Posted on: Wednesday, April 23, 2003

Baldwin soccer coach to fight ban

By Dennis Anderson
Advertiser Staff Writer

Baldwin High boys soccer coach Fred Guzman said yesterday he will fight a five-year ban from coaching.

"There has to be some sort of appeal process," Guzman said. "I have to find out what it is."

Guzman received the harshest penalty of any coach in 45 years of Hawai'i High School Athletic Association history on April 10 when he was banned from coaching in state tournaments for five years.

The ban on Guzman, and a one-year "conduct probation" for the Baldwin team, stem from an incident on Feb. 12 when Baldwin senior Eugene "Ekolu" Saffery III deliberately knocked the referee to the ground after his team lost to Pearl City in a state tournament game.

The Maui Interscholastic League is expected to duplicate the bans when its principals meet on Friday. "It's cut and dried," said MIL executive secretary Steven Kim.

Maui's athletic directors voted April 14 to recommend the five-year ban and probation.

"The sanctions that have been taken against the Baldwin boys soccer program and me personally are unjust," Guzman said yesterday.

"To punish so many people for the misguided actions of one teenaged boy is unfair. The clear implication of these sanctions is that I somehow endorsed this young man's actions. I couldn't have been more clear (in comments immediately following the incident) about how much I regretted what happened.

"I do not condone un-sportsmanlike actions or behavior," Guzman said. "That's why I endorsed the school's decision to take a proactive position by forfeiting our second game in the tournament."

Officials have said that a pattern of misbehavior by the Baldwin boys factored into the suspension of Guzman.

"In 12 seasons of coaching in the MIL," Guzman said, "I have received one red card (ejection) and that was for being out of the coach's box. . . I hardly think that reflects an out-of-control coach or an out-of-control program."