Twenty years after graduating from Kamehameha, Kaeo Drummondo is coming home.
The former Hilo High athletic director and football coach, who guided the Vikings to the only two state championships in school history, was named Kamehameha’s director of football operations on Thursday.
Drummondo, 38, will oversee the entire football program from the developmental program in elementary grades through the varsity level, including serving as the varsity head coach.
He replaces Abu Ma’afala, who was let go at the end of last season.
“It was surreal and is still kind of surreal in a sense,” Drummondo said about getting offered the position. “It’s just extremely humbling. It’s my alma mater — a place that was always special to me. It’s something that when I started coaching you always dreamed of maybe having the possibility to go back to your alma mater and coach.”
Drummondo will begin in his new role on March 6.
Kamehameha suffered through its first winless season in the Prep Bowl and state championship eras last year, going 0-7-1 overall and 0-5 against ILH opponents.
Ma’afala went 17-34-1 in six seasons as head coach, with 28 of the 52 games coming against Punahou and Saint Louis.
Drummondo stepped down as Hilo head coach after winning his second Division I state title in 2019 to serve as Ma’afala’s defensive coordinator at Kamehameha.
The COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020 and he ended up taking the athletic director job at Hilo before the start of the academic year.
He says he is fully aware of the challenges that lie ahead.
“It’s a tough league to play in,” Drummondo said of the ILH. “But to be honest with you, my thought process right now isn’t on what our results might be come August, September, October, November.
“One of the goals is always to have success when we get to the season, but I’m just trying to be shortsighted with it all. I’m really looking forward to getting (to campus), meeting and getting to know our players and get excited about the process that it’s going to take for us to even think about success down the road.”
Kamehameha has not won an ILH championship since 2009, which is also the last time it appeared in the state tournament.
The Warriors won the state title that year, defeating Kahuku 34-21 in the final.
“Coach Kaeo brings an electrifying blend of championship-winning leadership experience and Kamehameha Warrior intensity to our program,” Kamehameha’s athletic department wrote in communication with players and families of the football program on Thursday afternoon. “As a high school student playing for the Warriors, he understands Kamehameha’s tradition of excellence more than most.”
The ILH hasn’t yet released a schedule for the upcoming football season. Last year, Kamehameha played Punahou and Saint Louis twice in a four-game regular season schedule in the Open Division. It then played Saint Louis in a second-round game.
Kamehameha has played 14 varsity football games total since the end of the 2019 season.
