Tengan steps down

Monday through Friday, Delbert Tengan will be busy enough teaching physical education classes when school resumes.

It's just the weekend that will leave Tengan at a loss. Tengan announced his resignation from the head coaching positions in football and basketball at Saint Louis yesterday.

Tengan often spent his Sundays studying video in his office at the athletic department.

"I don't even know what I'll be doing on Saturdays," he quipped.

During his five seasons as football coach, the Crusaders won the Interscholastic League of Honolulu title three times and captured the state crown in 2002.

His resignation could end a line of succession that began with Cal Lee, who guided the program to national prominence in the '80s and '90s. Lee later became the athletic director as well.

"He was my right and left hand. He was there for 25 years, got in as my student teacher. You can count people you really trust on one hand. I mean really trust. He is one of those," said Lee, now the defensive coordinator at UH.

On the hardwood, Tengan guided Saint Louis to an ILH championship once in his nine seasons. The Crusaders were state runners-up twice, in '00 and '03. Both the football and hoops programs were mainstays in the Star-Bulletin Top 10 rankings.

While Tengan and his staff developed a horde of college football talent, Saint Louis lost in the state final the past two seasons. The Crusaders were 22-2 overall on the field during that span, but after the basketball season, Tengan was asked by the administration to choose only one sport to coach.

Tengan was a finalist for the AD job after Todd Los Banos resigned recently, but was passed over.

Newly appointed AD Ulima Afoa was football coach at Kamehameha-Hawaii for the past four years. When he was hired by Saint Louis last week, he did not rule out the possibility of coaching at his new school if the opportunity was there.