Here's the Bio.
Ken Niumatalolo (born May 8, 1965) is the 38th
head football coach of the
Navy Midshipmen. He 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.
[1] He is also a member of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as
Mormons. Niumatalolo played college football at
Hawaiʻi; as a quarterback he led the then-Rainbows to their first postseason
bowl game in 1989.
[2]
Niumatalolo was a star in both football and
basketball at Radford High School in
Honolulu, graduating in 1983. He went on to play the
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, eventually becoming the Rainbows (now the Warriors) starting quarterback after serving a two-year religious mission. During his time with the Rainbows, he ran an option-oriented offense under the direction of
Paul Johnson, who was then the
offensive coordinator.[3]
Niumatalolo stayed on at Hawai
ʻi after his graduation, taking a position as a graduate assistant under Johnson. By 1992, he had been elevated to a full-time assistant position.
[1]
When Johnson left Hawai
ʻi to become the offensive coordinator at Navy in
1995, he took Niumatalolo with him as his running backs coach.
The following season, he 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,
[4] a record that would be broken in
2007 by
Florida's Heisman Trophy winner
Tim Tebow.
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.
[4]
"Coach Ken" 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.
[4] 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.
[5] This rushing game has helped Navy football reach a level of success it had not seen in decades:
- Navy went 45-29 under Johnson, including 43-19 since 2003.[5]
- The Midshipmen began a streak of bowl game appearances in 2003 that continues today.[6][5]
- In 2004, the Midshipmen had their first 10-win season in nearly a century.[7]
- They have won the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy, the annual football trophy contested by Navy, Army, and Air Force, in each season since 2003. The 2006 first-class midshipmen (seniors, Class of 2007) went 8–0 against the other academies during their careers at Navy.[8] The Class of 2009 repeated this achievement during the 2008 season with the 7th straight victory over Army and the 6th straight victory over Air Force.
- Perhaps most important to Annapolis graduates, the Midshipmen have won seven straight Army–Navy Games for the first time ever.[5] This also is the longest winning streak for either side in the rivalry.
- Highlights in 2008 included a huge upset in Winston-Salem over then #16-ranked Wake Forest, 24-17, which was the Mids' first victory over a ranked team in 23 years, as well their 34-0 shutout victory of Army in the 2008 Army-Navy game.
Longtime Navy assistant head coach Ken Niumatalolo was promoted to head football coach at the Naval Academy on
December 8 by Naval Academy Director of Athletics Chet Gladchuk after
Paul Johnson departed for
Georgia Tech.
[2] Niumatalolo, age 42, is the 38th head football coach in Naval Academy history. On January 7, 2009, Niumatalolo was given a contract extension, although terms of the contract, or the length of the extension, were not released.
[9]
He is the second Polynesian head coach in NCAA Division IA history (
Larry Price, who was the head coach at Hawai'i from 1974-76 was the first) and the first Samoan collegiate head coach on any level.