Monday, June 4, 2001

Tyler leaves St. Francis
for coaching post
at Chaminade

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By Dave Reardon
Star-Bulletin

Tony Tyler is leaving the varsity basketball head coach position at St. Francis School to become an assistant coach at Chaminade University.

Tyler remains a teacher at St. Francis, but will also leave his position as Troubadours athletic director, Tyler told the Star-Bulletin. His former assistant coach, Glenn Higuchi, will be the new head coach, but no new athletic director has been named.

"My heart will always be with the St. Francis basketball program, but this is a great opportunity for me to get a foot in the door at the college level," Tyler said. "Chaminade has a great history. Hopefully I can be a small part of bringing some magic back to a program with a lot of tradition.

"There will be some adjustment from coaching high school girls to college men, but the basics are the same."

Tyler said he didn't know what his precise role will be yet, but that he is having ongoing discussions with Chaminade head coach and athletic director Aaron Griess, who offered him the position two weeks ago.

"Tony has a nice background in basketball and we're very excited about him joining our program," Griess said. "He's been a successful coach. I don't think he'll have a problem making the transition (from high school to college) at all.

"Tony is very familiar with our program. His stepson (Kaweo Feeney) played for us the past four years. I think he'll be a big help in practice."

Griess said the Silverswords will have eight new players this year.

"We'll have talent but the key will be chemistry," he said.

Tyler was head coach of the varsity at St. Francis for nine years and the junior varsity for one year. His teams have won the Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division II championship four consecutive seasons. In that span, the Troubadours' league record is 50-5. St. Francis will move to Division I basketball beginning next season.

New softball coach: Chaminade will also have a new women's softball coach this coming season. Walter Kaaihili, a longtime ASA coach and founder of the Na Wahine softball program, was named today to take over the Silverswords.