Year in review: Hawaii football team was 2025’s sports highlight

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As usual, in 2025 football, baseball, volleyball and surfing were among the activities that produced big sports stories in Hawaii.

Some were for winning, one for a rare losing season and the last for finally becoming a statewide high school sport.

Off the fields, courts and waves, those who follow University of Hawaii sports spent much of the year wondering who the new athletic director would be.

And for the final few months of 2025 they rejoiced over the winningest football season since 2019.

1. Da Braddahhood Delivers UH football culminated its first winning season under fourth-year head coach Timmy Chang with a thrilling 35-31 Hawaii Bowl victory over California—its second in three games in 2025 against schools from power conferences. The Rainbow Warriors finished at 9-4 overall.

It’s the most wins for a Rainbow Warriors football team led by a coach born and raised in Hawaii. Chang, who was a record-setting quarterback at UH, was named a regional coach of the year and one of five national finalists by the American Football Coaches Association.

Place-kicker Kansei Matsuzawa became a cult hero and was named consensus All-American after making 25 of 26 field goal attempts and every extra point during the regular season.

Quarterback Micah Alejado was named Mountain West Freshman of the Year after amassing eight conference freshman and offensive player of the week awards.

2. Transition at the Top Speaking of the Mountain West, UH’s move of most of its other sports into the conference is one of new athletic director Matt Elliott’s biggest to-do list items.

Elliott, a former UCLA athletic administrator with Hawaii family ties, was chosen by new UH president Wendy Hensel and approved by the Board of Regents in June.

In November, Elliott met with state legislators to discuss plans requesting $5 million from the state to help pay student-athletes.

Associate athletic director Lois Manin, who was acting athletic director since Dec. 1, 2024, retained her original post when Elliott was hired.

3. Diamond Dandies In July’s MLB draft, Saint Louis alum Aiva Arquette was chosen seventh overall by the Marlins and Baldwin product Wehiwa Aloy by the Orioles with the 31st pick after tremendous college careers for the two shortstops that ended with both of them in the College World Series.

Arquette starred at Washington and Oregon State. Aloy, who played at Arkansas with his younger brother, Kuhio, won the Golden Spikes Award as the nation’s top amateur baseball player. The Aloy brothers’ father, Jamie, is a former Baldwin and UH standout.

Rainbows fans have enjoyed their resurgence under coach Rich Hill. It was announced Dec. 19 that Hill received a four-year contract extension that will take him through the 2029 season.

Yet another former Baldwin star, Kurt Suzuki, made history in October when he was named manager of the Los Angeles Angels. Suzuki, who played 16 MLB seasons, including a World Series championship and an All-Star game appearance, is the first major league manager from Hawaii.

Also in October, Mid-Pacific graduate Isiah Kiner-Falefa played in the World Series for the Toronto Blue Jays.

4. Volleyball Highs and Lows The UH men’s volleyball team went 27-6, and made it back to the NCAA Tournament after missing it in 2024 following two national championships and then a runner-up finish in 2023. The Warriors lost in the semifinals to UCLA, but coach Charlie Wade’s young team looks well positioned for more big things in front of more big crowds at the Sheriff Center.

The 2025 women’s team was a much different story. The Wahine—hit hard by losses to graduation, the transfer portal and injuries—missed the NCAA Tournament for just the second time with a program-worst 12-17 record. Coach Robyn Ah Mow’s seven previous teams all won at least 18 games and made it to the NCAAs, with five winning Big West Championships.

5. Campbell Plants the Flag Prep sports usually generate feel-good stories, and such was the case for Campbell High. The Sabers won the inaugural state championship for flag football in May and then won their first Open Division state title in tackle football on Dec. 5.

In September, it was announced that surfing will make its debut as a state championship sport next year—another positive development.

But the last major story of the year related to high school sports in Hawaii stemmed from an incident aptly described as “appalling ” and “horrific ” by DOE superintendent Keith Hayashi. Hayashi banned Aukusitino Noga Jr. and his wife, Jamielee, from public school property in Hawaii for life after the Nogas allegedly assaulted and threatened Moanalua associate athletic director Natalie Iwamoto after a game on Dec. 5. The husband and wife have been charged with crimes with evidence from video surveillance of the attack.

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