim coach and was one of four local coaches who applied for the position.

“I’m obviously disappointed with the decision,” he said. “But the school made a decision and we have to go along with it.”

Prior to acting as the interim coach, Kaui was an assistant coach at Kapa‘a.

“I wish the program the best. My heart is always with the school and the organization,” Kaui said. “I appreciate all the support I got from the community this past year. I had a lot of people backing me up and I really appreciated that.”

Kaui said he would still like to be a part of the football program, but that now rests in Morgado’s hands.

“It’s going to create something interesting, I think,” he said. “The school is aware of what might happen in the community because of the decision, whether it be from the players or the parents. It’s still totally amazing to me.”

Kapa‘a assistant football coach and head track coach Ron Velasco also applied for the position.

“Congratulations and good luck,” he said.

Velasco said he’s not surprised Kapa‘a decided to bring someone from the outside into the program.

“He’s a manageable coach and he’s had a winning record over at Kaua‘i High and that’s what Kapa‘a wants right now,” Velasco said.

Coach Borrero thinks this is a good thing for the KIF.

“I say to the Kapa‘a community: Don’t let this one go. Support this coach because he’s a good one,” he said.

Borrero heard rumors that Morgado was applying for the job and wasn’t surprised he was hired.

“Once Keli‘i’s name was thrown in that hat, I knew it was going to be difficult to deny him. I always said he should be coaching somewhere,” he said.

He also said that with Morgado taking over at Kapa‘a, that it would change competition within the league.

“Now there are going to be two teams who are going to throw the ball. It will be the shoot versus shoot. It’s going to make us expand our horizons a bit. It’s going to make us a better team and for the both of us, we’re going to have to get creative with our offense,” Borrero said. “It’s going to be fun. I’m excited. It’s not going to look like Kapa‘a versus Kaua‘i, it’s going to look like coach versus coach.”

Head coach Kylie Linoz at Waimea High School thinks having Morgado back on the pitch would give a boost to the KIF.

“I think it will give a boost in the number of people who come to the football games,” he said. “There’s going to be a lot of interest in these games and I think it’s going to create a rivalry. There already was one, but I think it’ll be even bigger. It’s basically going to be Kaua‘i High versus Kaua‘i High versus Waimea,” Linoz said. “That’s a great thing for all of us because it will make the KIF a more competitive league.”

Morgado said he is not worried about a possible community backlash and has had much support for his decision to get back to coaching.

“I have received nothing but overwhelming support from members of the Waimea, Lihu‘e and Kapa‘a communities,” he said. “I feel as though, through the comments of the many well wishers I have run into, that everyone understands that my coaching career at Kaua‘i High School came to an abrupt end because of decisions that were out of my control.”

Morgado hopes to bring his success and commitment to academics to Kapa‘a.

“The last time I coached football was on the field at Aloha Stadium, at which time we gave away a great opportunity to win a state championship,” he said. “It is difficult for me to strive for anything less than that level of success. I would also like to improve upon the program that I built at Kaua‘i High, including the areas of minimum grade point average requirements, mandatory study halls, SAT prep courses, community service projects, and campus support projects. Most of all, I would like to build another program which teaches young men the skills needed to have a chance for success in life after football.”

• Lanaly Cabalo, sports editor, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 237) or lcabalo@kauaipubco.com.