KAHUKU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The Kahuku High and Intermediate School has entered into a new era of Red Raiders football.
On Friday, the school announced that David H. Stant Jr. was named the varsity football head coach.
Stant was born in Laie and played for the Red Raiders before he graduated from the school in 1981, and was a linebacker for the University of Hawaii from 1987 to 1989.
School officials said Stant brings over 30 years of championship-level head coaching experience across Hawaii and Japan, including a 2009 HHSAA State Championship title as the head coach of Kamehameha Kapalama.
Stant coached college football in Japan before serving as offensive coordinator for the Red Raiders this past season.
In a statement, the school said:
“Coach Stant is fully vested in building a first-class program that prioritizes the development of ‘championship people.’ His mission is to create a culture of excellence where academic accountability, discipline, and character are the foundation. He is dedicated to shaping young men and women into leaders, ensuring they are prepared for college, career, and community readiness."
Hawaii News Now caught up with coach Stant at the Da Hui Backdoor shootout opening ceremony and asked about becoming the new head coach for the Red Raiders.
“I’m pretty excited about being the head coach because as you see this, this is part of the North Shore and Kahuku’s scene is, you know, we’re the pride of the North Shore,” Stant said, “so I think it’s really, exciting for me to not only be part of the North Shore of what we’ve been doing since I was like 12, is that now being part of the community with the football program and hopefully we can do a lot of things in the community and have that community support which we do because the community is great down here.”
Stand takes over for interim head coach Nihoa Pule, who stepped in after the Hawaii Department of Education fired Sterling Carvalho following a complaint from a player’s father.
Carvalho is currently suing the DOE, the superintendent, and the father and his son for defamation and breach of contract.
Watch our previous coverage here: