This is what Alika Smith was asked to sign and declined

Wouldn’t sign that either. Sometimes that’s the only way you can get the players attention by yelling at them. I guess both the principle and Ad don’t attend practice.

Looks like a pretty extreme case of trying to micro-manage the head coach. Their goal looked like it was to get rid of him anyway so he did the right thing in quitting.

I guess Riley Wallace wouldn’t get that job.

Dave, thanks for posting this. The Kalaheo Men’s Basketball Team, coached by Alika Smith, won State Championships in two divisions. To my knowledge, he did not cheat, the student athletes will be graduating on-time, and the teams he coached performed at high levels. My guess is Coach Smith is driven and probably difficult to deal with, kind of like Jim Harbaugh. The only thing guaranteed by this ‘agreement’ is mediocrity. What is wrong with the DOE? Young men who volunteer to play basketball for Coach Smith can expect to be pushed to the limit. Sports build and define character. No doubt every student athlete will face adversity in their lives. The lessons they are learning will benefit all. Obviously Coach Smith loves his players. They respond by winning. If a parent, student, teacher, AD, or principal have a problem with Coach Smith, see him privately, look into his eyes, and find out where he is coming from. Of course, Coach Smith isn’t perfect, but he evidently works on building character that wins; that is why they do. Interesting the word ‘character’ is not mentioned in this ‘agreement’.

Talk about setting someone up to fail. God luck Alka in your future endeavors.

oops…

I wonder how many other coaches at Kalaheo were asked to sign similar agreements (or could this be construed as harassment by two school administrators). I think someone should start asking around.

I wonder how many teachers under this principal were asked to sign similar agreements, as well. I think if all of the athletes and their parents should be satisfied, so should the students and their parents.

Reading the article, the principal is basically saying, “We don’t care if you win as long as we can control you and that the people under you are all happy with you, too.” This is a sad lesson in how NOT to manage an organization.

Story goes that a veteran coach was in earshot of the Kalaheo locker room during the State tournament and although the coach admitted to using foul language in his coaching days. He was shocked at the level of profanity he heard from Coach Smith.
That got the ball rolling.

The parents are to blame … biggest reason why this generation of kids are useless. Bring back old school work ethic !!!!! I respect Alika Smith for not signing this BS document …

Reading the particulars of what the administrators required of Smith, there’s a bunch of rediculous rules which is left for Hummel or Brilhante to freely translate without question. Talk about one sided rules?!
Since coach Smith has stepped down maybe he can hire lawyers now to intercede and set this matter straight?

DR: The “agreement” is a mixed bag of contractual and code of conduct language. It is easy to see Coach Smith’s apprehension to sign on to this. I guess his common sense told him that this is a lose-lose situation. With all the lawyers in this town, you would think the DOE could have come up with something that was more measurable. Code of Conduct type agreements are more of a “raise your right hand and say I will” deal. Contracts for employment deal with metrics and measurable performance factors in order to set appraisals on a fact basis thus requiring signatures that may impact dismissal for cause. The UH Basketball Coach situation is a good example of how things can get muddled even with the best lawyers viewing binding documents. There has been information alluding to the Positive Coaching Alliance. To my knowledge, this is more of a Code of Conduct approach than a performance contract type deal that Kalaheo makes it out to be. The National Advisory Board of the PCA reads like a who’s who of sport coaching.

I don’t know many coaches who would sign this.

I think this story totally debunks the credibility of the principal and AD.
Knew an ex-Kalaheo player who: 1. Started his junior year. 2. Started the beginning of his senior year. 3. Became a non-starter in the middle of his senior year. 4. Went to talk to Coach Smith and was told why he was not starting and what he would need to do to re-earn his spot. 5. Worked his way back into a starting role by the end of his senior season. 6. Ended up realizing his dream of playing in college in large part to Coach Smith picking up the phone and calling his college connections.
Favoritism? – The kid was a starter and lost his spot. Negative Coaching/Bad Communication? – The kid was told why it happened and what he needed to do.
If this isn’t a perfect example for what the Positive Coaching Alliance is all about, what is? The Kalaheo Principal and Athletic Director should be made to answer to a higher authority regarding their actions.

Coach smith did the right thing…closer look shoud be directed at the principal and the AD

#12: Yes, amateurish is right. Written in the pedantic tone used by teachers in kindergarten and elementary school.

whoa , is this Kalaheo or the (U of H)? —just another case of trying to micro-manage / control of staff (to however the power thinks how things should be done)! Had a lot of that when I was with the University—–My respect goes to Alika Smith–more power to you!

Kudos to Alika for standing on his principles and beliefs. Watching him play at UH as one of the best Hawaii grown basketball players was a joy. Got to see the last two D1 championship BB games that he coached. His Kalaheo teams played solid fundamental basketball and displayed great sportsmanship. Sorry to see him go, but understand the decision he was virtually forced to make.

Things have certainly changed in the high school sports arena as time progressed. My 1st high school coaching stop was in the 1970’s and my last in the 2000’s. Throughly enjoyed the experiences in the 70’s and still have welcomed contact with some of the players. The last two years in this modern area was a mixed bag. One incident with a family of a player not getting playing time was horrendous and I had to endure a falsified personal allegation. Although fully cleared and exonerated, this left a physical wound so deep that I never regretted hanging it up. Some of the parents and players attitudes and expectations were not conducive to the betterment of the team.

They expect this from the coach and he resigns (good for him).. Now what will happen if they have all the teachers sign something like this? can’t sugar coat sports like other things. as long as your team players become better athletes and better people, because of sports… why fix what isn’t broken?..

The comment above from Gerald de Heer, above, pointed to the reason for Ms. Hummel’s list. mediocrity. She is committed to mediocrity (which is unfortunately, what the DOD in Hawaii likes to call excellence) The coach didn’t want to be mediocre. That is foreign to him and I doubt he can understand why anyone could possibly want it, let alone understand why someone would demand it. Two of my children attended Kalaheo High School for only their freshman year. The first one – 13 years ago – I transferred to a different school after I saw what his classes were like by going to school with him one day and attending all his classes sitting in the back of the class room. My youngest child thought she wanted to get her H.S education from Kalaheo and spent her freshman year there as well only it was ten years later and I hoped it had gotten better.
But it was even worse in some ways because now they think they are really doing a good job and can’t stop slapping themselves on their backs. I knew one of the young men on this last years Basket Ball team and when he said how well they were competing I was shocked. I was surprised that Susan would allow it. It was no surprise at all when I saw how she got rid of the coach. I love how she tried to hide her maneuver by saying its all about the children The “Student Athletes”.

This whole fiasco says volumes about kids today, their parents, and explains why the Hawaii public school system has such a bad reputation. This is probably typical of how the principal manages people. The DOE should ask her some serious questions about who wrote such a petty, ridiculous, and blatantly obvious ulterior motive-driven “agreement.” They are insulting the PCA by claiming the agreement is designed to support PCA standards and ideals.

There are lots of akamai sports people in Hawaii and Alika will have a new job offer in short order.

“This a BS plan. I mean Behavioral Support plan schools use in schools for kids needing to control behavior, lol Schools have gotten away from the discipline and suspensions and all have to abide by using more positive reinforcement approach. Can you imagine if prisons do that?”

i have never seen a worse argument in my life. congratulations.

from another person:
“With all the lawyers in this town, you would think the DOE could have come up with something that was more measurable.”

DOE didn’t write this contract. Kalaheo admin did. Why would the principal hire a lawyer to write a contract and why would Alika Smith hire a lawyer (someone else posted something about this) to fight over a position that literally pays about $600 (maybe) for the entire season?

this is high school sports. moreover, this is the OIA where coaching positions are almost on a volunteer basis in terms of pay. people do it because they love it, not because they have to feed families and pay mortgages. let’s have some perspective here.

another person says:
“Kudos to Alika for standing on his principles and beliefs. ”

and what are these principles and beliefs? what’s the cause of these philosophical differences and why was it so bad that Alika Smith refused to sign this contract? And don’t talk about vague stuff about “The Parents!” and “kids nowadays are soft!” or “it’s too much positivity! back in the good old days, we would beat kids with whips if they missed free throws!”

pretty much EVERY generation before has said that the generation after them was a case of “they don’t make them like they used to.”

I cannot imagine the loss to the school and the student athletes at Kalaheo. This is a man who has a coaching heritage. Played in on a UH team that was one score from going to NCAA tournament. The students would have seen his heart, his desire and work ethic. More importantly, the students would have a real live breathing symbol of excellence. Smith simply by conveying his expectations would have motivated young hearts to go beyond his experience.

After agreeing to comply with all of the conditions set forth by the over-reaching Principal and A.D. The last line of that contract should read: * I shall lead a mediocre basketball program that will no longer reach the level of State Champions while adhering to the above stated conditions.

@ Dave Reardon: I respect Coach Smith’s decision to not sign this document and walk away, if he felt that he could not abide by its terms. But upon giving that document a second reading, I think your second sentence hit the nail on the head. The provisions in that proposed code of conduct may well have been drafted in response to something which happened internally within the boys’ basketball program, the details of which we are presently unaware.

I remember when Kalaheo Principal Moss Ikeda fired then-Coach Merv Lopes back in 1977-78 immediately following a game, after Lopes had apparently defied Ikeda’s directive to not play a certain player who had been suspended by the school administration. It created a huge uproar on campus and in the Kailua community at the time, but in obvious retrospect and with the benefit of hindsight, it’s pretty clear that Ikeda did the right thing. The principal sets and implements school policies, not the basketball coach.

In that regard, we might do well to remember what the late sportswriter Heywood Broun once said about the subject: “Sports do not build character; they reveal it.”

Who/Whom leaked this information?

Smith? School? Other?

This information can be an albatross around Smith’s neck, especially when he applies for his next coaching job. (It raises so many questions..maybe red flags about his coaching and integrity that may need deeper scrutiny. Yes, just because he didn’t sign the agreement).So I would think smart thinking would have been for Smith to keep/want his reasons for leaving personal/private.

If the school or other entity leaked this information Smith should seek legal advice imo.

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