Aragon coach Manu calls it a career

“I knew it was coming to an end,” said Manu, 58. “I had made a promise eight years ago to Grace Nai (that I would stay on long enough to coach her). She graduated last year. But Grace has a younger sister (Leah) and she asked me [to keep coaching].”

Manu, who graduated from Aragon in 1983, walked on to the team at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo his senior year. While he didn’t get much playing time, he was a basketball junkie and he stayed in the game as a coach.

He was hired as the Dons’ boys’ basketball coach beginning the 2011-12 season. In 2016, he moved to the girls’ team. In all, Manu won three Central Coast Section titles. In 2014, he led the boys to the Division III championship, 61-55 over Valley Christian. He then led the Aragon girls to crowns in 2019 (DII, 53-48 over Lynbrook) and 2022 (DII, 52-47 Hillsdale).

“The record speaks for itself,” said Steve Sell, Aragon athletic director. “As a coach to win three CCS championships, and to have both the boys and girls (win a title), is just unprecedented.”

Manu, who has spent the last 31 years as pastor at West Coast Celebration Free Methodist Church in San Mateo, is on the CCS short list of coaches who have won section titles in both boys’ and girls’ sports. Menlo School’s Bill Shine has won multiple CCS crowns with the Knights’ boys’ and girls’ tennis teams, but those sports are played in the spring and fall, respectively.

There is only one other coach in CCS history to win CCS titles in both boys and girls sports that are played in the same season. St. Francis’ Mike Oakland guided the Lancers baseball team to the 2013 championship. He then took over the Lancers’ softball program and led them to titles in 2021 and 2022.

“I heard you can always judge a coach by how hard a team plays and how unselfish they are. His teams always competed. There was not an ounce of quit in any team he coached,” Sell said.

Manu has had as unique career as you’ll find. In 2001, he spent a year coaching girls on a Native American reservation in Klamath, Oregon. A year later, he went on a mission to his homeland of Tonga. A computer science major, he was there to not only minister, but to also connect the all-girls’ school to the Internet. While coaching the school’s basketball team, he was recruited to become the Tonga men’s national team coach, a position he held for two years.

“So many stories,” Manu said.

He first joined the Aragon boys’ coaching staff as an assistant to Kari Huxford in 2005, before spending six years coaching at Borel Middle School.

He spent five years coaching the Aragon boys’ team, making the CCS tournament four times. In 2014, the Dons — with Manu’s son, Alex, leading the way — captured their first CCS title since 1994, as the third-seeded Dons knocked off fifth-seeded Valley Christian. Aragon was only in the championship game because the Dons outlasted second-seeded Los Altos in the semifinals, 94-93 in triple overtime.

In his five-year career with the Aragon boys, from 2011 to 2016, Manu compiled an overall record of 78-48 and 37-21 in PAL play. In eight seasons with the girls, Manu had an overall mark of 126-79 and compiled a league record of 65-27.

In all, Manu was 204-127 during his Aragon coaching career, picking up win No. 200 Jan. 4 following a 45-44 win over Westmoor.

Manu had three 20-win seasons and went to the CCS playoffs in 12 of 13 years, amassing a record of 20-9 — 6-3 with the boys and 14-6 with the girls.

His girls’ teams were especially successful. From 2017 to 2022, Manu guided the Lady Dons to six straight semifinals and three championship game appearances.

“They were in contention every year,” Sell said. “His coaching was a large part of their success. Just an incredibly impressive career.”

Family is big to Manu, so the fact he got to celebrate section titles with his children made it all even better. Another point guard in the family, Lydia, helped guide the 2019 Lady Dons to the Division II title over Lynbrook. Youngest daughter Mabryn, who was a junior varsity call-up during that 2019 championship season, had a much bigger role in 2022 when the Dons beat rival Hillsdale for the championship.

Additionally, Manu’s sister, Dieann Hala’ufia, is a longtime assistant for Aragon girls’ volleyball and head coach for the Dons’ boys’ volleyball team.

“If you’re going to do coaching right, there are so many hidden hours and I couldn’t justify that without having my kids part of that,” Manu said. “(Coaching) is always part of what we (as a family) do.”

That love of family extended to the players on his team, as well. Coaches can become surrogate parents for many players and Manu said some of the most dramatic times came off the court.

“The biggest rewards I’ve had are not the titles,” Manu said. “It those times … especially during the COVID times, you sit and listen and comfort the kids who had depression. We’re talking about suicide, body issues, pressures from home, from academics. … So many beautiful families.”

Said Sell: “It was a special relationship we had with Sam. He was totally connected to our program. He and I spoke (after I hired him). He said, ‘When I leave here, I want you to think you made a great hire.’ He was a legendary coach here.”

While Manu may be done with coaching for now, he certainly won’t be idle. In addition to his pastor duties, Manu said he is partnering with a former player of his, Paul Su, to open a boba tea shop in San Mateo.

“I have a new passion,” said Manu, who plans to name the new venture “Blessed Boba.”

“[Su] and I have a passion for boba. … We’re looking to launch right now. We’re trying to extend the values of faith and bring community to a new venue.”