Don't call it a retirement, but Don Botelho is stepping down as athletic director at Mid-Pacific Institute. Botelho to retire as A.D.
but remain as football coachBy Jason Kaneshiro
jkaneshiro@starbulletin.comBotelho will relinquish his athletic director duties when his contract expires in August, but will continue to coach the Pac-Five football team.
"It's not a true retirement because I'm still going to be involved in athletics," Botelho said.
Botelho worked as athletic director at Damien for nine years before moving to Mid-Pacific, where he has served for the last 28 years.
"I need to slow down a little bit, I've been going 100 miles an hour for 40 years," he said. "It's time for me to move on and let someone younger take over."
Botelho said the school is conducting a search for a new athletic director, and a replacement could be named next month.
In addition to retaining his position as the dean of Hawaii high school football coaches, Botelho will remain the state football coordinator for the Hawaii High School Athletic Association. He is also a member of the National Federation of State High School Association's football rules committee.
As state football coordinator, Botelho was involved with arranging the doubleheader bringing California powers De La Salle (Concord) and Poly (Long Beach) to Hawaii in September to face St. Louis and Kahuku.
"It's going to be great for high school football in the state of Hawaii to see how we stack up against the best in the nation," he said.
OIA, ILH basketball playoffs tonight: The Oahu Interscholastic Association boys basketball playoffs continue tonight with semifinal games at Kalaheo and Mililani.
Defending OIA and state champion Kalaheo faces Windward Oahu rival Castle and Mililani hosts Kaimuki. Both games start at 6:30 p.m.
The winners advance to the OIA championship game set for 7 p.m. Friday at Blaisdell Arena. The losing teams play for third-place at 5. All four teams have qualified for next week's Hawaii Airlines Boys State Basketball Championship.
The junior varsity semifinals will precede the varsity games at both sites. Nanakuli faces Mililani at Kalaheo and Moanalua plays McKinley at Mililani. Both games start at 5 p.m. The JV finals are 3:30 p.m. Friday at Blaisdell Arena.
The Interscholastic League of Honolulu tournament also continues tonight at Punahou.
The tournament to determine the league's third state tournament entrant began last night with Maryknoll facing University and Mid-Pacific playing Damien.
The winners survive to face St. Louis and Kamehameha tonight. Games times are 5:30 and 7 p.m.
Tonight's winners meet at 6 p.m. Friday at Damien gym for a spot in the state tournament.
Iolani and Punahou secured state tournament berths by finishing first and second in the ILH's regular season.
State final on KGMB: Hawaii Sports Network has reached an agreement to televise the boys basketball state championship game on KGMB.
The CBS affiliate will air the finals of the Hawaiian Airlines Boys State Basketball Championship live from Blaisdell Arena at 8 p.m. Feb. 23.
The game will mark the first time KGMB has televised a local sporting event in nearly 20 years.
OIA cheerleading: Kaimuki won the OIA Eastern Division cheerleading championship last Saturday at Moanalua.
The Bulldogs were followed by Moanalua, Kailua, Kaiser, Farrington and Kahuku. Kahuku won the junior varsity Eastern Division championship. The top six varsity and JV squads qualify for the OIA championships set for Feb. 25 at the Stan Sheriff Center.
The OIA West championship is Saturday at Radford's gym.
Correction: The Kamehameha boys soccer team has played in the state finals four times, not two as reported last week in the Star-Bulletin.