LIHU‘E — While there will be changes on the sideline for the upcoming Red Raider football season, one that will be most obvious to spectators in the stands will be the offensive attack on display. “We will be spreading it
LIHU‘E — While there will be changes on the sideline for the upcoming Red Raider football season, one that will be most obvious to spectators in the stands will be the offensive attack on display.
“We will be spreading it out and putting it up in the air again,” said new head coach Corey Aguano.
With spring practices underway, the eight-time defending conference champion Kaua‘i High School Red Raiders have been enjoying their initial workouts under the new coach — though the inclement weather recently has forced them into the weight room and off the practice field.
“This is November weather, it’s been weird,” Aguano said. “But the kids enjoy a little break.”
After an offseason that brought out strong opinions from parents, alumni and fans following the school’s decision not to renew the contract of previous head coach Derek Borrero, Aguano is looking forward.
One of his progressions will be moving away from the wishbone offense that the team employed for much of last season, though it also won’t be going back to the run and shoot style, either.
“I’m not a run and shoot guy,” he said. “I was learning the run and shoot, but I’m more of a spread, zone read offense type of coach. That’s just the kind of coach I am.”
In his one year with the program last season, Aguano said he did learn a lot about the run and shoot from the previous coaching staff, but it won’t be his primary method. He said it wouldn’t completely vanish from the playbook, though.
“We’ll have a sprinkle of run and shoot here and there,” he said. “I like some of the routes the run and shoot has.”
Teams that have put together runs like the Raiders have over the past decade typically don’t go through many coaching changes. Coming into that success as a new head coach isn’t the norm, but Aguano said that taking over any head coaching job, no matter its recent successes or difficulties, comes with pressure.
Having been a member of the staff in 2010, there will be some continuity with many of the returning players. One of the players who certainly won’t have continuity issues will be Coach Aguano’s son, Trey.
Last year’s strong-armed junior varsity quarterback, who also got some varsity experience in the Hawai‘i High School Athletic Association playoffs, Trey is a candidate to be under center, in charge of the new spread attack.
“I’ve coached him all his life, all the way back to Pop Warner,” Aguano said.
While coaching his son at the varsity level will be a new experience, he has decided to hire Pat Porter as the quarterbacks and wide receivers coach. That way, he won’t feel like he’s being overbearing.
“We’re already together 24/7,” he said.
Entering his junior season, Trey will be one of the players looking to step into a new leadership role as the team will be graduating a number of its influential seniors this month.
During the 2010 HHSAA semifinals — a 14-0 loss to ‘Iolani — Aguano came into the game in the second half and impressed Coach Borrero.
“I was able to get my JV quarterback in there just to get the feel of some varsity stuff and he’s going to be a great one,” Borrero said after the game. “He needs to grow a little bit, but he’s got a good mind, a good arm and you know what? He just came right into the game and he just started moving around, went 2 for 2, so we’ve got a lot of good things to look forward to.”
As is typically the case with successful high school teams, many of the main pieces will not still be with the program come August. Kaua‘i’s top five rushers — Darren Acoba, Jake Leake, Kele Hanohano, Travis Koga and Austin Motooka — as well as quarterback Shea Shimabukuro made up almost the entirety of the team’s offense in 2010, and all are leaving the team as seniors.
Filling the shoes of those veteran leaders will also include the likes of incoming seniors Kaimana Wilson and Austin Oshiro, Aguano said.
But he added that they are trying to cultivate a family environment, where all the players feel they are a part of the leadership process.
Turnout has been great, he said, and the team is just now getting to its full number of players, with some key members having been part of the Raiders’ state champion baseball team.
Despite now being the eight-time defending champs, Kaua‘i saw the gap between itself and the field tighten last season as the Kapa‘a Warriors and Waimea Menehune each made up ground, resulting in mostly competitive games. The Raiders trailed late against each team, but managed to make big plays for comeback wins on their way to a 5-1 conference mark.
Coach Aguano is expecting more of the same.
“Waimea has great coaches and what Coach Morgado has done at Kapa‘a, that program keeps building,” which should make for another very competitive season, he said.
Though he does not know the whole story of Coach Borrero’s departure from the program, Aguano said that his interview process was “normal.” He initially heard the rumors and then saw in the newspaper that the school was accepting applications for head coach. He applied and was brought in to meet with a number of administration members, before being informed that he had gotten the job.
When given word that he would not be retained, Borrero said he was told it stemmed from a parental complaint regarding bad language. Aguano said that he has not been given any parameters from the school administration about language violations or specific rules moving forward, but that he has his own rules and regulations that he will implement.
Whatever his methods, the new coach said he and the team are having fun, and the players’ spirits are up — especially when the pads are on.
“These guys love hitting each other,” he said. “I think they like hitting each other more than other teams.”
They will have more chances to hit one another as the team showcases its Red and White spring scrimmage on May 28. Aguano said it will be a controlled scrimmage with situational play, as has been the tradition for Kaua‘i High. He also said that he has heard returning to Friday night games for the regular season is going to be a possibility, so he wants to get the team acclimated with playing under the lights at Vidinha Stadium.
