After last fall, Moanalua football coach Arnold Martinez announced that he was taking an indefinite break for personal reasons.
Today, he’s officially back. He still won’t go into specifics, but maintained that his earlier decision had nothing to do with the program or the school.
“The past six months I’ve coached my son’s flag football team. I’d never seen any of his practices or my daughter’s soccer games until this year,” Martinez said.
Martinez said rest, prayer and meeting with outgoing seniors led to the turnaround.
“I got to talk with some of our seniors and some of them had me in tears,” Martinez said. “You don’t know until you’re gone how much of an impact our program has on this young men. The group we’ve got coming back, I’m excited about. We’ve got big Scott (Pagano), but the group works so hard.”
Martinez made it a point to thank his staff.
“Coach (Brannon) Jackson and Coach (Kelvin) Kusano – I’m so thankful and appreciative of them and our whole staff. They’ve been working every day with our guys,” he said. “I’m thankful for our boosters working hard on fundraisers, and I’m thankful for our administration. You pour your heart and soul into it and it can be taxing. They held down the ship right.”
Paul Honda, Star-Advertiser
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