“My perspective is all the kids have parents and if they’re not getting what they want they’re free to take them wherever they want. Lots of other coaches are talking about recruiting. But for me, I’m not concerned with that. I just want to focus on our kids, our program.”

— Campbell football coach Amosa Amosa, on eve of 2013 game against Kaiser, which had two players from his district on its roster.

“We have to raise that bar and show them the way. To do it, we need to keep everybody home. Keep them right here, playing for Campbell. They don’t need to be going away. The curriculum is a good one.”

— Darren Johnson, interview with Nick Abramo of the Star-Advertiser after accepting the Campbell job last week.

Neither one’s right and neither one’s wrong. They both make valid points.

What is clear is high school football has gotten to that regrettable place where the pros and big-time college programs have long been: Coaches get hired to get fired — even coaches who are universally considered “good.”

When Amosa was let go after nine years as head coach at his alma mater after last season, I wondered why. His teams won 56 games and lost 41.

He put everything he had into the program — including much of his less-than-$4,000 annual stipend.

Sam Delos Reyes, like Amosa, always tries to do the right thing for his student-athletes and school. He’s the athletic director at Campbell who decided it was time for a new coach.

“It’s something where we went through a lot of discussion. It was a tough decision to make,” Delos Reyes said. “In terms of wins and losses we were successful.”

Amosa’s character never came into question, and Delos Reyes said there were no team academic or behavioral problems.

In our interview Thursday, the AD didn’t say much else for the record, other than, “It’s time for us to see if we can move in another direction.”

As Johnson said, part of that direction is trying to get more of the considerable talent in Campbell’s district to stay at Campbell.

This parallels what Delos Reyes did 34 years ago when he coached at Nanakuli.

The Golden Hawks lost 15-12 to Saint Louis in the 1983 Prep Bowl, but many considered it a miracle they got that far. One of the biggest reasons was that, unlike in previous years, some top athletes in the Nanakuli district did not end up at powerhouse neighbor Waianae. Delos Reyes protected the border.

“My take on that is always that I’ve got no business to tell a kid’s parents where he’s going to go to high school,” said Amosa, who continues as a teacher at Campbell, at least for now.

The most notable leakage of player talent from Campbell’s district has been the quarterback record-setting Tagovailoa brothers. Tua went to Saint Louis and became a prized college recruit. Taulia went to Kapolei as a district exception for two years. But, as Christian Shimabuku reported on HawaiiPrepWorld.com on Thursday, the family, including Taulia, will move to Alabama to be close to Tua, now a freshman at Tuscaloosa. Taulia has two more years of high school, and a scholarship offer from Alabama.

Kapolei coach Darren Hernandez hired Amosa to replace offensive coordinator June Jones, who groomed Taulia. Jones, the former University of Hawaii head coach, left for a job at Saint Louis that is part fundraiser, part coach-in-waiting.

Amosa and Hernandez have been friends since intermediate school and were teammates at Campbell and UH. Hernandez was the head coach at Campbell, and also was let go despite a winning record, in 1999. His offensive coordinator then? Amosa Amosa.

Both Hernandez and Amosa insist they hold no grudge against their alma mater.

“We’ll always be black and orange. We’re proud to be alumni of Campbell High,” Amosa said.

As for any border war, in the case of Taulia Tagovailoa that is now the University of Alabama’s concern.

“I understand the (family’s) choice to move to be together with Tua,” said Hernandez, whose Hurricanes went 10-3 and reached the state Open Division semifinals last fall — the best season in Kapolei’s 15-year history, all of them with him as the head coach. “There’s rumors every day about a lot of things, including our quarterback. When you throw for 42 touchdowns as a sophomore, I would say even nationally they’re looking at a kid of that caliber. … It’s totally up to the parents.”

So the Hurricanes need a new starting quarterback. But it would be wrong to say they’re “in the market” for one.

“Kids come and go for various reasons. It is not my policy nor my style to go out and recruit players,” Hernandez said. “My whole opinion is it’s based on the parents. If you live in the district and register with the front office and your kid has grades and passes the physical, then we’ll talk story.”

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529- 4783. His blog is at Hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick-reads.