(More on the hiring of Rich Miano at Kaiser. The story ran in Saturday’s edition of the Star-Advertiser.)
He won’t have to worry about Division I foes for now, but Miano is already looking at the specter of the growing giant that nearby Kalani is becoming. With former colleagues Cal Lee and Ron Lee on the Falcons’ staff, the program there is drawing plenty of talent, Miano said. He’s up for the challenge, arguably the most intriguing of the upcoming OIA White Conference regular season.
“It’s like a 500-pound gorilla. They are my friends and they’ve been my mentors. When we play them, I’m sure I’ll tell everyone that every game is important and it won’t be different,” he said. “They’ve had a one-and-a-half year jump on me. It’ll be like playing Boise State and we’re the big underdogs.”
The cache of former D-I college coaches going back to their stomping grounds at Kaiser and Kalani could prove mesmerizing for student-athletes and parents. After all, these districts have provided plenty of talent to ILH programs over the decades.
“As a parent of a student-athlete, if your child can get a great education (at Kaiser) and great year-round training with Chad Ikei, why would you spend $20,000 a year (for private-school tuition) if you don’t have to,” Miano noted.
The departure of Darnell Arceneaux from Saint Louis could also figure into the equation for East Honolulu athletes and families deciding on high schools. Or maybe not. At Saint Louis, Matt Wright is another former UH player, and he’s the youngest coach in the ILH.
Miano doesn’t have specific offensive and defensive schemes set quite yet, but he still likes the principles of the four-wide receiver run-and-shoot offense. Though his coaching expertise has been defense and special teams, he plans be more of an overseer than coordinator.
“I believe in not micromanaging,” he said. “I’m not going to be the DC. I’d like to find someone to do that. Being a head coach has a lot of responsibilities with fundraising and administrative stuff.”
With that, Miano prepared for his first task a few hours later: introducing himself to the Cougars at a lunch-hour team meeting.
Paul Honda, Star-Advertiser
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