Longtime Navy head football coach Ken Niumatalolo is preparing to take on new challenges he didn’t face during his tenure in Annapolis as starts a new journey at San Jose State.
Niumatalolo, 58, coached the Midshipmen from 2007-2022, accumulating 10 wins against Army, six Commander-in-Chief’s Trophies and the most wins in program history, with an overall record of 109-83.
After being let go from his position at the end of the 2022 season, Niumatalolo found a new job with UCLA as the program’s director of leadership in 2023 and was set to be the team’s tight ends coach in 2024 had he remained on staff.
“I think I took some time [after leaving Navy] just to kind of figure some things out, and then I thought I still want to stay involved — but I wasn’t exactly sure what capacity,” Niumatalolo said on Glenn Clark Radio on Feb. 8. “… I thought it was awesome. Being there through all of spring ball, being there through the season, it was different. Being in the back of the room and just watching Chip [Kelly] operate and being in staff meetings and just keeping my mouth quiet and observing and learning from him, it was a great learning experience.”
But after the season, Niumatalolo knew he wanted to be a head coach again. That led him to take the head coaching position at San Jose State in late January after former Spartans head coach Brent Brennan was hired to take over the same position at Arizona.
“I think during the course of the year, I recognized I wanted to get back in it. I wanted to get back in it. I was grateful to go there because I felt like I was learning things that I wasn’t exposed to at Navy as far as the portal and NIL,” Niumatalolo said. “… I knew once the season started, I wanted the opportunity to be a head coach, but I also wasn’t going to just jump to anything. I wanted to make sure it was also the right fit for me and my family.”
Niumatalolo found that opportunity at San Jose State, a place that not only allows him to stay as close as possible to family but also build off of a solid foundation. The Spartans went 7-6 in 2023 after ending the season on a seven-game winning streak. They finished second in the Mountain West Conference behind UNLV with a league record of 6-3.
Niumatalolo realizes his style of play at San Jose State will be different than at Navy, where he ran the triple option. He plans to create a system that fits the Spartans rather than carry over the system he ran for so many years with the Mids.
As he tries to build a productive system for San Jose State, Niumatalolo realizes he also faces a new series of challenges in recruiting. While NIL and immediate eligibility out the transfer portal have been part of the landscape of college sports for a few years, Niumatalolo has little experience with either because of the uniqueness of Navy’s program.
The coach realizes just how much both things have changed the game.
“It’s still a challenge. And it was like, do I want to get involved with this? Obviously, I’ve got a ton of friends in the profession and we’d always joke about what’s going on with NIL, in the portal, and recruiting is different now,” Niumatalolo said. “In years past, it was so important to build relationships. Our best recruiters are our best guys at building relationships. That’s all recruiting was. You build trust and you build relationships. But now in recruiting, that’s not really the case. It’s more what are people offering?”
Niumatalolo believes the best way to succeed in the face of these new challenges it to remain the man and coach he has always been. He can do so by following the simple and good-natured strategies he’s always followed throughout his life.
“Leadership still matters. People are people. Relationships are relationships. If you treat people bad, that comes back to you. You treat people good, the same thing is reciprocated. So, I think it was reinforced to me, being at UCLA, that we’re still human beings,” Niumatalolo said. “As you lead people like that … they sense the genuineness that that you’re really concerned about them, that there’s no ulterior motives, you’re just trying to help them become better husbands and fathers. I didn’t change my mantra. I didn’t change the good things and I felt like there was an impact, even at UCLA.”
For more from Niumatalolo, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Courtesy of San Jose State Athletics