[ ARENA FOOTBALL ]
Islanders, Warriors
keeping Lee busyThe legendary leader has followers
in both the indoor and outdoor games
Much like the football players he coaches, Cal Lee serves two masters.
By day, he is an assistant at the University of Hawaii participating in spring drills. By night, he is the head coach for the Hawaiian Islanders arenafootball2 squad that competes through the summer.
Half his day is spent with college players preparing for life in the future. The other half is given to semipro players dealing with life right now. They are demanding occupations for Lee, but to hear him tell it, he wouldn't have it any other way.
"It's fun because I enjoy both," Lee said. "I enjoy the game of football and what we're doing out here. It's not a chore by any means. Not a chore at all."
Lee joined the UH staff as an assistant last summer, leaving his position as athletic director at Saint Louis School. He was immersed in leading the Islanders to last season's af2 playoffs when he was hired and vowed to maintain both positions.
He completed his first season as a linebackers coach at UH in the fall and stayed true to his word by returning for his second season as the Islanders' head coach this season.
UH head coach June Jones signed off on Lee's split duties when he hired the former Saint Louis coach last year, and said he hasn't experienced a similar situation before.
"Cal was going to take a big pay cut to come here from Saint Louis," Jones said. "I told him, we practice in the morning, so go ahead and do it. In the spring we don't really recruit except locally, so if you can make up the money, go ahead and keep the job."
Lee guided the Islanders to an 11-7 season and the af2 West Division championship last summer and has the team off to a 2-1 start this season heading into tomorrow's game with Bakersfield at Blaisdell Arena.
The Warriors have 15 spring sessions this month, requiring Lee to be on campus in time for the 7 a.m. workouts. Some 12 hours later, he'll return to the field at either Aloha Stadium or Blaisdell Arena for Islanders practice, which normally run from 7 to 9 p.m.
"I'll get to bed about 11:30 and then you get five, six hours sleep," Lee said. "You get adjusted to what you have to do."
His role with the UH staff has expanded this spring to include instruction of the entire linebacker corps after concentrating on the outside linebackers last season, and the players appreciate the demands on his time and energy during the spring.
"It's incredible ... but I kind of feel sorry for the wife," said UH linebacker Ikaika Curnan, who played for Lee at Saint Louis.
"Just for the university, it's a full-time job, then at night he goes to the Islanders and puts his time in there. After practice (the coaches) go upstairs, get a little breakfast, and then meet a couple hours and then we have a team meeting. He's just busy."
While Lee is a hands-on coach when working with both collegiate athletes at UH and professionals at the Islanders practices, sharing and delegating responsibilities with both staffs lightens his load.
"Everybody knows what they're doing on both sides of the ball," Lee said. "You're still coaching, but the basics are there already. They know what to do and you just have to make sure you cover what you have to cover.
"I'm not doing everything. There's a whole staff here (with the Islanders) and there's a whole staff (at UH)."
The greatest overlap between his dual obligations will come next week, the final week of UH's spring drills. Lee will take the Islanders to Louisiana for a game against Bossier-Shreveport on April 30 and plans to be back in Honolulu in time for UH's Spring Football Extravaganza at Aloha Stadium the next day.
"I can't miss that," he said. "That's the big finish."
Dave Reardon contributed to this story.