The late Clay Benham is depicted on the Interscholastic League of Honolulu's information packet as the ILH steersman. He led the league into the new millennium before his death last April. Botelho picked to run ILH
By Nick Abramo
nabramo@starbulletin.comYesterday, the paddle passed into the hands of Don Botelho, who was named the league's new executive director. Botelho confirmed last night that he would be resigning as Pac-Five football coach --a position he's held since 1974 -- to fully concentrate on his new duties, which start June 1.
"That's wonderful news," Saint Louis athletic director Cal Lee said when he heard about Botelho's appointment. "It's the best news I've heard in a long time. I've been working with him these past two dozen years and it's been a pleasure. As a football coach, he has helped me to grow and become a better person in the profession. He has such a wealth of knowledge, and the ILH is fortunate to have someone like him as the executive director. I think he'll do a great job."
Botelho, 71, is looking forward to the challenge and knows it will be tough to follow Benham, whom Botelho called a legend.
"Over the next couple of months, I'll be putting together what the priorities are and begin to organize things ... there are so many things .. and figure out what direction to go in when I start June 1," he said.
Botelho was the unanimous selection of a six-member search committee headed by Punahou principal Kevin Conway. Kamehameha principal and ILH president Tony Ramos, Academy of the Pacific president Dorothy Douthit, Maryknoll athletic director Pattie Heatherly, Sacred Hearts athletic director Wade Okamura and Hawaii High School Athletic Association executive director Keith Amemiya were also on the committee.
"He brings experience with the ILH and experience working with other leagues in the state," Ramos said. "He adds credibility nationally and has had a long-standing relationship with people in Hawaii high school athletics as well as with people at the college level. He's knowledgeable, thoughtful and he's a mentor to new athletic directors at different schools. I think he'll hit the ground running as the executive director."
As overall manager of the league, Botelho will have several new duties, including updating and revising the league's bylaws, creating an ILH Web site, maintaining positive relationships with other leagues, clarifying the admissions process for schools seeking entrance, maintaining academic integrity of the schools, handling finances and scheduling.
About 50 candidates from across the nation applied for the job. The committee didn't release Botelho's salary, his term or whether he would be signing a contract or a letter of agreement.
"Don was far and away the best candidate for the job," Conway said. "He's ... realistic and forward-thinking. Even if we hadn't already known Don, he still would have been the best candidate. He's the person we felt was most likely to be successful in the job."
Botelho and three other athletic directors --Kamehameha's Blane Gaison, Pac-Five's John Hom and University's Jim Bukes -- have shared ILH administrative duties since Benham died.
"They've done a great job, and I'm going to continue to rely on them a lot," Botelho said.
Cooperation will continue to be a key element for the ILH, according to Lee.
"Clay was such a great leader and you have to believe in your leader," he said. "The ILH felt that with his leadership we could continue to grow, and we have grown. There are challenges ahead for Don and one of them is to get people to work together and follow his leadership. That's what the rest of the ADs have to understand. We need to follow his guidance."
Ramos knows Botelho's job won't be easy.
"The programs have expanded, we've added sailing and a lot of things are coming on," Ramos said. "He'll be working with 25 schools that are independent schools with independent missions. It's not a system like the Department of Education. There will need to be discussions of philosophy, and Don's a great listener. We're an excellent league, but we can always work on making things better."
Amemiya believes that the ILH, with Botelho in charge, and the Oahu Interscholastic Association will form a closer bond.
"Everyone I've spoken to in Hawaii high school athletics is happy with the choice, even those from the OIA and all of the other leagues in the state," Amemiya said. "If not the most, he's one of the most respected persons in state high school athletics today."
OIA executive secretary Dwight Toyama also thinks the OIA-ILH relationship will become stronger.
"I know him very well and we get along very, very well," Toyama said. "I'm sure that we'll be working closely with each other. We've always worked well together and I look forward to working with him in his new position."
Botelho, who was the athletic director at Damien from 1967 to 1974 and at Mid-Pacific from 1974 to 2002, won two Prep Bowl titles as the Pac-Five football coach in 1982 and 1985.
He is the state football coordinator for the HHSAA and a member of the National Federation of State High School Association's football rules committee.
He was also involved in bringing California football powers De La Salle and Long Beach Poly to Hawaii for a doubleheader against Saint Louis and Kahuku last fall.
Hom will be making the decision on who will succeed Botelho as football coach. Assistants Joe Onosai, Chris Bisho and Kip Botelho are among the possible candidates to become the Wolfpack's head coach. Kip Botelho is Don Botelho's son.
"I'd like to see it stay in the family --one of the assistants moving up," Botelho said. "But that's John's call.
"After 42 years of coaching football, obviously I'm going to miss it. It's been a privilege to be able work with young men, and I'll miss the fascination of the game."
Botelho started the Damien football program in 1965 and coached there for nine years before taking over the Mid-Pacific football team. He was also an assistant coach at the University of Hawaii, where he had played quarterback, for four years in the early 1960s.
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