New Coach Is Sold On Mustangs

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New Kalaheo High football coach Chris Mellor enjoys time with daughters (from left) Lexxi, Christyn and Alanna at Maunawili playground. Photo by Nathalie Walker, staff photographer.
New Kalaheo High football
coach Chris Mellor enjoys
time with daughters (from
left) Lexxi, Christyn and
Alanna at Maunawili
playground. Photo by
Nathalie Walker, staff
photographer.

Among the priorities of a first-year coach is selling his program to his players, but he also has to be sold on his players. At Kalaheo, where Chris Mellor is entering his first season as head football coach, the Mustangs’ new leader considers this early mission accomplished.

An assistant for three years with the nation’s most visible prep football program - De La Salle High School in Concord, Calif. - Mellor has been more than pleased with his team’s efforts coming out of spring practice.

“I’ve never met kids with as much resiliency as the Hawaii kids,” he said.“The kids are tougher here than in California. I don’t care if the California boys don’t like me saying that. The boys here have more respect for their elders, too.”

As the Mustangs prepare to move up to Division I this fall, they hope to earn the respect of their opponents as well. Kalaheo, which competed in Division II each of the past three seasons, will also have its fourth different coach in five seasons and hopes to generate some stability among its staff. Mellor brings 10 years of coaching experience, including the aforementioned three-year stint on the JV staff at De La Salle from 2002-2004, which became nationally known for compiling a 151-game win streak at the varsity level. He spent last season as Kalaheo’s offensive coordinator under then-head coach Russ Ramos and has brought in an entirely new varsity staff, which includes Richard Dew (defensive coordinator), Rob Crowell (offensive line) and Dave Stephens (defensive line). Crowell, a former Saint Louis standout, played under John Robinson at UNLV, while Stephens played two years at the University of Hawaii in the mid’70s.

Long since known for their basketball success, Mellor sees no reason why the Mustangs can’t do their share of damage on the football field as well.

“People keep telling me, ‘you’re at a basketball school,’” he said. “I tell them,‘we’re a basketball school in football country.’”

The program’s renewed commitment to football became evident early last November when, with other schools still taking part in the 2005 post-season, Mellor and company got down to work by beginning their own off-season. The Mustangs were in the weight room at 5:30 a.m. on those November mornings and stayed the course right up until the beginning of spring drills in late May.

“Staying within the rules, as far as what we can do with the football, we’re a year-round program now,” Mellor said.“I know what it takes - I’ve lived it - and the kids have bought in and believe in it. The boys are getting bigger and faster every day. They’re in the best shape of their lives. We only have about 38 (varsity players), so they’ll have to be.”

As at De La Salle, Kalaheo will run a split-back, veer option offense.

“I’m a product of what I know,” Mellor said.“It’s the system I trust the most. It gives smaller, under-sized schools an opportunity to compete.”

A big boost to the Mustang offense will be the return of quarterback Cody Von Appen. A junior, Von Appen started all but one game in 2005. Behind his arm, the Mustangs recently went undefeated in a seven-team 7-on-7 passing tournament, which was hosted by Kalaheo.

“He needs to be put on the radar,” Mellor said of Von Appen, who is the son of former UH coach Fred Von Appen.“He could go to De La Salle right now and start there. He’s the complete package - he can run and pass. You can tell he’s the son of a coach, and he’s a 4.0 student as well.”

Running back Koa Siliga,who will also play linebacker,“is the best athlete on the team and one of the best athletes in the state - if not the best,” he said.

A pair of talented wide-outs - Bruce Andrews and Keano Bruhn - figure to complement Von Appen and Siliga on the offensive side. Mellor is also high on running back/defensive back Chris Cavaco, tight end/linebacker Ka’o Malama-Custer, running back/defensive back Larry Soto, wide-out/defensive back Donavan Correa, wide-out/defensive back Ayrton Kehrer and two-way lineman Dillan Hanawahine.

“We’re not deep,but we’ll be good at every starting position,” said Mellor.“We don’t have a weak link.”

The team switched to a 4-4 base defense during spring drills.

While a transition period is common with a coaching change, Mellor downplayed the effects.

“It (transition) has been easy. The kids are coming around just fine. We have high expectations.”

Kalaheo officially begins fall camp July 31.