The Juanita High School (JHS) football program had a tumultuous season last fall. A criminal investigation involving C-Team players rocked the program, coaching staff and the school administration. Despite the off-field distractions, the team still made the playoffs. The instability for the Rebels continued when head coach Shaun Tarantola resigned earlier this year.

However, instead of going outside the program to find a new leader, JHS Principal Gary Moed turned to someone who is highly respected in the community – defensive coordinator Lele Te’o.

“I think our strengths have always been our kids,” said Te’o, who is 33. “I want to continue to get our kids involved and invested in their school and community. The community does a great job of supporting our program and I want to keep people excited about the incredible young people who come out of Juanita High.”

In a letter to parents, Moed said that a committee including student and parent representatives selected a small group of candidates from which Moed chose Te’o.

“I interviewed those candidates and have carefully considered the best match for our students, school and community,” Moed wrote. “Te’o has a unique ability to connect to players of all levels.”

Te’o has been an assistant with the Rebels since 2008 and also earned the endorsement of Tarantola.

“He is the right man for the job,” Tarantola said. “I think that some things will be very similar but I also know that Lele will put his own stamp on things, making changes that he feels will better the program.”

Te’o said that he is grateful to have worked with so many great coaches, including Tarantola.

“I think the biggest impact on myself was my freshmen football coach Matt Lemanu,” Te’o said. “He was a young coach from White Center who is a firefighter. He showed me that it was ok to talk about love and football in the same sentence. He cared about us as individuals and not just ball players. He really pushed us to work hard for the things we wanted. I will never forget how much he cared about us and how hard he worked to help us be better.”

He said that Jim Fortner, his head coach at Evergreen High School (EHS) was a big influence as well.

“It’s been awesome to study and learn as well with some great assistant football coaches,” Te’o said. “This experience helps me because I know how important assistants are to the program. I look to continue to build upon what I believe is already a great staff of coaches.”

The respect is mutual as Tarantola recommended his assistant for the position.

“His endorsement means a lot to me because of how much I respect his knowledge of the game,” Te’o said. “I’ve coached with Shaun for the last 10 years. He’s a great friend and our families are really close. I’ve learned a lot from Shaun and really wish him nothing but the best moving forward.”

Te’o is the second assistant coach from the staff to be hired as a head coach in as many years. AJ Parnell became the head coach of Lake Washington High School in 2014.

“AJ is one of my best friends. We talk often. It feels awesome to know that he’s at LW and that we’ve got this awesome Juanita-LW football game every year. I’m fired up for Kirkland,” Te’o said. “It’s a sibling rivalry thing. It’ll be fun to line up against he and Andy Arena and the rest of those Kangs over there.”

Te’o is deeply entrenched in the Kirkland teaching community, working as the athletic director and campus security officer at Kamiakin Middle School in Kirkland. he also worked at Finn Hill Middle School.

“I have been very blessed to work … at Kamiakin,” Te’o said. “We’ve got a great team here … I work really closely with our administration to help ensure a great positive environment for our middle school students.”

Te’o played football at Evergreen High School in White Center. He said that while he had some opportunities to play in college he stayed home to help out his parents with his brothers and sisters.

“I started assisting my younger brothers’ teams at Evergreen out of high school when my work schedule permitted,” said Te’o about the start of his coaching career. “I have always enjoyed watching people succeed.”

Te’o said that this season will be his 15th as a coach and he loves watching kids work through adverse situations and work toward a common goal.

“The majority of kids now are focused on self and what they’ve got going on,” Te’o said. “I love being able to change their thinking and do things that better their team and each other.”