Furtado to coach both Kalaheo basketball teams
By Dennis Anderson
Advertiser Staff Writer
Thomas "Chico" Furtado, who has coached Kalaheo High to the last five O'ahu public school girls' basketball championships, yesterday was appointed Kalaheo's head boys coach by athletic director Lee Cashman.
Advertiser library photo
Furtado, 44, replaces Pete Smith, who retired from coaching last month and has been promoted to vice principal at KalŒheo.
Chico Furtado succeeds Pete Smith at Kalaheo.
Smith's remarkable 18-year career at Kalaheo included three state and 14 O'ahu Interscholastic Association championships. He guided the Mustangs into the state tournament every year and reached the final four a record 14 times.
Furtado said he will coach both boys and girls teams next season and then evaluate whether he should "swap roles" and turn over the girls to his brother and assistant, Dave Furtado.
"I've been on both boys and girls staffs the past seven years, but there is a lot of wear and tear as a head coach that an assistant doesn't have to deal with," Chico Furtado said. He joined Kalaheo as an assistant to Smith in 1990.
In choosing Furtado, Cashman said: "We felt that based on his 14 years at Kalaheo, he has proven he can keep our program at the level it is at. We feel that he deserves the opportunity and he is excited about the chance.
Furtado said: "I've wanted to be a head coach for boys for years. Pete groomed me with that in mind." In recent years, Furtado made most substitutions, called defenses and prowled the sideline while Smith sat quietly analyzing the games.
His style is much more demonstrative than Smith's. "I have a hard time sitting," Furtado said. He achieved his feisty reputation as a fiery guard at Iolani School (class of 1976) and Chaminade University (1980).
Furtado sees Kalaheo "playing a little more up-tempo" than Smith's structured half-court offense.
Furtado resides in Kane'ohe with his wife of 19 years, Lynn, who he said would be the "do-it-all assistant" for both boys and girls teams. "Statistics, laundry, chaperone on road trips, she does everything."
The Furtados have two daughters, Elisa and Nicole, and three granddaughters. Nicole played for her dad at Kalaheo.
