Former Kailua High School football coach Darren Johnson has been hired to take over the varsity program at Kaimuki, Bulldogs athletic director Fred Lee said last night.

Johnson, who compiled a record of 58-29-1 in eight seasons at Kailua and guided the Surfriders to O'ahu Interscholastic Association championship games in 1999, 2001, 2002 and 2003, resigned in 2004 and later served as an assistant at Kahuku.

Johnson replaces Daniel Mafua, who resigned after three seasons, including an OIA White Conference runner-up finish in 2006. Lee said Mafua wants to watch his daughter, Danielle, play volleyball for the University of Hawai'i this fall and also spend more time with his adolescent son.

Lee said Johnson was the unanimous choice of Kaimuki's five-person selection committee, coming out ahead of four other candidates. Johnson resigned from Kailua after being cleared of any wrongdoing following a 10-day investigation into formal complaints by assistant coaches to the school.

"It was his call (to resign)," Kailua athletic director Mel Imai said at the time.

Lee said he did his own background checks on Johnson and found nothing wrong.

"I was coaching against him (from 1996 to 1998), and we always got along," said Lee, who was Kaimuki's head coach during those years. "I never had a problem with him."