Afoa accepts Saint Louis AD job

It is now, as Bob Wagner said to Ulima Afoa, his time.

Afoa accepted an offer to become athletic director of his alma mater, Saint Louis, yesterday. Afoa will officially leave his post as fitness and athletics instructor, and de facto associate AD, at Kamehameha-Hawaii in two weeks. He's already excited about returning to Kalaepohaku.

"The biggest plus for me is being able to go back and be an athletic director at my alma mater," Afoa said. "Hopefully, make a difference and try to contribute to make the legacy better. It's about being in a situation to help kids with their academic excellence and at the same time have a program that continues to be competitive with the upper echelon of teams in Hawaii."

He follows Todd Los Banos, who resigned after six years as AD to return to The Children's House.

Afoa, 49, was Kamehameha-Hawaii's only varsity head coach since the team began play in the Big Island Interscholastic Federation four seasons ago. The Warriors reached the Division II state tourney each season.

KS-Hawaii athletic director Bob Wagner gave Afoa his full support.

"Wags was very encouraging. He basically said that I would do a good job, that it's my time," Afoa said.

After whittling down their list of applicants to a final group, Saint Louis offered Afoa the AD position on Friday and gave him the weekend to mull it over.

"It's a whole new beginning again," he said. "The thing I'll always miss (about KS-Hawaii) is the people, especially the kids. Those are always the hardest to leave. For anybody to say this decision was a no-brainer, they don't know what they're talking about."

Afoa coached at Hawaii and San Diego State, as well as Steel Canyon High School (Calif.) before coming back to Hawaii in 2004 with KS-Hawaii.