Cal Lee, a fixture in Hawai‘i high school history and veteran on the UH coaching staff, begins his second season as assistant head coach in charge of the defensive ends.
During his tenure on both June Jones’ and Greg McMackin’s staffs, Lee has coached the linebackers as well as serve as defensive coordinator from 2008-09. As coordinator, his defense ranked third in the Western Athletic Conference in total defense and fifth in scoring defense in 2009 while linebacker Blaze Soares was named to the all-WAC first team after finishing the season ranked fourth in the WAC with 107 tackles.
Last season, his first as defensive ends coach, Kamalu Umu ranked fifth in the league in tackles-for-loss. Umu and Paipai Falemalu were also among the league’s sack leaders.
Lee, recognized as the state’s most successful high school coach at St. Louis School, led the Crusaders to 14 O‘ahu Prep Bowl titles (the unofficial Hawai‘i state championship), 18 Interscholastic League of Honolulu championships and the inaugural Hawai‘i High School Athletic Association State Championship in 1999. In his 21 seasons with the school, Lee won an impressive 88-percent of his games and compiled a 241-32-5 record. Of his 32 losses, more than half came during Lee’s first two seasons.
Lee’s success at St. Louis also included a 55-game win streak that spanned more than six seasons (1985-90) and a 15-1-1 record against out-of-state teams. The two-time National Coach of the Year is the most prolific coach in the history of Hawai‘i prep football.
Lee garnered All-America honors while playing at Willamette University. He started his coaching career as an assistant at Willamette, after graduating with a degree in physical education in 1970.
Named head coach for St. Louis in 1972, he left the Crusader program to assist his brother, Ron, at Kaiser High School for three years. The Lee-brothers combination led the Cougars to the Prep Bowl title in 1979.
Lee coached the linebackers for a combined nine years at St. Louis, Willamette and Kaiser prior to returning to St. Louis, where he led the program to national prominence as head coach. At the Kaimuki school, Lee also served as athletics director for several years.
His success as a coach trickled down to his players, resulting in more than 100 Division I scholarship athletes as well as a handful of players who played in the NFL, most notably Chicago Bears center Olin Kreutz, Detroit Lions center Dominic Raiola, and former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Chris Fuamatu-Ma‘afala.
In addition, the NCAA’s all-time leading passer, Timmy Chang, enjoyed an All-American career at St. Louis before starring for the Warriors.
Lee’s decision to head the entire athletics department at St. Louis in 2002 brought an end to his coaching tenure. However, in one year’s time, he accepted the job as head coach of Hawai‘i’s arena football team, the Hawaiian Islanders, where he secured a playoff berth and posted a 9-4 record in his first season.
Lee and his wife, Valerie, have one son, Jon.
