This is a time — a couple months after a high school sports season — when coaching jobs become open and then filled. Coaches have had time to catch their breath after months of six-days-a-week (sometimes seven) preparation and time devoted to their programs. They’ve had moments to reflect on the season and contemplate their futures.

But man, when it rains, it pours.

I came into work Friday afternoon expecting just to check my e-mail and phone messages before heading out to the Punahou-’Iolani boys volleyball match when …

Boom! I’m told Glenn Takara stepped down as ‘Iolani girls basketball coach.

Bam! Yoshi Honda, the Raiders’ wrestling coach, also resigned.

Boom! Campbell has openings for both its boys (Glenn Flores) and girls (Bigs Macadangdang) basketball programs.

That’s four pretty high-profile jobs suddenly open in just one day. Each of the jobs is attractive and has big upsides, but without even knowing the exact reasons, I also can understand why each coach might have left.

For Takara, it’s as good a time as any, with his daughter Raechele graduating along with a strong core of veteran seniors: Jamie Smith, Chanel Hirata, Kylie Ahlo, Dayna Jandoc. Also, Takara is an assistant varsity football coach, and with ‘Iolani advancing deep into the state tournament the past few years and overlapping with the girls basketball season … it’s a long seven-month grind.

For Honda, he set a pretty solid foundation with both the boys and girls programs so I think ‘Iolani wrestling should be in pretty good shape for whoever takes over.

For Flores, he was Campbell’s third new coach in three years, so obviously there are challenges there that anybody would face in that position.

For Macadangdang, hey, the Sabers just won the Division II state championship, so why not go out on top?

Again, I don’t know the exact reasons why each coach left, but on the surface each would seem to have good reasons.

And really, with the time demands and countless details that need attention from every high school coaching job, sometimes you wonder how anybody can keep doing it for more than one year anyway.

But that being said, each program also can be attractive to those who might want to take over.

‘Iolani has a winning tradition, excellent facilities and strong all-around support in both wrestling and girls basketball, plus student-athletes who are coachable and hard-working.

Campbell basketball also has a solid recent history, as the boys have qualified for the past four state tournaments and the girls program now should generate more interest as a state champion. The Sabers also have a large pool of talented athletes to draw from and the school is trying very hard to build pride from within.

Coaching changes happen all the time in high school sports and though it seems as if we’re losing four good ones all in one day, it will be interesting to see who takes over each of these programs and how they will shape the immediate future of the Raiders and Sabers.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 12th, 2008 at 12:42 am and is filed under Prep Talk. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.