Despite accusations, Miano deserves credit

THIS STORY HAS BEEN CORRECTED. SEE BELOW.

As Keenan Arroyo wended his way through the postgame handshake line, his former teammates saved their warmest congratulations for him. If there’s animosity over the defensive back transferring from Kauai to Kaiser it’s not at the player level.

Nor from the head coach, at least judging by the comments of Tommy John Cox after the Cougars beat his team 17-7 for a state high school football championship Saturday at Aloha Stadium. "No, not at all. Of course the kids, they want to go play for a good program. Coaches over there do a great job and they came out to play today and they were the better team today."

As expected, Punahou won the nightcap, holding off feisty Mililani 28-22.

The Buffanblu call themselves the Sons of Oahu. We can now call Kaiser the Sons of Hawaii, the entire chain. The starting quarterback is from the Big Island. A linebacker who transferred from Maui High didn’t play in the state tournament, word from those in the know for fear of a formal complaint by Lahainaluna.

But what of this: If people want to bag on public school Kaiser for having more than 15 transfers and district exceptions on the football team, what about Punahou? Is it more appropriate for a private school to emphasize sports — and (for lack of a better unloaded word) "encouraging" talented athletes to apply and enroll? The Buffanblu draw their players from anywhere they want because they have no district. Kaiser coach Rich Miano is accused of recruiting, but he insists the players come to him with no prompting.

Arroyo said he recruited himself. "My parents, we made a decision to move ’cause you can’t find a coaching staff like this anywhere."

HHSAA chief Christopher Chun said he’s received complaints about Kaiser related to recruiting, but that he believes it has stayed within the rules. "Informal inquiries only and I won’t investigate unless there are facts. I think the principal and superintendent checked and validated all the transfers. All the ones who played anyway. So I think they’re all good."

They’re certainly good on the field … like Canaan Saole, the former Campbell Saber who blocked a punt for the pivotal play Saturday.

Most of the Cougars are not from out of district, guys like senior Curt Clivio, who started at quarterback three years ago and now has a role on a state championship team as a receiver.

Those who believe Miano does actively recruit and those on the wrong end of lopsided scores against his team aren’t celebrating Kaiser’s win. But you can’t deny he did a great job with the hand dealt him, even if it was four aces. The former University of Hawaii standout and assistant coach and NFL player directed his alma mater to its first state championship as coach 34 years after starring in its lone Prep Bowl win as a player.

The players are from all over the state, but the coach is a neighborhood guy.

"I’ve lived in that community since I’ve lived in Hawaii," said Miano, who turned the recruiting talk, criticism for lopsided scores and a low seeding into motivation. "I hope we used those things. … They kept believing."

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Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. Read his blog at staradvertiser.com/quickreads.

CORRECTION:  A linebacker transferred to Kaiser from Maui High School. An earlier version of this online story and the story in Sunday’s paper said he was from Lahainaluna.