Makoa Freitas learned a lot from former coaches Dick Tomey at Arizona and Tony Dungy with the Indianapolis Colts.
You could have worse mentors. A lot worse.
Freitas said on Thursday that he will bring with him what he learned from those coaches and others to the Kahuku sidelines. Freitas was recently hired as the head coach of the Red Raiders.
“I don’t know what happened that led to the change,” said Freitas, referring to the school’s release of two-year head man Vavae Tata, who led the team to one state championship and another appearance in the state final. “I know he did a lot for the program. I want to take what he did and continue with it.
“It is humbling to be put in this position. There are really good kids and really good assistants and we’ve got to come together for each other.”
Freitas said he will keep the same staff that was assembled by Tata for both the varsity and JV teams.
Freitas, who is an accountant at Brigham Young-Hawaii, is the son of Rockne Freitas, a former UH-West Oahu chancellor and NFL football player. He’s never been a head coach before, but is looking forward to the challenge. He said he was “very surprised” when he was offered the interim job, which is good for one year. It’s possible that he can stay on as the head coach after that, depending on many factors.
“I talked to my wife after they offered me the job and we talked it over,” Freitas said. “We decided that I would give it a shot.”
If asked by the Kahuku administration to stay on after a year, Freitas said, “We’ll see how the season goes. I have young kids. I will see how it affects them.”
Good luck Makoa, you can do it. It was meant to be and you should run the offense! One more thing, hire Byron Beatty as your DC! FORWARD AND UPWARDS! GO BIG RED ! !
Good Luck!
I see Kahuku fans AND players bashing Vavae Tata for leaving. But when they won the state championship, yeah y’all were all over his nuts. Bipolar fan base.
much love and grattitute for tata from every kahuku person i know, those close to the program noticed a change in his focus after the season thats all that is.
goodluck to makoa cant blame him if he only plans to coach year to year, the administration has created such an unstable environment
Tata did an awesome job and 98% of the Red Raiders appreciate and love him. Good luck 2 coach Tata and you wanna b Red Raider fans will always hate on the Nation and be negative. But we know you just wanna B us @radadada! Lmao
Way back then (my days) it was Rockne Freitas and Wayne Foster? Still today the Freitas name exemplifies professional athleticism and it’s a honor for our Red Raiders Nation to have another chain link of the Freitas Ohana whereas having to sharing them long line of football experiences with our Red Raiders Nation.
CONGRATULATIONS COACH MAKOA and Best Wishes;…you the man now so make us proud of our Red Raiders football. RR4LE
i remember watching makoa and his brother playing youth sports, their father set great example of support and love to his sons. Congrats
The hard part isn’t coaching the kids and getting them to win, because Kahuku will always be one of the top teams in the state even if their offense is basically halfback dives up the middle. The hard part is dealing with the politics, community, and administration. Best of luck to Makoa. Imua.
What’s Tata going to do now? How come Tata released Coach Hao during the season?