Help bring Coach Mike Home

Update:

In the early hours of July 7th, 2025, at 2:04am, our beloved Coach Mike passed away at Stanford Hospital in California.

Coach Mike wasn’t just a coach — he was a mentor, a father figure, a community leader, and a true source of strength, wisdom, and heart for everyone who knew him. Whether it was on the field, or simply in everyday life, he poured love into everyone he met. He shaped lives, built character, and taught countless young people what it meant to lead with discipline, humility, and compassion.

His greatest wish was always to return home to Hawaii — to be laid to rest where his roots are, surrounded by the ʻāina he loved and the people who loved him.

We’re asking for your help to honor that wish.

The cost to bring Coach Mike home — including transportation, burial services, and a proper farewell — is significant. These expenses include flying him from California to Hawaii, preparing his body with dignity, and giving him the ceremony he deserves.

This is a heavy burden for our family to carry alone, and we’re reaching out to our extended ‘ohana, friends, former students, teammates, and anyone whose life was touched by Coach Mike.

Every donation, no matter the size, brings us one step closer to fulfilling his final journey home. If you can’t give, please share this message and keep our family in your thoughts and prayers.

Let’s bring Coach Mike home. Let’s honor the legacy of a man who gave his all for everyone else.

Mahalo nui loa for your love, support, and generosity.

In 2007, Coach Mike suffered his first heart attack—followed by additional ones in 2012, 2013, and 2014. These repeated heart attacks have significantly weakened his heart and taken a serious toll on his health, leaving him unable to work and requiring constant care.

Our brother, Michael Virtudes, lovingly known as “Coach Mike,” is a devoted husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and one of eleven siblings. He has spent decades coaching football, basketball, and golf for countless students across various schools and leagues. His deep love for children and passion for working with youth has always been one of his greatest priorities.

On June 13, 2025, Coach Mike collapsed at home due to complications from a change in his medications. He was rushed to Queen’s Medical Center, where he was admitted, treated, and evaluated. There, he received the heartbreaking news: he would need a heart transplant because his heart had become too weak to function on its own.

While hospitalized, he underwent a wide array of tests, medications, and even multiple tooth extractions to prevent potential infections that could harm his heart. This left him unable to eat solid food and placed him on a strict liquid, low-sodium diet, resulting in significant weight loss.

After two weeks in the hospital, on June 24, 2025, Coach Mike and his wife made the painful decision to leave their family in Honolulu, Hawaii, and fly to Stanford Medical Center in California—their best hope for a new heart and a second chance at life.

Since arriving at Stanford, he has undergone further evaluations by the transplant team. Today, on June 30, 2025, doctors performed a 3-in-1 diagnostic procedure, which included a CT scan of the lungs, a colonoscopy, and a liver biopsy. These comprehensive tests will help the medical team determine his eligibility to move forward with the heart transplant process.

We are now awaiting the results of this major testing day and remain hopeful for positive news.

We will continue to post updates as we walk this journey with Coach Mike.

To everyone who knows and loves our brother, Coach Mike, please keep him and his ʻohana in your thoughts and prayers. Prayer is powerful—and right now, we need all the support we can get.

With deep gratitude and heartfelt thanks, we appreciate your love, support, and kindness during this incredibly difficult time.

Mahalo,

Coach Mike’s ʻOhana