Salanoa returns to coach at Radford

By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer

Just seven years ago, Fred Salanoa was throwing touchdown passes for Radford High School.

Yesterday, Salanoa, 24, was named Radford's head football coach. He replaces the man who coached him, Kelly Sur, who stepped down in October after eight seasons at the helm.

"Being so young, and with only one season of coaching under my belt, it's an honor," said Salanoa, who was the Rams' quarterbacks coach this past season. "For me, it's a challenge, an opportunity for me to go into the coaching field. And it gives me a chance to give back, to share my knowledge and teach kids what I learned from my college football experience."

Salanoa graduated from Radford in 1996 and went on to play at Snow (Ephraim, Utah) College and Eastern Washington, where he set several school passing records. In 1997, he was the nation's only passer (out of 145 junior colleges) to throw for over 3,000 yards, and the next year, he shared the starting quarterback job at Snow with Josh Heupel, who was the 2000 Heisman Trophy runner-up at Oklahoma.

Salanoa majored in Recreation Management/Corrections at Eastern Washington and works as a youth counselor at Hale Kipa. His roots at Radford run deep, as older brother Thor was an all-star linebacker in the early 1980s and nephew Matt Manuma was the Rams' starting quarterback in the late 1990s.

Fred Salanoa was a water boy for Radford's 1981 Prep Bowl championship team.

"It's not just about wins and losses," Salanoa said of his new job. "It's about getting young men ready for their future."