HONOLULU (KHON2) — The former Kahuku head football coach says his lawsuit against the Department of Education and a former player’s family is to clear his name so he can get back to coaching again.
The former player says he shouldn’t be allowed back, and is still bothered by what happened two years ago.
Flanked by his attorney, family and friends, Sterling Carvalho was in court to fight to get back on the field.
“That’s what I wanna get back doing, just serving the boys, serving the community, and just doing what’s right,” said Sterling Carvalho.
The former Kahuku head football coach filed a lawsuit Monday claiming the Department of Education’s firing was wrongful, defamatory and malicious.
It stems from an incident in 2023, when a then-player’s parent made critical comments about Carvahlo on social media. Carvalho met with the student in private, and the student says Carvalho demanded he “defend his head coach” or he “wasn’t all in with the team”.
“He wanted me to go online to set the record straight, basically, telling me to like go on my Instagram or something and make a post disagreeing with my dad, and I told him like I can’t do that,” said Manoa Hallums, former Kahuku football player.
“If some way or form it was misconstrued, I apologize for that,” said Carvahlo. “But it was never in my intention to be intimidating, bully, running a hostile environment, which is contrary to everything I believe.”
Carvalho says any claims of abuse are uncorroborated. And another thing he mentioned in the lawsuit is that the DOE never gave him any kind of chance for a hearing to dispute those accusations or to face his accusers.
However, in the termination letter from the DOE to Carvalho dated March 31 of this year, the DOE says Carvahlo declined to meet in person because he didn’t want to defend himself against “false accusations.”
Carvahlo did meet virtually with DOE investigators. They said he showed no remorse for his actions, and the only thing he would have changed was having a witness to his meeting with Hallums.
“Because of my faith and my belief, I try to stay away from contention,” said Carvahlo. “Try to stay away from he said, he said kinda thing. You know and that’s not me.”
“It’s not something that I would lie about or fake,” said Hallums. “And to this day, it still affects me. I’ve been trying to do since this thing happened, was move on.”
“Hopefully our players can continue to stay focused and understand that you know, this is not their fault,” said Carvahlo. “But just continue to train and look forward to the season ahead.”
“Do you think Carvahlo should be the head coach at Kahuku? No,” said Hallums. “No. And I think that the boys will be just fine with or without him. They’re going to win regardless.”
The Department of Education and the attorney general’s office, who was in court representing the DOE, had no comment on the lawsuit.