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Furtado To Leave Kalaheo, But He Won’t Quit Coaching

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Chico Furtado says he’ll hang up his coach’s whistle at the end of Kalaheo’s basketball season. Photo by Nathalie Walker, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Chico Furtado wanted last Thursday night’s season finale with Farrington to be all about Kalaheo’s seniors, but that wasn’t entirely possible given his long and highly successful association with the Kailua school.

Furtado had told administrators as well as his players that this season would be his last, marking the end of a 20-year run with the Mustangs - first as a longtime assistant coach to the late Pete Smith and for the last seven years as the boys head coach. Furtado was also the girls coach at Kalaheo within that time frame, winning five straight OIA titles as well as taking the Lady Mustangs to the championship game of the state tournament twice.

“It’s a done deal,” he had said earlier in the week. “I think it is time for me to move on. I’d been there for 20 years, and I’d like to look at other challenges.” Furtado stressed that his resignation at Kalaheo was “not a retirement.

“I am still very interested in coaching. I would like to entertain the possibility of maybe coaching at the college level as either an assistant (or head coach). If something comes of it, that would be great. If nothing comes up, that’s OK, too.

“Kalaheo has been good to me,” he added. “With Pete passing away, and with (athletic directors) Lee (Cashman) and now Louis (Fuddy) retiring, I just think it is time to let someone else come in.”

Despite his own charismatic persona, Furtado invariably looked on his time as the caretaker for the Kalaheo program as “continuing the legacy of Pete Smith,” his friend and mentor.

Furtado first served as an assistant to Smith at Chaminade University during the 1989-90 season. The following year, they both went to Kalaheo and won the first of 11 OIA titles together. In fact, from 1991 to 2003 - Smith’s last year as head coach - Kalaheo won 13 OIA titles in 15 years, with only Kaimuki (1994) and Roosevelt (in 2000) able to break their stranglehold on the OIA title.

In 2004, Furtado’s first year as Mustangs’head coach, Kalaheo added another OIA title and advanced to the state championship game, where they were defeated by Iolani. Furtado also was an assistant to Smith in 1995 and 2001 when Kalaheo won the last of its three state titles in boys basketball. All told, the pair were on the bench for seven state title games during their years together.

During the summer months, Furtado also took Hawaii-Select all-star teams to Las Vegas to compete in national tournaments.Last fall, he served as a football coach for the Pop Warner-level Kahaluu Broncos under cousin Butch Cambra. He will continue to coach the Broncos, he said, in addition to coaching Little League baseball in the coming months.

“As long as Butch is involved, I am going to continue to do that and give back to the community,” said Furtado,who is a longtime resident of Kaneohe.“At the same time, I’ll entertain other possibilities in basketball, but I have no hidden agenda or hidden plans past this season at Kalaheo. Hopefully, we can make a run in the OIA playoffs.”

Furtado’s current team entered this week’s OIA Tournament on a four-game win streak,which includes victories over Kaiser, Kahuku, Kaimuki and Farrington. That left them at 8-4 in what Furtado acknowledged has been one of the more rewarding years of coaching. Kalaheo is seeking an unprecedented 20th straight state tournament appearance this week and next as they play out the OIA’s double-elimination post-season tournament.

“Sometimes your best teams aren’t the ones that go 25-0,” said Furtado, who played basketball at Chaminade under the legendary Merv Lopes.“This year, we didn’t know what to expect, but we’ve won a bunch of close games. It’s a credit to our kids for staying with it and staying with our system.”

On that note, Furtado also deflected attention to the kids of Kalaheo’s past teams.

“Players win games,“he said. “I never scored a point, pulled down a rebound, or made a steal at Kalaheo. It’s a tribute to the program Pete put together and a tribute to our players. We had a lot of players who made the coach look good.”