Kahuku coach Lee Leslie has resigned from his post after one year on the job Thursday morning, as first reported by the Star Advertiser.

Under Leslie the Red Raiders compiled a 9-3 record and advanced all the way to the state semifinals after missing the tournament the year before. Kahuku had six first-team selections, and one second-team pick, on the ScoringLive All-Hawaii Division I team.

Leslie said that time spent away from his family in Boise, Idaho played a big factor in his decision to step down.

"I was missing my family," he said. "We originally planned on coming out here together — and then some things didn't work out financially that I don't really want to discuss."

He also said that his current job teaching character education at the Intermediate played a role in his resignation. With Kahuku raising the minimum grade point average from 2.0 to 2.3 for its student athletes, Leslie wanted to be closer to his players so that he could monitor their studies. He applied for the vacant weight lifting position at the high school, but was not selected.

Leslie was visiting home during the school spring break when he called principal Pauline Masaniai to inform her that he was resigning. 

"Just seeing my brand new grand daughter that I haven't met yet and having my six other grand kids jump over me kind of did it," he said. "If I'm going to be away from home sacrificing everything, I need to be in a position to pull it off — and I didn't think I can do it teaching on the junior high level."

Leslie had nothing but praises to say about his tenure at Kahuku.

"I love these kids," he said. "They are the hardest working kids I have ever met. They're going to have 10-win seasons in the upcoming years. There is plenty of talent there for any coach to enjoy a great career. The kids are amazing. They come up and shake your hand after practice and thank you for working hard. The team moms were unbelievable, doing so much after practice. Just amazing stuff happened there. I was very privileged to have a great group of coaches around me and I just really appreciate everything that everyone did for me."