Darnell Arceneaux named St. Louis coach (again)

After a week of contemplation and soul searching, Darnell Arceneaux looked to the future.

His decision to return to coach football at Saint Louis, where he coached in 2003, had as much to do with family as anything. The increase in salary that Saint Louis offered was too much to refuse.

"I would never have left Mililani unless I could really improve the security of my family," he said. "We've got three children: Chloe is a sophomore, Cole is 10 and we just had a baby girl, El, who's five months old. Furloughs this year kind of hurt my wife and me (both teachers). We both took a pay cut. And they want us to work three extra days for free."

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'Iolani has hired former Saint Louis football coach Delbert Tengan as its new defensive coordinator.

After weeks of speculation, Raiders coach Wendell Look confirmed the hiring yesterday afternoon.

"It's a good fit for us," Look said. "Delbert is a good guy who has his priorities straight. He is going to bring a lot to our program. Our kids are going to benefit from his knowledge and experience."

Tengan spent more than 20 years as an assistant and head coach at Saint Louis. He guided the Crusaders to a state title in 2002 during his first stint as head coach. During his second go-round, he was 22-2 in his last two seasons before being released in 2007.

Prior to that, he was a defensive backs coach, then defensive coordinator during Saint Louis' dynasty under then-coach Cal Lee, and was also the head basketball coach with current Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona as his assistant.

In recent months, Tengan applied for the Saint Louis athletic director position, but the job went to Ed Paola, a science teacher who has experience as an AD.

Tengan also was in contention for the vacant coaching position after John Hao was not retained, and was at one point offered the job. Tengan declined because by that time he had already given a commitment to 'Iolani; Look wanted him on board as a defensive coordinator.

With Joel Lane as the offensive coordinator, 'Iolani has two coaches who turned down the head coaching position at Saint Louis. Tengan replaces Nat Tan, who retired from coaching to spend more time with family.