Former Kalaheo Hoops Star To Mold Private School Team
By Jack Danilewicz
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Del.icio.usAlika Smith is never at a loss for words when it comes to discussing his coaching mentors. When he accepted the head basketball coaching job at Academy of the Pacific recently, the realization that their teachings could live on through him was much on his mind.
“It’s a chance to show what I’ve learned from three special coaches in my dad (the late Kalaheo coach Pete Smith), Riley (Wallace) and (UH-Hilo coach) Jeff Law,” said Smith, a lifetime resident of Kailua and former Kalaheo and UH stand-out. “It’s a matter of putting those things together and becoming a man of my own.”
Smith, who coached at UH-Hilo as an assistant and later was under Wallace at UH, admits to having known very little about AOP - a small, private school in Alewa Heights - until recently, but the Dolphins certainly know all about him. Indeed,AOP’s athletics director is Ryan Hogue, who played for UH-Hilo when Smith was an assistant there earlier in the decade. Hogue also starred for Kalaheo under Pete Smith and current-Mustangs head coach Chico Furtado, then an assistant.
“I don’t think you can find a better person for the job,” Hogue said of Smith.“I called him and we talked about it, and he said that he really wanted to coach high school. I told him that this was a great opportunity to start a program.
“He has patience with the kids and natural ability. In fact, he reminded me a lot of his father when he was coaching me at Hilo. We have been friends for a long time, and we come from the same basketball culture. It’s a great thing for us. I don’t think anyone in the state has the credentials or the connections that he has.”
Hogue was AOP’s head coach last season in addition to serving as the school’s AD. This year, he has added the duties of assistant dean of students at the school as well co-coordinator of basketball for the Interscholastic League of Honolulu.
“It was a bit much to do all of that and be a head coach,” admitted Hogue.
For his part,Smith is sold on AOP and its vision for athletics.The school currently is building an athletic facility, and while AOP is more known for academics and a good learning environment, a pair of Division I athletes can be counted among its graduates in recent years: Vito Higgins, a former goal-keeper for Gonzaga’s soccer team, and volleyball standout Tri Bourne, now a sophomore at USC.
“I’m excited,“Smith said.“To be honest, I didn’t know much about them, but once I got there, I absolutely loved it. The people there are passionate about athletics, and I’ve been given the reins to run the program the way I want to run it.”
His philosophy is centered on applying “the teamwork concept in real life,“he said, adding that “winning isn’t everything, but it helps, obviously.”
AOP, which competes in Division II, finished 2-8 in the ILH last season and had Brad Foster, the state’s leading scorer and rebounder. Foster has since transferred to Word of Life to join its newly-formed football program, leaving the Dolphins truly at ground zero.
“We’re starting from scratch,” Hogue said,“and Alika understands that.”
The Dolphins begin preparations for the upcoming season Dec. 1, the first official date that Hawaii prep basketball teams can practice.
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