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Sports

They call it goosebumps where Lee Leslie is from. In Hawai‘i, the sensation he felt on the Kahuku team bus is more commonly referred to as chicken skin. 

Leslie only spent one year as the head football coach of the Red Raiders, departing his native Idaho to coach the 

 for the 2014 season. On a drive back from Aloha Stadium, he turned around from his seat to watch members of the team sing the school's alma mater unprompted in unison. 

"All the boys and their baritone voices would sing the school song. It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen in young men. They were just amazing. They would sing that school song in such a beautiful tone. I'll never forget it," Leslie recently told Aloha State Daily. "It was just cool. It gives me goosebumps to remember it. I just love those boys."

There's a reason the term "RR4L," also known as "Red Raider For Life," is omnipresent and used often in and beyond the North Shore. Kahuku High School has deep pride in its teams, particularly its flagship program: Football. 

Kahuku football is a program filled with tradition. The tomahawk chop in full bleachers prior to kickoffs. Its distinctive alma mater, as well as the only original haka for a football team in North America, are other sources of pride. 

Another emerging Kahuku football tradition? Letting its head coach walk away. 

Kahuku has won 11 Hawai‘i state football titles since the turn of the millenium. Yet during that time, the Red Raiders have cycled through six different head coaches during that span. 

Residents of the North Shore are still coming to grips with the removal of 

, whom the school announced was no longer the head coach in a March 31 letter to Kahuku High and Intermediate School students and parents. Emails from Aloha State Daily to Kahuku principal Donna Lindsey and athletic director Gillian Yamagata were not returned. 

Carvalho, who originally hails from Kaua‘i, coached at Kahuku for over a decade before being named the head coach in 2018. Carvalho coached under Reggie Torres, who was the head coach at Kahuku from 2006 to 2013, eventually becoming the offensive coordinator. In Leslie's lone season with the Red Raiders in 2014, Carvalho was the team's receivers coach. 

"I remember Sterling being a very kind gentleman," Leslie said. "That's how I would describe him."

When Siuaki Livai resigned with a career record of 102-20 in 2006, Torres was picked as his replacement. One of his earliest memories was having his wife, Lita, help the team on the sidelines instead of watching with the rest of the fans. 

"I brought my wife there so she wouldn't sit in the bleachers and hear all the naysayers. I mean, it's crazy in those bleachers," Torres said. "All of those things, it's tough on a coach."

Torres coached Kahuku to the state title in his first year. His 2010 squad was trending towards becoming one of the state's all-time great teams before an ineligible player disqualified the Red Raiders before the OIA championship game. After leading Kahuku to consecutive state crowns in 2011 and 2012, the Red Raiders went 6-5 in 2013. He was then asked to reapply for the job. 

Leslie moved to Kahuku by himself from Idaho's Kuna High School in 2014, beating out applicants such as Torres and Livai. The Red Raiders went 9-3, falling in the state semifinals. Leslie coached former NFL players Bradlee Anae and Alohi GIlman and felt good about the direction of the program. Although he enjoyed his time on the North Shore, he wasn't able to negotiate a salary that would have allowed his wife, Jill, to relocate to the Islands. 

"The charismatic detail of Kahuku is amazing. I knew I was a haole and I was from the outside coming in, but I put everything I had into the time I was there trying to put my mark on the respectability of the program and just how much I respected it," Leslie said.

"Looking back at my whole career, Kahuku was one of my highlights, and I really, really enjoyed it. When you're a head coach there, you're at the mercy of whoever the administration is and and what they're going to do. The only common denominator in all of these coaches that have come through the building since Reggie, me and the next few after that was Gillian Yamagata, who's the athletic director, and I didn't really care for her. I did not like her leadership at all. And she's the only one that I didn't care for in the whole program."

Leslie kept in touch with his former players and coaches from his time at Kahuku, continuing to root for them from afar. Once a Red Raider, always a Red Raider. 

Leslie's quarterback at Kahuku, Tuli Wily-Matagi, got his coaching career started under Leslie at Stansbury High School in Utah. Wily-Matagi is now the head coach at Tooele High School in Utah, the same place where Leslie's coaching career began four decades ago. 

"Those kids at Kahuku deserve the absolute best," Leslie said. "They're amazing people, and they work. They're the hardest working group of kids I've ever coached in my life."

Torres has been the co-athletic director at Kamehameha since 2021 and has not coached football since before the COVID-19 pandemic. When asked about the advice he'd give to the next coach, he kept a simple approach.

"It's tough. But if you keep any perspective, it's well worth it because of the kids. The kids there still grew up old school. 'Yes, coach,' they have respect. But here's a trick that hopefully the future coach can understand: Kids only care what you say when they know you care about them," Torres said. "The kids knew I cared about them, and knowing that I cared about them, they're receptive.

"That's why I think the kids are battling for Sterling. Why do you think they're going through all of this for him? Because they care about him, because they know he cares about them. And when you coach them that way, when you come in with a mentality that you want to build better people, and the kids know it, it's worth it. 

"Those kids are great kids, and as a coach, you get great kids who play hard for you, man, that's fun, right? The passion. The kids are competitors. They don't like losing, they're passionate and just getting focused on their studies and focus on them being good people, and use that football as a tool or guide so they be better students and better prepared for what's out there after football. So, it's well worth it."

Sterling Carvalho 041025

<title>Sacrifice, joy and pressure comes with Kahuku football job, say former coaches</title>

Aloha State Daily spoke with two former Kahuku head football coaches in the wake of Sterling Carvalho's removal.

Sacrifice, joy and pressure comes with Kahuku football job, say former coaches

Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros Headshot

Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros

Business & Tourism

Aloha Spirit

Over the last few months, founder and chief innovation officer of RevoluSun Eric Carlson said he had heard 15 times from a variety of sources that his local solar company was going out of business. 

“We’re not going out of business. That is one of their strategies is to discredit Hawaiʻi companies,” he said of Mainland solar salespeople pretending to work for the state government and/or Hawaiian Electric. 

He added that this “solar dupe” is a national trend occurring wherever Sunrun Inc. and its third-party companies operate – including Hawai’i.

"Not only are these baseless and completely false claims, but it's causing a lot of fear and confusion for our local homeowners, which we believe works against our state's collective goal of reaching 100% renewable energy by 2045," a RevoluSun communications representative told Aloha State Daily by email. "Unfortunately, this isn't a new practice for these Mainland solar companies, whose sole goal is to get the sale with zero concern for the long-term well-being of the homeowner. However, recently their dishonest tactics are becoming more blatant and outrageous."

According to Carlson, local police won’t be involved, but the Attorney General can be, as seen in other states like Connecticut. “We’ve already filed a complaint with Hawaiʻi Solar Energy Association, which was signed by at least four local entities. Our next step is to talk to the AG, Building Industry Association and Better Business Bureau," in addition to his Mainland connections in the industry “to hit this from all angles.”

He shared more in a recent LinkedIn post, 

“This is not a one-off. It’s Sunrun’s business model. ... I want to be vocal about it to help protect local people," Carlson told ASD. 

[{"text":"ASD has reached out to Sunrun for comment.","type":"text"}]

Other local companies speaking out about scammers include Alternate Energy, Hawai'i Energy Connection, KumuKit, ProVision Solar, HI POWER Solar, Malama Solar and Independent Energy Hawaiʻi, among other providers, he said.

“I’m born and raised here. RevoluSun, one of Hawaiʻi's largest solar providers since 2009, is a product of the Islands – we are known for giving back to the community,” he said. "We’ve competed 'local style' for years, so what we’re worried about is the local market becoming a monopoly."

ASD asked Carlson more about what community members can ask to prevent scams and why it matters for the local energy sector.

How do you know that it is Mainland companies targeting local homeowners? 

We’ve heard it directly from Sunrun's local director.  

 Sales volume. And access to long-term financial contracts. These companies sell solar leases and power purchase agreements (PPAs), which they bundle into large investment portfolios and sell to Wall Street investors. Each lease they sign with a homeowner becomes a piece of a portfolio they can use to raise capital — so the more deals they close, the more money they generate on the backend.

They’re not just selling solar — they’re selling financial products and local homeowners are being treated as data points and revenue streams, not as clients they intend to support long-term.

This current surge started around mid-2021, but the trend has exploded in the last six months. We estimate Sunrun alone has brought in over 200 reps, mostly young salespeople flown in from the Mainland, given aggressive scripts and sent out door-to-door. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen something like this — many of us in the industry stood together in 2013 during the Vivint solar blitz — but this time, it’s more widespread, more aggressive and potentially more damaging to local trust in solar.

 We’ve seen it island-wide — but the hardest hits so far have been Mililani, Kapolei, Hawaiʻi Kai, ʻEwa Beach, Kāneʻohe, Wahiawa, Kailua and Kaimukī. And even rural neighborhoods where residents may be more isolated and trusting of someone "offering help."

Here is a statement from a Mililani homeowner and Revolusun customer: "A Mainland solar company came to my home in Mililani and knocked on the door. They asked me about my solar panels, and I told them I had SunPower panels. When they asked who installed them, I said RevoluSun. The rep then told me that RevoluSun was going out of business. I found this surprising, as I’m in regular communication with the company and hadn’t heard anything like that. To be sure, I called my contact at RevoluSun, who confirmed that the claim was completely false. I felt it was important to report this because spreading misinformation like this can harm local businesses and mislead homeowners."

We’ve also heard repeated accounts of reps telling homeowners: "We’re partnered with HECO."; "This is a state program."; "These panels are free."; "You’ll never pay an electric bill again."

Each one of these statements is misleading at best and outright false at worst.

Never sign anything at the door. Get 2-3 quotes. There's no such thing as “free solar.” HECO doesn’t sell solar and neither does the state. If it feels off, it probably is.

RevoluSun Eric Carlson 16x9

<title>RevoluSun: Homeowners beware of ‘misleading’ sales tactics by Mainland solar companies</title>

RevoluSun’s Eric Carlson shares tips for individuals who may be targeted by door-to-door scammers. “If it feels off, it probably is,” he said in an interview with Aloha State Daily.

RevoluSun: Homeowners beware of ‘misleading’ sales tactics by Mainland solar companies

E Kingma Large

<title>Eric Kingma</title>

Eric Kingma

This viewpoint from the Hawai‘i Longline Association makes a case that President Donald Trump's reopening of commercial fishing grounds around Pacific islands is good for local consumers and industry, which use more sustainable methods than do foreign fishing fleets.

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