Kailua Football: New Staff, Young Varsity, New Grass

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Kailua’s Oahu Interscholastic Association East Red opponents may be familiar with the Surfriders’ schemes when the fall rolls around, but they don’t figure to have a handle on their personnel.

“I know one thing - we’ll probably be very young at the varsity level - I expect to see a lot of positions filled by juniors and sophomores,” third-year head football coach Gary Rosolowich said.“We have some kids coming up from the junior varsity, offensive line-men, who are really going to be solid for us. It will be tough for them - they’re going to be going up against kids who are older than them, but they could dominate in the future. We’re willing to make that investment in them. They have great potential.”

As the Surfriders entered their second session of spring drills this week, change was very much the prevailing theme at Kailua. Rosolowich’s staff received a huge make-over in the off-season with the addition of 11 new assistants. Only five members of the staff were in the fold in 2005 when the Surfriders compiled a 3-3 regular-season mark. While the program has found solid footing, Rosolowich also indicated that another period of transition can be expected, albeit on a smaller scale.

“In one sense we’re further along,” he said, “but we have a bunch of new coaches, so we have some learning to do together. There are always some mysteries. We have some very good athletes. Our mysteries are in the supporting roles. We don’t know how that will impact us.”

Defense may be the Surfriders’ forte early on this fall, with veteran defensive coordinator Brad Hewahewa as its leader.

“We’ve changed our linebacker and secondary coaches, but with Brad’s leadership, we’ll be pretty consistent (in philosophy from past to present),” Rosolowich said. “When we’ve been successful, defensively, in the past, we were able to use our speed and athleticism. That will be true again. Brad and I talked a lot during the off-season about tweaking things a little, but most of the changes have been on offense.”

With its big, agile linemen, Kailua has always been among the better running teams in the OIA. Rosolowich and his staff have used the spring to do a little fine-tuning with both the run game and the passing game.

“Our goal, offensively, is to simplify our blocking schemes, so we may be a little different in terms of how we do things,” he said.“We have been more man-on-man in the past. Right now, I see us moving towards a zone concept. It’s something that’s being experimented with in spring ball.”

Another of the Surfriders’ priorities this spring and into the summer will be staying healthy, having been plagued by injuries in Rosolowich’s first two seasons.

“The only thing you can do from a preventive standpoint is to get people into shape,” he said. “This is my third year, but only my second off-season, and we’ve had an increase in participation from previous years. We’ve used the University of Arizona’s (off-season) program to try and increase our flexibility, speed and power, and we’ve seen some dramatic results from February to the beginning of spring ball, when they were tested again. We hope to improve our agility and kill the injury bug.”

An upgrade in Kailua’s football facilities should also serve the program well for the future. Grass donated from the Waialae Country Club, which is in the process of replacing some of its fairways, will replace the old field.

“We’re looking forward to having our games on ‘Sony-Open’ type stuff,” Rosolowich said of the turf. “A Kailua graduate came by recently and told me that the field we’re replacing is the same field he played on here 40 years ago. I’m big on physical changes - they set a tone in the environment. When good things happen, people want to be a part of it.”

A second press box will also be added to Kailua’s stadium in part to help accommodate visiting assistant coaches, who previously had to coach from the stands. In the past, the timers, members of the media, and Kailua’s assistant coaching staff had squeezed into the existing press box.

Because of renovations to the stadium, a final date and sight for Kailua’s spring game had not been finalized at press time.