Kawazoe to follow Young as head coach for ‘Iolani girls basketball
It won’t be easy to fill the shoes of a legendary coach and his staff, or replicate the achievements of a legendary program. Branden Kawazoe intends to try, the ‘Iolani way. The longtime boys basketball assistant coach and former Kaiser boys hoops head coach is the Raiders’ new girls basketball coach.
Kawazoe, 42, got the position roughly two weeks ago, but there has been no official announcement. On Thursday, ‘Iolani’s athletic department confirmed his hiring. The first thought Kawazoe had was about boys head coach Ryan Hirata.
“I’m so grateful for Ryan. He just valued everybody’s input across the board on the staff. It’s ‘One Team.
’ He made the assistant coaching position feel so valuable,” Kawazoe said. “I knew, head coaching is something I wanted to do again, but I wasn’t in a rush. The boys team has a lot coming back, but the opportunity (with the girls team) came up and it felt right.
” Kawazoe played at Waiakea and Pacific University, becoming an assistant coach at the latter before returning to Hawaii in 2009. Most of his coaching career has been at ‘Iolani, surrounded by Raiders lifers. Kawazoe’s older daughter is a seventh grader at ‘Iolani.