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McKinley athletic director Bob Morikuni didn’t go far from the Tigers’ ohana to get a new football coach this offseason.
Morikuni hired alumnus Chris Williams to take over for Kale Ane, who left the position after the 2022 season.
Williams is a 2001 McKinley graduate who played for the Tigers before competing at the college level at two places, including the University of Hawaii.
“I’m a McKinley (alumnus) so I looked and saw the need and said, ‘Lets go and help serve the community and give back,’ ” Williams told Bedrock Sports Hawaii. “I want to help the community that helped me.”
Williams inherits a team that has lost 21 games in a row dating back to a 6-3 win over Kalaheo on Sept. 7, 2019, when Pat Silva was the head coach.
Ane, the former highly successful Punahou coach, spent two seasons as the Tigers’ head man, going 0-16.
One of Williams’ biggest challenges will be to continue increasing the roster size. So far this summer, the numbers are fairly good.
“On a good day, we have 40 to 45 kids, a decent traveling squad,” he said. “We have a good group of dedicated young men, excited about what’s to come. They’re growing and learning every day. The goal is for all of us to work to get better each day in every area of our lives. If we do that, we’ll find success.”
After high school, Williams played for Fresno City College and then transferred to UH, redshirting in 2004 and playing linebacker and running back in 2005 and ’06.
“My last college game was against Arizona State in the Hawaii Bowl (a 41-24 win),” he said.
From 2008 through 2011, Williams was part of UH football coach Greg McMackin’s coaching staff as a video coordinator.
Williams also coached linebackers at Kalani High in 2013 and ’14 and was ‘Iolani football’s video coordinator from 2015 to ’19.
One of Williams’ best memories of playing for McKinley came in his junior year, when the Tigers tied for the OIA White Conference championship.
“We played Kahuku at the stadium and I had a sack and a ka-toosh as they used to call it back in the day. We lost, but we were a pretty good team.”
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