Ferd Lewis: Long wait nearly over for new Hilo coach Kaniela Aiona

When Kaniela Aiona says he and his family “are counting the days,” until they can finally settle on his native Hawaii island, you get the feeling it is more than just a figure of speech.

It has been 112 days since he was announced as the University of Hawaii at Hilo’s new men’s basketball coach and a few more remain to be marked off on the calendar before Aiona can finally sit in his office on the Vulcans’ campus for the first time.

Between the lengthening pandemic, the birth last month of his daughter, Iolana, and the quarantine that awaits, it is as if his dream job seems to frustratingly inch away from him the closer he thinks he is getting.

Three times, he says, there has been a necessity to re-book his flight as the COVID-19 impact has deepened.

But through the smoke of the Northern California wildfires that at times choke his Atherton, Calif., residence, the former Menlo College coach says he can see the Sept. 2 finish line. “I’m looking forward to those tradewinds, that’s for sure,” Aiona said.

Nineteen years after graduating from Honokaa High and leaving to pursue an education and coaching career, Aiona, 37, figures what is a few more days?

“We’re extremely excited to get back,” Aiona said. “I’ve always wanted to get back at some point. Basketball has taken me across the U.S. and back. It has been a great ride, but I’ve been gone too long and am excited to be coming home with my family and honored to be able to coach at Hilo. My dad played there and my brothers graduated from there and it is a great program with tradition and wonderful players and coaches. I look forward to doing what I love so my kids can grow up in Hawaii.”

The challenge he inherits at UH-Hilo is considerable in attempting to turn around the fortunes of an NCAA Division II program that hasn’t had a winning season in nine years. Over the past seven years, the Vulcans have gone 69-112.

It is not unlike the task he undertook at NAIA Menlo, where the Oaks had gone 3-23 before his arrival. In three years they were 20-11 and into the playoffs. This year they were 19-8 and playoff bound until COVID-19 slammed the door on the season.

At Hilo, Aiona has remarkably assembled one of the most experienced staffs the Vulcans have had. Former Humboldt State coach Steve Kinder, who has a decade as a head coach and 30 years in coaching, is already on scene. Jamison Montgomery, who spent four years as Aiona’s right-hand assistant at Menlo, arrives in September.

“The UH-Hilo administration has been so supportive through this,” Aiona said. “I know it has been some long months not only for me but more for our players, our student-athletes. And, I’m looking forward to seeing them up in person, at a social distance, of course, and getting to work with them.”

If Aiona’s wait to take over the Vulcans has been long, it pales to that of Hilo legend Jimmy Yagi, who coached the Vulcans to a 252-126 record (208-86 vs. an all-college schedule) record in 12 seasons before retiring in 1985.

Yagi, through his annual camps and clinics, which Aiona attended as a youngster, has long sought to promote experience and advancement for his Big Island pupils.

“To have somebody who grew up in our program do what Kaniela has done and come back is exciting,” Yagi said. “I’m so looking forward to seeing him again.”

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.