Ken Niumatalolo

Ken Niumatalolo
Niumatalolo at a White House Rose Garden ceremony, April 2008
Sport(s)	Football
Current position
Title	Head coach
Team	Navy
Conference	FBS Independent
Record	49–30 (.620)
Biographical details
Born	(1965-05-08) May 8, 1965 Laie, Hawaii
Playing career
1987–1989	Hawaii
Position(s)	Quarterback
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1990–1992 1992–1994 1995–1996 1997–1998 1999–2001 2002–2007 2007–present	Hawaii (GA) Hawaii (assistant) Navy (assistant) Navy (OC) UNLV (assistant) Navy (OC) Navy
Head coaching record
Overall	49–30 (.620)
Bowls	2–4
Statistics College Football Data Warehouse

Kenneth Va'a Niumatalolo (born May 8, 1965) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head football coach at the United States Naval Academy, a position he has held since the 2007 season. Niumatalolo played college football at the University of Hawaiʻi. As a quarterback he led the then-Rainbows to their first postseason bowl game in 1989.^[1] Niumatalolo is the second person of Polynesian descent to be named head coach of a NCAA Division I FBS college football program and the first Samoan collegiate head coach on any level.^[2]

Before coaching

Ken Niumatalolo is the son of parents who were both born in American Samoa, Simi and Lamala Niumatalolo. Ken's father, Simi, retired from the U.S. Coast Guard. ^[3]

Ken was a star in both football and basketball at Radford High School in Honolulu, graduating in 1983. He went on to play at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, eventually becoming the Rainbows (now the Rainbow Warriors) starting quarterback after serving a two-year religious mission to Spanish-speaking people of the Ventura, California area.^[4] During his time with the Rainbows, he ran an option-oriented offense under the direction of Paul Johnson, who was then the offensive coordinator.^[5]

Coaching

Hawaii

Niumatalolo stayed on at Hawaii after his graduation, taking a position as a graduate assistant under Johnson. By 1992, he had been elevated to a full-time assistant position.^[2]

Navy

When Johnson left Hawaii to become the offensive coordinator at Navy in 1995, he took Niumatalolo with him as his running backs coach. The following season, Niumatalolo was elevated to offensive coordinator after Johnson left to take the head coaching job at Georgia Southern. Notably, while offensive coordinator at Navy, he tutored quarterback Chris McCoy, who set a Division I-A record in 1997 for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback with 20,^[6] a record that was broken in 2007 by Florida's Tim Tebow. On December 12, 2009 at the annual Army-Navy football game, Navy quarterback Ricky Dobbs reclaimed the record with 24 touchdowns in the 2009 season.

UNLV

In 1999, Niumatalolo left Annapolis to become an assistant at UNLV. While there, he called the plays and also worked with the kickoff return unit.^[6]

Back in Annapolis

Assistant Coach

Niumatalolo returned to Navy in 2002 when he was hired by Johnson, who had just taken over the head coaching job at Annapolis, as his offensive line coach.^[6] Niumatalolo's work helped Navy establish a rushing attack that led NCAA Division I-A/FBS in yards per game in four of his first five seasons since he returned to Annapolis, including an unprecedented three consecutive seasons leading the nation in that category (2004 through 2006).

In 2008, Navy averaged 292.4 yards per game on the ground, leading the nation for the fourth straight year in the category.^[7]

This rushing game helped Navy football reach a level of success it had not seen in decades. Navy went 45–29 under Johnson^[7] and appeared in a bowl game every year from 2003 through Johnson's last season in Annapolis in 2007. The Mids also won the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy, the annual football trophy contested by Navy, Army and Air Force, from 2003 through 2007. The 2006 first-class midshipmen (seniors, Class of 2007) went 8–0 against the other academies during their careers at Navy. The Class of 2009 repeated this achievement during the 2008 season with the seventh straight victory over Army and the sixth straight victory over Air Force. Under Johnson, Navy also ended the Mids' long losing streak against Notre Dame in 2007 with a 46–44 triple-overtime win.

Head Coach

Niumatalolo was promoted to head football coach at the Naval Academy on December 8, 2007 by Naval Academy Director of Athletics Chet Gladchuk after Paul Johnson departed for Georgia Tech.^[1] Niumatalolo is the 38th head football coach in Naval Academy history. On January 7, 2009, Niumatalolo was given a contract extension, although terms and length of the extension were not released.^[8]

With Niumatalolo as Navy's head coach beginning with the 2008 season, the Mids have continued their run of success. Highlights in 2008 included an upset in Winston-Salem over #16 Wake Forest, 24–17, the Mids' first victory over a ranked team in 23 years, and a 34–0 shutout victory of Army.

Highlights of Niumatalolo's years as head coach at Navy include:

• Navy has defeated Army every season in which Niumatalolo has been head coach (six times). The Midshipmen have won 12 straight Army–Navy Games,^[7] the longest winning streak for either side in the rivalry.

• The Midshipmen have captured the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy in 2008, 2009 and 2012. They went on to capture the trophy outright in 2013, with a 34–7 win against Army.

• The Midshipmen have had five winning seasons during Niumatalolo's six years as head coach, playing in five postseason bowl games, with one win (the 2009 Texas Bowl). Navy will play in the Bell Helicopter Armed Service Bowl on December 30, 2013.

• Navy defeated longtime rival Notre Dame in consecutive years, 2009 and 2010, for the first time since the early 1960s.

Personal

Niumatalolo resides in Annapolis with his wife, Barbara, daughter, Alexcia, and sons, Va'a and Ali'i. Ken's mother, Lamala, died on Thursday, September 5, 2013.^[9]

Head coaching record

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ken Niumatalolo.

• Navy profile