Wally Aina Jr. is back at Damien Memorial School, this time as its athletic director.

"I came here and actually never left," said Aina, 55, who became an assistant football coach shortly after graduating from the school in 1970, operated as its head coach from 1980 to 1993, and served as its Dean of Students since 1987.

Aina succeeds Pohai Lee, who resigned after one year to join the football coaching staff at the University of Montana-Western. Lee's father, Tommy, is the head coach there.

"He's the right man because of his familiarity with the school, the parents and the kids," Lee of Aina. "He's been a coach and he knows what it takes to be successful. He's tough but fair."

"I've been here so long I'm getting the sons of players I had before," said Aina, whose sons, Punahou and Kuhio, also played football at Damien.

He's also familiar with the school's space limitations, highlighted by a football field that is only 80 yards long.

"I'd like to expand the physical plant around, expanding the field to 100 yards," he said.

To do that, Aina said he would have to switch the direction of the current field, moving it from an east-west to a northwest-southeast direction while also cutting into a hill on campus.

Damien has varsity and freshman teams and running practices concurrently can be difficult on a truncated field.

"At least get a 100-yard field here so the kids can practice," he said.

Aina said he plans to work closely with coaches "to see what they need to make our students successful in the classroom and on the field and make them good contributors to the community."