Homecoming or family reunion?

It will be a lot of both when Hawaii plays host to San Jose State in a Mountain West football game today at the Clarence T.C. Ching Complex.

Five SJSU coaches, led by head coach Kenny Niumatalolo, are former UH players. A sixth, O-line coach Ramsen Golpashin, was a graduate assistant for the Rainbow Warriors. There also are five Spartans who are graduates of Hawaii high schools.

The roots are intertwined. Niumatalolo and defensive pass-game coordinator Brian Norwood were standout two-sport players at Radford High.

“My dad coached Kenny and Brian,” UH head coach Timmy Chang said of Levi Chang, who was a basketball coach with the Rams in the 1980s. “They were great athletes. They were two of the best people and coaches. I really respect them.”

Niumatalolo recalled: “He was the JV basketball coach when we won the OIA championship. He was the assistant basketball coach when I was on the varsity. I loved playing for him. I felt his way of coaching and style of basketball fit me. We pressed. We were uptempo and ran. In varsity, we were more methodical and slow paced.”

Don’t miss out on what’s happening!

At Saint Louis School in 1997, Chang was a sophomore quarterback and Craig Stutzmann was a senior slotback. Stutzmann committed to UH, where he became part of the Warriors’ dynamic receiving quartet featuring slotback Channon Harris and wideouts Justin Colbert and Ashley Lelie.

“I did see the joy he had playing for the University of Hawaii when I was a (Saint Louis) junior and senior,” said Chang, noting that was influential in his decision to commit to UH.

Stutzmann grew up in Varsity Circle, just outside UH’s Lower Campus, where the athletic department is located. Also in the area is an apartment once shared by UH linebackers Chris Brown, Pisa Tinoisamoa, Matt Wright and Keani Alapi.

“It was a hangout for everybody,” said Brown, now UH’s associate head coach. “We had a picnic table outside. You carved your name into it. Everybody came by to carve their name.”

There were so many attendees the marked table resembled the Stanley Cup.

“Sometimes we had the team outside the house, sitting around and talking,” Brown recalled. “After practices, that was our hangout. Stutzmann would come over. His little brother (Billy Ray Stutzmann, a future Warrior) would be running around.”

In 2003, Craig Stutzmann was named head coach of Saint Louis’ JV team. He tried to reunite the band, offering coaching jobs to Wright, Jonathan Kauka and La‘anui Correa.

“I wanted to get back into coaching,” Brown said. “Stutz reached out to me. He called me and said he was getting some of the boys together. I was his defensive coordinator.”

The Crusaders won the JV title.

“It was my first time coaching,” Brown said. “We had so much fun. It was the best time ever coaching.”

And now two decades later, it all comes together.

After a long stint at Navy, Niumatalolo was hired as the Spartans’ head coach in 2024. Stutzmann was invited to implement his spread-and-shred offense. Billy Ray Stutzmann was hired as receivers coach. In January, Norwood was hired, and Golpashin was named successor to former UH center/guard John Estes. Luke Weaver, who was 2-0 as a UH starter last year and threw the winning touchdown in the 2025 Hawaii Bowl, is now the Spartans’ starting quarterback.

Niumatalolo used to sell newspaper lineups at Aloha Stadium. Reared in the Mormon Church, Niumatalolo was a quarterback on the UH team that ended BYU’s dominance in the rivalry series in 1989. He owns a home in Manoa. But he has implored his team to push aside the distractions and focus on this key Mountain West game. UH shares that message.

“It’s business at the end of the day,” Brown said of the Warriors’ seeking to rebound from a 1-3 start. “We’re not where we want to be. We’re thinking of going 1-0 this week. We’re starting all over again. Mistakes have been fixed. We’re going to play some Hawaii football.”

Bill Stutzmann — the family patriarch — is caught between two worlds. When his sons were Warriors, the elder Stutzmann and his father-in-law, Ray Onosaki, set up folding chairs on the hill overlooking the grass practice field.

“We lived the greatest life,” he said. “We got to watch our kids practice and play. And we traveled to the road games. It was really fun. It was neat when Billy Ray was young, and would have practice in baseball or football. He’d have six or seven UH football players come watch him. It was really neat.”

Brown said: “Great memories. Uncle Bill’s the man.”

Onosaki died in 2016. Bill Stutzmann’s wife went to watch their sons’ dogs this week. But Bill Stutzmann will attend today’s game.

“I hate to tell you this,” he said, “but I’ll probably be wearing blue.”