KFDM COOP Posted August 11, 2008 Report Posted August 11, 2008 Coach goes to the islands for football By Dave Rogers Published August 12, 2008 Whoever said coaches aren’t smart, hasn’t met Kevin Flanigan. The Crosby athletic director came up with a heck of a working vacation this summer – a trip to Hawaii for a football camp. “It was a good deal,†Flanigan said of the three-day Just Win Football Camp at Moanalua High School in Maui. About 300 high school players, most from Hawaii although one came from The Woodlands, attended the camp held at the school’s football field built on a hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The camp is the brainchild of J.W. Kenton, a Florida high school coach who moved to Hawaii five years ago to work in marketing for the Hula Bowl. The local Hawaiian high school coaches provide most of the staff at the camp, but it also draws a good sampling of coaches from the mainland, as well. Nine college coaches from Colorado, Utah, California and Arizona were among the “name†guest instructors. And then there was Flanigan. “I started going to work at football camps in 1992 or 1993. I worked the SMU camp and the Texas A&M camp two or three times,†the Cougar head football coach recalls. “I worked camps for about eight years in a row. “Then I stopped. I didn’t work any camps between 2000 and 2007, but in 2007, I worked two, SMU and A&M. I worked A&M again this summer.†Flanigan says camps are very educational for him. “Coaching-wise, in my opinion, they’re as good or better than any clinic you go to, because they’re hands-on. You see all the drills in two or three practices a day and at all the camps, you get a chance to sit down with all the guys and talk. “The big thing to me is developing contacts.†A trip to the Internet was all Flanigan needed to set his course for Hawaii. “I thought I’d like to see a camp in a different area,†he said. “I just got on the Internet and started at Hawaii and worked back.†It wasn’t all work for Flanigan. “As far as the hospitality, it was unbelievable,†he said. Of course it included a Hawaiian luau. “I’ve been to a lot of high schools and I can almost guarantee you there’s not one with a better view than that one. “They only have stands on one side and when you look across, you’ve got a mountain on the right and another mountain on the left and the surf coming up to each.†Flanigan spent a few extra days in the 50th state and got away from the football field. “I went fishing and caught some amberjack,†he said. “I went over and toured the big island. I spent the last day at Waikiki and watched some of the surfers. I did not surf, not this time. “Next time I go, I will. This was kind of a look-and-see deal.†Next year’s plans are already in the works to return. And this time wife Michelle and daughters Courtney, 14, and Kaylee, 11, have signed up. “My wife and daughters have already told me I can’t go by myself,†he said. “It’ll be fun..â€
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