Wendell Look has given nearly his entire life to ‘Iolani School. After graduating in 1978, he became an assistant football coach at his alma mater in 1983 after getting his degree from Boise State.
Look became the head coach of ‘Iolani's football team in 1991 and eventually added athletic director to his list of duties with the school.
Under Look, the Raiders won eight HHSAA Division II titles, including six straight from 2007 to 2012.
When the state introduced three tiers of state football championships in 2016 (Open, Division I and Division II), the Raiders moved up to the second-tier Division I tournament, reaching the championship game but falling to Mililani and future NFL quarterback Dillon Gabriel 31-20. When ‘Iolani returned to the Division I championship game in 2019, the Raiders lost 20-17 to Hilo in heartbreaking fashion on Keanu Keolanui's 55-yard field goal off the crossbar as time expired.
After the 2020 season was wiped out due to COVID-19, the Raiders returned to the Division I state championship game in 2021, triumphing 38-0 over Lahainaluna.
Following over four decades of exhilarating wins, painful losses and countless relationships built, Look decided to call it a career earlier in the year. He will retire from both of his positions at ‘Iolani, with June 30 serving as his last day. Following Look's retirement announcement, ‘Iolani has named Jana Fraser, Eddie Maruyama and Maurice Maggiolino as the school's new co-athletic directors, while 1993 ‘Iolani alumnus Patrick Samsonas will serve as the next head football coach.
Aloha State Daily sat with Look for a wide-ranging Q&A on his career and legacy.
Aloha State Daily: Congratulations on a great career. What went into your decision to retire?
Wendell Look: I just thought it was the right time to step away. The school is going through a transition period right now with the new head of school, and the landscape of education is moving in a different direction. I'm kind of an old school kind of guy, so I thought that to make the transition smooth, this was a good time for me to step away and let the next generation and the next administration take over and take it the direction they want it to go.
ASD: Since you've made the announcement, what's the reception been like from your coworkers, former players and former coaches?
Look: The players are happy that I'm finally getting time to myself, and they've been very thankful and appreciative. That's been nice. I haven't heard from a lot of them for a while, and then a lot of them reached back out, which was nice. They all expressed appreciation for not only me, but what football here did for them, and how it helped them in their adult life. That to me is why we do what we do, right? They might not feel the effects or understand what we're trying to teach but maybe 10, 15, 20 years down the road, they do. That's what makes it so gratifying and makes it meaningful. My coworkers, obviously they're happy, but they know it's a changing of the guard kind of, but they're very happy for me. This is a good place, and hopefully the foundation is strong enough that the traditions and the legacy of Father (Kenneth A. Bray) and coach (Eddie) Hamada will continue on.
ASD: What went into the process of selecting Patrick Samsonas as the next football coach at ‘Iolani, and was there a lot of interest in that position?
Look: I had a few calls from people, but football people know that this is kind of a unique place to be the head coach, and not in the sense that we're a football factory. In fact, we're the complete opposite, right? You have to have the right mindset and the right priorities to coach here, because obviously we don't get the per se football player here. We get good students here, we get kids that are motivated, who are somewhat athletically gifted, but physically, not really football guys. But they're gonna play hard, they're gonna play smart, and they're gonna give you all they got. I think being an alumni and going through the process of being an alumni in our program was important.
Pat kind of came out of the blue, really. I didn't know he was interested. His son (Zion) is going to be a senior this year at Mililani, and so that's a tough thing to do: to coach another team while your son's finishing up his senior year (Note: High school athletes on O‘ahu are required to sit out a year athletically if they transfer from an OIA school to an ILH school). His son is pretty good, so I didn't think he was interested. But he didn't want to see all the coaches' legacy and traditions and the history of this place, what Father Bray and what Coach Hamada built, go away. And he felt that, like me, it had to be someone, an alumni that has gone through the process and understood what it meant to be One Team. So, with a little prodding from his peers and his classmates, that's how it came about.
ASD: What advice have you been able to share with him?
Look: We've talked and stuff a little bit, but he knows what needs to get done. He knows what the philosophy is, what kind of kids we have here, what the priorities are. He knows all that kind of stuff, the everyday stuff. Obviously I'll help him, but he's been head coach before (at Kaiser from 2005 to 2009), so he knows what it takes. When I took over for coach Hamada, he came out the first day of practice and said this is yours now, you got to do it your own way. You got to be your own person. You cannot be me, you got to be yourself. And that was it. That's all he said. And he walked away, and he never came back out to practice. He came to games every once in a while, but he wasn't one that was gonna hover and give me unsolicited advice and be critical of what we're doing. That showed that he believed in what I was going to do and what I was going to continue, and so that trust that he had in me, I want Pat to feel that too, right? This is going to be his program now, and he's got to do it his own way, and I don't want him looking over his shoulder. People ask me would I have given up one or the other (between coaching and being AD). If I only retire from one, I think it'd be unfair to the person who was going to take over. ... I felt it was best that I step away from both, just to give everybody a clear path to kind of do it their own way.
ASD: Over the years, how do you think you were able to find success given the roster size situation at ‘Iolani? How did that process work every year of figuring out how many players you had at your disposal and making a team out of that?
Look: That is the biggest challenge. Some years there's 60 guys coming out, and some years there's 35. Some years you have a lot of linemen, and some years you're trying to find linemen, or you're trying to convert guys to be linemen. That has always been the challenge — finding enough pieces to put an offense out and a defense out and special teams. But what made it manageable is the kind of kids we get. They're smart kids. They're book smart. Sometimes you gotta teach them a little bit more about how to play on the field, but you explain it to them and they get it. They understand what you're trying to tell them. Sometimes, physically, they might not be able to execute what you want to do, but they're gonna gonna keep trying. They're not gonna give up. That was, again, the biggest challenge, but once we we got all the pieces, it was like playing chess for us, right? Sometimes we got to move pieces that other programs and coaching staffs wouldn't have to think about it. Sometimes you got a 5-foot-6, 155-pound guard and say that's all I got, but that kid's willing to stick his nose in there and try, because he knows that's what's best for the team, and I'm gonna push the heck out of that kid.
Another part of it was my staff. The longevity of the staff created consistency. I had guys with me from the beginning, and I had a lot of guys for 20 plus years, and that's what made us even stronger, because the kids knew what was expected of them. It was consistent teaching and coaching year after year and why we had success was the consistency of the coaching staff.
ASD: Most memorable win? Most painful loss?
Look: (Laughs) Oh geez. The most painful loss was in the state championship game against Hilo. The guy kicked the 50-yarder off the crossbar. You go back and you look at it, and shoot. I could have done things better managing the last two minutes of the game, but I thought to myself we're not gonna take the foot off the accelerator, we're gonna go, and if we gotta punt, we're gonna pin them back and they got no timeouts. Who the heck's gonna know the guy's gonna kick a 55-yarder off the damn crossbar? So yeah, that one was painful. I think losing the playoff game to Damien (in 2023) was painful, because that kind of broke the streak of our state tournament appearances.
I think we've had some exciting wins. There was a state semifinal game here, I think against Kapa‘a (in 2014). Keoni Kordell-Makekau broke one across the field and scored to win the game. We beat Punahou here twice on our field, so those two wins, I think (are up there). Our first state championship (in 2005), we went to the finals the year before against Campbell, and they absolutely destroyed us. It was eye-opening, and that group of seniors coming back the next year really made it a point and a goal to get back to the championship game and win, and they did it, so that first championship was good. The one after COVID (in 2021), that was really satisfying, because it was not only for that senior class, but the senior class before that lost out on playing. That was the senior class that lost to Hilo. They were juniors, then COVID hit, then they lost out their senior year. So the following year, that senior class dedicated that season to those guys. They put their mind to it that we win it not just for us, but for those guys, too, and they did it.
ASD: How cool has it been to see your daughter's own football career take off (Note: Kodi Look is the director of football operations for the University of Oregon)?
Look: I think it's her growing up within our program, and being around it (Note: Kodi Look, a 2008 ‘Iolani alumnus, was also the starting kicker for the Raiders under her father). I guess it's in her blood (laughs), and her playing and winning a state championship, too. It kind of just sparked a little bit, and then when she went to Oregon State, a lot of (former University of Hawai‘i assistants) were there: Mike Cavanaugh, Mark Banker, so they took care of her through my relationship with them. They took care of her and started her on her career, and she did that all the way through her four years at Oregon State. She then went to the Arena League in San Jose, and everywhere she's gone, they've had success. She went to the Arena League, and shoot, they won the championship there in their second year.
... She got a taste of what college football was real quick, because (Mark) Helfrich got fired at Oregon her first year there (in 2016). But through her work, she kind of proved herself that she was worthy of being there. She survived four coaches. (Willie) Taggart was the next one, and then Mario Cristobal came in and actually wanted to take her to Miami with her. She was very close to going, and it would have been a huge career move, but it wasn't all about the money and stuff. She felt that her work wasn't done yet in Eugene, and so she stayed, and coach (Dan) Lanning wanted her to stay. He really appreciated what her reputation has been at Oregon, and so again, she's proving herself to be a worthy member of his staff. I think he really appreciates what she does there. We're really proud of her. I take all the credit (laughs). Everybody says she's a spitting image of me (more laughs).
ASD: When you first started out at your alma mater, did you envision yourself spending your entire career there? And what are you going to miss the most about the day-to-day?
Look: Back in the day when I got hired, the headmaster at that time was Dave Coon. He had a saying that this is not your job, this is your calling. You are working at ‘Iolani School because this is your calling. This is where you belong. Have I had thoughts about going to college at times? Yeah, I guess, but I didn't feel that the urge to go was greater than staying here. My place was here, my purpose was here. To do what I've been doing for 35 years, did I expect to stay here for this long? I don't know. It hasn't seemed that long, but it has been. But it's been so rewarding. You work with some of the greatest kids around. I'll miss the people. The people I work with, my office staff, my coaching staff, the athletic staff, they all have the same vision and philosophy of it's not about them, it's about the school, it's about the kids. I'll miss the kids. Obviously, they're the ones that have been the motivation to do what I do, and to see that growth, and seeing them achieve their goals along the way, and kind of being a small part of helping them get there. I'm gonna miss that. But, there's things I won't miss (hearty laugh). It's bittersweet, but it's the right time."
ASD: You clearly have a lot of reverence for Father Bray and coach Hamada. A lot of people would put you in that same sentence. How do you want to be remembered at ‘Iolani?
Look: If my players can say that yeah, he was tough on us, but he was fair, and he cared about us. That's all it is. If all of them say that, then I did what I was supposed to do. You got to be tough on them, but you want to be fair, and they got to know that, hey, I'm doing this because I care about you.
ASD: Any former players stand out in that regard?
Look: Oh, there's been tons of them. I mean, you look at Ed Ta'amu. He came from Waipahu. Again, you got to be smart enough to come here, because academically, we don't skate on anything, right? We didn't have different programs, we have one academic curriculum, and they're thrown in with National Merit guys, guys with 4.5 GPAs that are taking five AP classes, so they got to be able to keep up, and they come in at eighth, ninth grade. They don't have the academic foundation like some of these kids have, and they don't have the resources that some of these kids have, but the parents know that if they come to ‘Iolani and graduate, they're going to have a head start on life. It takes those kinds of kids time to adjust to ‘Iolani, but to see that kind of guy come here, take advantage of the opportunities that they have, give back to the school in more than just athletics (is the most rewarding part).
Ed was the Defensive Player of the Year, went to Utah on a full ride scholarship, got drafted by the Minnesota Vikings (in the fourth round of the 2002 NFL Draft), so he made the most of his opportunity. But what a lot of people don't know is that his senior year, he stepped out of his comfort box, and he was the lead in the school spring musical. Who would have thought that this guy would be the lead in the spring musical, but that's what ‘Iolani does to you, right? It gives you opportunities, and it's just a matter of are you going to take advantage of it, and how much are you going to use, and how much are you going to going to experience here? This place offers so much, and it takes the whole staff, the teachers, the counselors, everybody, to help these kids succeed. To see what he has accomplished, really, that's the real satisfaction. You see a kid come from the (public) housing and stuff, and the kind of success that they have now is just amazing, so those are kind of the success stories that people don't see or don't understand. They think everybody coming to ‘Iolani has the silver spoon in their mouth, but they're not, and that's what makes ‘Iolani so special. We take kids from all kinds of backgrounds, but once they get in here, the philosophy is we're going to take them, we will help them succeed. We're not gonna let them fail. So, yeah, there's a lot of those stories there.
ASD: Is there anything else you'd like to add that we didn't get to touch on?
Look: For (Hawai‘i high school football coaching veterans) like me, like (former ‘Aiea coach) Wendell Say, Bobby Watson (at Lahainaluna), Cal Lee (at Saint Louis), they're kind of old school guys. They've been around, and they have the right reasons why they do stuff. But people forget that behind every man is a great woman, and they'll be the first to tell you that their wives had a major part in their success, and so did mine. She kind of raised our kids, and I give her the credit for that. The success that our kids have had and their values is a credit to her. So, yeah, you cannot forget about the wives.
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Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
