Tengan, 43, announced this morning that he has accepted athletic director Todd Los Banos offer to return to the position he held for one season before resigning in April of 2003. Tengan replaces Darnell Arceneaux, who stepped down last week after one season.

The Crusaders have won the past 18 Interscholastic League of Honolulu championships.

"When Todd asked me to consider coming back, the major deciding factor was if I would be able to assemble a quality staff," said Tengan, who had been an assistant to longtime Saint Louis coach Cal Lee for 15 years. "I’ve basically been able to bring back everybody who was on the 2002 staff except (linebackers coach) Tim Seaman, and we’ve added some new faces as well. I really feel this staff was A-1 quality, and now we have a nice blend of experienced guys and some bright young coaches, too."

Tengan said offensive coordinator Vince Passas will return, as will longtime assistants Sam Downey and Reid Hasegawa. Former Crusaders Craig Stutzmann, John Hao, Jacob Yoro and Junior Wong also will join Tengan’s staff.

"I’m real happy we’ve got a lot of guys who played in the program, who can relay their experience to our players and keep the tradition going," said Tengan, who graduated from Kailua but has taught and coached at Saint Louis since 1983. "They all know the football expectations that were set by Cal."

Tengan also is the head coach for the Crusaders’ varsity basketball team and cited the workload of guiding both programs as one of the reasons he stepped down in 2002. But he said he is better prepared this time to take on the double duty.

"After experiencing one year of that, I think I've got a better handle on how to do it," Tengan said. "Plus, I definitely missed football, that’s the thing. After coaching football for 16 years, I felt it was time to take a break and I never thought I’d come back this fast. But I did some radio work (for ILH football) last season and enjoyed it, and I stayed in touch. And now I’m happy to be back."