Citing a concern for the well-being of his family, Arnold Martinez informed Kaiser’s administration on Saturday he was stepping down as head football coach.
In a statement given to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Martinez said, “Because of the hostile environment, I am formally resigning as head football coach for Kaiser High School. Although I will miss our players, I must prioritize. The emotional, mental and physical well-being of my wife and children are my highest priority.”
Martinez, who was the fifth head football coach at Kaiser since 2009, was involved in a series of incidents that led up to an altercation on Sept. 18.
After forfeiting all but one of its games this season, Kaiser was getting ready to announce it would play both the varsity and junior varsity homecoming football games at Kaiser Stadium against Moanalua on Sept. 22.
Hours before that meeting with parents and players was scheduled to take place, Martinez was approached by an angry parent. An incident ensued in which Martinez was physically attacked.
The next day, Kaiser principal Justin Mew announced the DOE had decided to cancel the remaining Kaiser varsity and JV football games for the rest of the season.
In the only game it played, Kaiser lost 71-0 to Campbell. Multiple sources have confirmed that an incident on the way to the bus after the game between Mew and an agitated parent took place.
After the incident on Sept. 18, the school asked for a police presence of six to eight officers for the rest of the week.
Martinez has filed restraining orders against multiple people.
Martinez coached for 11 seasons at Moanalua from 2003 to 2013 and was 51-51-5.
He took over for Cameron Higgins at Kaiser in June 2016, roughly five weeks before the start of the season.
Kaiser went 2-7 last year, beating Roosevelt and Radford. The Cougars suited up only 24 players in a 56-6 loss to Kahuku on homecoming and then lost 43-0 a week later in the OIA playoffs to Farrington.
A meeting prior to the start of the season was held at the school, with parents voicing concerns with the football program to Mew.
Following that meeting, a decision was made that the varsity team would play a condensed schedule due in part to a low turnout of players for the varsity team. At the time, it wasn’t clear which games Kaiser would play.
Concerns raised against Martinez included him spending more time with the JV team than the varsity team, making the team wear school colors to practice and making spring workouts mandatory in order to play.
Parents also wanted junior varsity players called up to varsity in order to field a team, but Martinez did not oblige due to safety concerns. The Cougars were not allowed to drop down to Division II this season by the OIA, which typically makes league-wide division changes every two years.
