Winterhawk Leighton

University of Hawai'i at Manoa Athletics

Title

Assistant Offensive Line/Run Game

Winterhawk Leighton enters his second season as the assistant offensive line coach for the Hawai‘i football program in 2026. He enters his fourth season on the UH staff after arriving in 2022 a graduate assistant.

COACHING EXPERIENCE

Hawai‘i, Assistant Offensive Line (2025-present)
California, Graduate Assistant (2024)
Hawai‘i, Graduate Assistant (2022-23)
Idaho State, Graduate Assistant – Offensive Line (Spring 2022)
Central Washington, Running Backs/Recruiting Coordinator (2021)
Central Washington, Student Assistant – Offensive Line (2020)

ALMA MATER

Central Washington, BS, business administration, 2021

COACHING HIGHLIGHTS

Returned to Hawai‘i and was elevated to the role of assistant offensive line coach prior to the 2025 season.
Guided Zhen Sotelo to honorable mention All-Mountain West honors in 2025.
Coached a UH offensive line room in 2025 that provided protection for the eighth-ranked passing attack nationally and top MW passing offense, averaging 290.6 yards per game.
Helped guide a Hawai‘i offense that finished second nationally in red zone offense (95.24%).
Spent the 2024 season as a graduate assistant at California.
Began his coaching career at his alma mater Central Washington where he was a student assistant in 2020, working with offensive line.
He coached the running backs and was recruiting coordinator in 2021, helping CWU capture the league championship and finish second in the nation in scoring offense.
Helped coach GNAC Newcomer of the Year Rashaad Boddie and first team all-league Tyler Flanagan.
Spent the 2022 spring season at Idaho State, where he was an offensive graduate assistant before joining Hawai‘i in the fall.

PLAYING EXPERIENCE

Central Washington, 2017-19

PLAYING HIGHLIGHTS

Redshirted during the 2017 season.
Appeared in seven games in 2018 and caught two touchdown passes.
Saw action in seven games on the offensive line in 2019.

HOMETOWN

Ferndale, Wash.