Former Baldwin all-star renews passion for football in unexpected role

It’s been four years since former linebacker Kaluka Maiava last collected an NFL paycheck, but his fierce, hard-nosed style of play has resurfaced in the unlikeliest of places: at a small, elite private school in the foothills of Waimea on Hawaii island.

The former all-state defensive player of the year, best remembered here for wreaking havoc on opposing offenses during his playing days at Baldwin High School and the University of Southern California, is head coach of the Hawaii Preparatory Academy Ka Makani, which racked up a 3-1 record in the first round of Big Island Interscholastic Federation Division II play.

“Never ever, ever,” he said when asked if he had pictured himself being a high school coach. “It’s good, it keeps me fresh and gets my mental part of the game going. And now it’s my job to teach the players. I treat it as therapy for me … and I really do enjoy it.”

After six seasons in the NFL, first with the Cleveland Browns and then the Oakland Raiders, Maiava hit the reset button on life. Now 32, he is living in Waipio Valley with wife Malia, 13-year-old stepdaughter Kalia and sons Kuaua, 3, and 1-year-old Wailoa.

“As my playing career ended I was definitely in a weird place mentally and physically. At the end of my career, I definitely lost my passion for football,” he said.

“Then I came back, got married, started getting my health back in order, my mind back in order. Then jumping into the assistant coaching role, then getting the head coaching job pumped passion back into me, like a second wind. … It’s wild that I’m actually more passionate about the game of football now than I ever was as a player, and I’m so thankful.”

The path back to prep football was laid three years ago when Maiava decided to volunteer at Honokaa High and Intermediate School.

Then last year he served as an assistant coach at HPA, the most expensive private high school in Hawaii, with annual tuition starting at $27,500 for day students and $55,000 for boarders. When the returning head coach relocated to the mainland in August, Maiava decided to take the head coaching reins.

He is HPA’s fourth head coach in four years, and the team had one league win during that span before he took over.

Maiava said coaching at the high school level has sparked the fire he once had for the game of football.

“I really enjoy it. Although it’s draining at the same time, it fills that void that I had.”

Of his 32 players, Maiava said roughly half are day students and the other half are boarders. “The majority of the team are 4.0 students, and academic probation doesn’t exist at this school,” he said.

Despite plenty of inexperience, HPA rallied to win its first three games of the season before falling last week to defending champion Kamehameha Hawaii, 34-12, at home.

“We are very inexperienced, and we have a lot of foreigners, guys who come from different countries all over the world,” Maiava said. “I have guys who are just trying it for the first time. Some of our juniors and seniors have never played and don’t know the rules of the game or how to get in a three-point stance.”

For a preseason team excursion, Maiava arranged for his players to work clearing kalo loi in Waipio Valley. They ended the day with a beach cleanup.

“Our kids all get along, but I thought we were missing that brotherly link and we needed to do some bonding,” he said. “So I called on some family and asked them if they could help us out. … It turned out to be an awesome experience, and it was way more than I expected.”

In addition to Kamehameha Hawaii, the restructured BIIF Division II includes Pahoa, which HPA defeated, 51-14, in the first round; Kohala, a 45-6 win for Ka Makani; and Kau, a 26-12 victory. HPA has a bye this week before the second round kicks off.

“We are definitely going to go after teams in the second round,” Maiava said. “We want to make a statement that HPA football is serious.”

HPA must go unbeaten in the second round and win its final contest at Kamehameha Hawaii to force a winner-take-all playoff game.

Not one to mince words, Maiava added: “I was upset after the loss last week. I mean, it really bothered me, and I told my wife I never thought I would get this connected to football again, but I definitely am and it just came out of nowhere and I am very, very grateful. It’s what I needed.”

Rodney S. Yap has been covering Maui sports for more than 30 years. Email him at ryap2019@gmail.com.