Iris McGuire takes full-time helm of BIIF after interim role

Iris McGuire’s full-time promotion at the Big Island Interscholastic Federation puts a longtime Keaau athletics leader in charge of one of the county’s most important youth institutions. Her first full year at the helm will test how BIIF handles the practical pressures that shape student sports on Hawaii Island, from travel and scheduling to access and opportunity.

McGuire was officially named executive director in February after serving as interim director when longtime BIIF leader Lyle Crozier retired in November 2025 following 40 years in Big Island high school sports. The transition marked a significant handoff for a league that connects 26 participating schools across the island and operates out of 75 Aupuni St., Room 203, in Hilo.

Her job reaches far beyond filling out brackets. BIIF says the executive director oversees games and activities, monitors league income and expenses, keeps eligibility and participation records, manages officials, maintains bylaws and stays in constant contact with schools from Puna to Kona to Kohala. That makes the post central to how fairly and efficiently student-athletes move through a school year already shaped by long drives, weather delays and uneven local resources.

McGuire brings deep campus experience to the role. The Hawaii State Department of Education says she became an athletics director in 2004, earned her CMAA certification in 2011 and has spent 20 years at Keaau High School. Keaau’s athletics page still lists her as athletic director, with Lori Mae Kuoha as assistant athletic director, underscoring how closely her BIIF work is tied to the school-level realities that coaches and families deal with every day.

This year also brought notable changes across the league. The Hawaii High School Athletic Association announced in July 2025 that surfing would become an interscholastic state championship sport beginning with the Spring 2026 season. HHSAA later said all five leagues would field boys’ and girls’ surfing teams, and that at least three leagues would recognize shortboard, longboard and bodyboarding disciplines. The first state championship was scheduled for May 1 and 2 at Hookipa Beach Park on Maui, with Kahului Harbor as the backup site.

For McGuire, that expansion reflects the wider stakes of the job. Big Island athletics is not just about trophies and standings. It determines whether students in far-flung communities get the same chances as those closer to the island’s population centers, and whether BIIF can keep building programs that make room for more athletes.