LAS VEGAS — For the first few months of Ken Niumatalolo's tenure at San Jose State, which officially began on Jan. 21, 2024, he and his wife, Barbara, had lived in the student dorms on campus as they looked for a permanent place to live.
Change was still relatively new to Niumatalolo, 60, who was not retained at Navy after the 2022 season. Niumatalolo had spent 20 consecutive seasons in Annapolis, Md., the last 15 as the head coach for the Midshipmen. At 109-83, Niumatalolo exited as the winningest coach in school history and still one of the sport's most respected leaders. UCLA brought Niumatalolo on as the director of leadership for the 2023 season before an opening at San Jose State was created by the departure of Brent Brennan to Arizona.
Niumatalolo, a Lāʻie native, Radford High School alumnus and former University of Hawai‘i quarterback from 1986 to 1989, still frequently visits O‘ahu, and was even seen patrolling the Mililani High School sidelines during a bye week in 2024.
Niumatalolo went 7-6 in his first year, a slate that featured wins over Oregon State and Stanford but a painful double over overtime loss at Washington State and a defeat to South Florida in the Hawai‘i Bowl that went five overtimes. After giving Craig Stutzmann, another University of Hawai‘i alumnus, carte blanche on running his 'Spread-N-Shred' offense, the Spartans enter the year as one of the favorites in the Mountain West, getting picked third in the conference's preseason poll released Wednesday.
"When you hear the news that the old Navy head coach is coming to lead you guys, it's almost like a little fear factor," SJSU quarterback Walker Eget told Aloha State Daily. "But it was the complete opposite. Someone that came with love and care, and we talk about that all the time, and we're a very family-oriented team, and very, very lucky to not only play under him, but he's someone that I very much so look up to, and hopefully can try to be later on in life."
Aloha State Daily caught up with Niumatalolo at Mountain West media days for a Q&A about his second year at San Jose State, having three fellow Hawai‘i alums on his staff in Craig and Billy Ray Stutzmann, as well as offensive line coach John Estes. Niumatalolo also discussed his affinity for his home state and why he visits the Islands as much as possible.
Aloha State Daily: How would you say your first year at San Jose State went after exceeding some expectations and making a bowl game?
Ken Niumatalolo: "I'll start off with the positive. Excited to have gone to a bowl game, excited to have come home, to go to Hawai‘i to play in a bowl game. Obviously, we wish we'd won the ballgame. There's some games we felt like we could have won that we lost, but there's also some games we won that we could have lost. So that's a reality, too. I was excited about some of the things that happened, and I'm excited about Year 2."
ASD: What was the process like of hiring Craig Stutzmann and entrusting him to run your offense?
Niumatalolo: "We played [Hawai‘i when Niumatalolo was at Navy in 2018], and I saw how good he was with [former UH head coach Nick Rolovich]. I knew if I ended up leaving Navy, I wasn't gonna do the option (as a base offense). In my mind, I was starting to prepare for what I was gonna do. But I knew I was looking for a system, not just a rolodex of plays. I wanted a system, just like we had an option system [at Navy]. And I watched his stuff, but I saw how his stuff evolved. I loved his run game that he had, and the combination of his passing game and his run game. I loved what he did. And so I knew if I had an opportunity to be a head coach somewhere else, that was definitely a guy I was going to hire. I hired Billy, his brother, as my one of our assistants at Navy. And my son [Va‘a] also being at Hawai‘i for two years also told me, like, 'That coach Stutzmann is really, really good.'"
ASD: What's something new you learned about Craig Stutzmann after working with him for a year?
Niumatalolo: "I've been doing this a long time. When you coach for 36 years, you meet a lot of people, been around a lot of coaches, seen a lot of different schemes. I really believe Craig is one of the best offensive coordinators in the country. He's an elite football mind. He's a great teacher. He's elite at what he does and calling plays. It's kind of cool to see and be around another local boy from Hawai‘i and to coach with him. But more importantly than that, he's a really, really good football coach, and the thing that I've been excited about him is to see how he's evolved over the years. He's a guy that's played in the run-and-shoot at Saint Louis and under June Jones [at UH], and kind of learned that. But then his stuff has evolved being with [Rolovich], some of the stuff that they evolved during his time in Hawai‘i, some of the stuff that he added on at different places that he's been, being at Utah Tech and being at Texas State, which added on some air raid stuff. But I think the culmination, the combination and the accumulation of all the stuff that he's added to his offense makes me really excited. Because people, some of the time, look at it and just see it as a passing offense. It's a system, and I really like what he does, and I couldn't be more proud and happy that he's my offensive coordinator."
ASD: You coached against Hawai‘i a few times during your stint at Navy. How do you think the experience is going to be for the other UH alums on your staff in John Estes, Craig and Billy Ray Stutzmann on Nov. 1?
Niumatalolo: "All of them have been in the San Jose State University-Hawai‘i game, but all of them were wearing Hawai‘i uniforms. This is their first time on the San Jose State side, but it's gonna be exciting. Timmy [Chang] has done a really good job. I know they'll have a good team, doing a good job in recruiting, and it'll be exciting."
ASD: After 15 years being the head coach at Navy, how was the adjustment being a head coach at a civilian school, where some elements like NIL and redshirts weren't available at Navy?
Niumatalolo: "I think maybe if this has been going on a long time, NIL and the portal, I think I would have been behind. But everybody's figuring it out. Nobody has a market on this. If I had come into the league and everybody's been doing NIL and revenue sharing and transfer portal for 10 years, I would have definitely been behind. But I feel like I wasn't behind. I feel like everybody was asking the same questions. So, I was figuring it out like everybody else. I don't feel like it was as big as an obstacle for me, because it was the same hurdle that everybody else was trying to jump over."
ASD: What has it been like seeing your two sons, Va‘a at Navy and Ali‘i at Utah State, enter the coaching realm? What kind of pointers do you give them?
Niumatalolo: "First of all, I tried to tell them not to get into coaching, go do something else (laughs), but it was in their blood, you know? I mean, those guys have been around the game for so many years. My sons have gone to the horseshoe and Notre Dame and have gone to big time games with me, Army-Navy game, Air Force. We're proud of them. My son Va‘a is still at Navy, doing a great job, working with coach [Brian] Newberry, coach [P.J.] Volker, and learning a ton from that staff. My son Ali‘i is with Bronco [Mendenhall]. Bronco is one of the best coaches in the country, so I feel very happy and proud that he's working for him and learning a lot from him. And so really proud of both of those guys. I know my wife tried to steer them in a different profession, but they didn't listen."
ASD: Because Va‘a is still at Navy and you lived a couple of decades there, how often do you watch them?
Niumatalolo: "I still got a lot of friends there. I'm still communicating with a lot of people. When you're at a place 25 years, you love the place. I mean, love the players, love Annapolis, love the Naval Academy. Still friends with a lot of people, still friends with a lot of people on the staff, a lot of players. The senior class, I recruited those guys. The Naval Academy will always have a place in my heart."
ASD: How often do you spend time back home in Hawai‘i?
Niumatalolo: "I'm going there right after this. I just flew in from Hawai‘i. I go home every July. I got homes in Hawai‘i. I got a place in Mānoa, which, we stay with my daughter, got a place in Lāʻie, where I'm from in the North Shore. I love going home. I have to go home. I have to recharge my batteries. I have to get ready. It's what I've done for 17 years. It's the way I get ready for the season. I wouldn't be ready for the season if I didn't go home."
ASD: The football head coaching job at your alma mater, the University of Hawai‘i, has opened up a handful of times over the course of your career, but particularly while you were at Navy. Would those openings ever appear on your radar?
Niumatalolo: "Yeah, but, you know, I'm happy for the guys who got it, you know what I mean? From Rolo to Timmy, to the guys during our time. I mean, I was just focused on trying to keep my job at the Naval Academy. But I'm happy for the guys there and happy for Timmy. But in this profession, you better not look at other jobs, you gotta make sure you take care of your own."
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Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
