{"id":313035,"date":"2026-05-13T03:32:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T03:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/313035\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T03:32:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T03:32:08","slug":"timeout-with-san-jose-states-coach-ken-niumatalolo-deseret-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/313035\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Timeout’ with San Jose State’s coach Ken Niumatalolo \u2013 Deseret News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Veteran Latter-day Saint Ken Niumatalolo draws upon faith and experience to prepare his team.After a long coaching tenure at Navy, Niumatalolo is preparing for his third season at San Jose State University.The former Annapolis stake president is now a Latter-day Saint bishop in San Jose, California.<\/p>\n

Ken Niumatalolo\u2019s<\/a> path to coaching success took a gridiron-length leap forward the moment he arrived in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1995.<\/p>\n

For Latter-day Saint college football fans, it\u2019s a familiar story:<\/p>\n

The Hawaii native has just landed his first football job on the mainland \u2014 coaching the running backs at the Naval Academy. Two years later, he was the Midshipmen\u2019s offensive coordinator. By 2008, he was Navy\u2019s head coach.<\/p>\n

Niumatalolo then spent 15 seasons directing the Navy program, becoming the service academy\u2019s all-time coaching wins leader, appearing in 10 bowl games, hobnobbing with President Barack Obama at the White House and \u2014 perhaps most importantly \u2014 beating Army 10 times.<\/p>\n

But when he considers his Navy years today, he believes his Annapolis arrival more than three decades ago was not primarily about coaching.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought that I was going there because of football,\u201d he told the Deseret News. \u201cBut looking back now, I know it was for my family and our spiritual goals \u2014 but I was also there to do the Lord\u2019s work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, Niumatalolo was guiding one of the nation\u2019s most storied football programs \u2014 the sort of job that gets you a guest seat each season on ESPN\u2019s \u201cCollege GameDay\u201d prior to Army-Navy.<\/p>\n

\"\"San Jose State hired head football coach Ken Niumatalolo to lead the Spartans in 2024 following his highly successful coaching tenure at the U.S. Naval Academy. Niumatalolo has also served as a local Latter-day Saint leader in both Annapolis and San Jose. | San Jose State University <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the coaching part is the way I made a living there,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I also recognize that the Lord put me in some positions, from a football standpoint, to use that influence to help open some of the doors in the Lord\u2019s kingdom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Niumatalolo and his wife, Barbara, were heavily involved in the Washington D.C. Temple open house in 2022. And he introduced countless folks in the Mid-Atlantic region to Latter-day Saint beliefs, participating in community functions and interfaith efforts \u2014 while also appearing in a featured role in the 2014 documentary \u201cMeet the Mormons.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the coach was also a spiritual shepherd in Annapolis \u2014 making Latter-day Saint history in 2019 when he became the first Division I head football coach to simultaneously serve as a stake president.<\/a><\/p>\n

Now 61 and a grandfather of six, Niumatalolo is a few years removed from the Naval Academy. He\u2019s swapped the East Coast for the West Coast. But he still leads a college football program \u2014 San Jose State University.<\/p>\n

And, yes, the coach still shepherds.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s now \u201cBishop Niumatalolo\u201d of the Rose Garden Ward, San Jose South Stake.<\/p>\n

Commanding \u2018Spartan Nation\u2019\"SanSan Jose State head coach Ken Niumatalolo addresses his team in the locker room after the Spartans defeated Sacramento State, 42-24, at CEFCU Stadium on August 29, 2024, in San Jose, California. | San Jose State Athletics <\/p>\n

Niumatalolo\u2019s historically successful tenure at Navy ended in 2022 as it does for many college football coaches \u2014 with a pink slip.<\/p>\n

He wasn\u2019t unemployed for long. UCLA\u2019s Chip Kelly hired him in 2023 as the Bruins\u2019 director of leadership and, a year later, as the tight ends coach. <\/p>\n

In 2024, Niumatalolo accepted the head coaching job at SJSU.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s \u201crich-get-richer\u201d college football world, the Spartans have to leap tall hurdles to seize success. <\/p>\n

A member of a Group of Five conference \u2014 the Mountain West \u2014 SJSU simply can\u2019t offer recruits and rostered players the payoffs available to Power Four athletes. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the NCAA\u2019s laissez-faire transfer portal means that this year\u2019s Group of Five star athlete is likely going to be donning another team\u2019s helmet next season. <\/p>\n

Every Spartan player who made a 2025 all-conference team, and had college eligibility remaining, has transferred to a Power Four program \u2014 including new University of Utah wide receiver Kyri Shoels.<\/p>\n

But Niumatalolo\u2019s Navy experience makes him well-equipped to manage competitive disadvantages. <\/p>\n

Service academy football programs, of course, have always been a tough sell for top-flight high school athletes with little interest in a military career. And while today\u2019s underclassmen at, say Army or Navy, can transfer out of the academies, the academies have no access to athletes in the transfer portal. It\u2019s not allowed.<\/p>\n

So each Saturday at Navy, Niumatalolo knew his guys were lining up against football players who were bigger, faster and stronger.<\/p>\n

But his Mids still beat seven ranked teams during his tenure in Annapolis \u2014 including three victories over Notre Dame.<\/p>\n

Now at SJSU, Niumatalolo acknowledges the challenges defining college football in 2026. But, he\u2019s quick to add, \u201cCoaching is coaching.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of that changes. You\u2019re still trying to develop people. You\u2019re trying to bring a team together and get everybody working on a common goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Niumatalolo\u2019s first year at SJSU ended with a bowl game. Last year, the Spartans struggled. <\/p>\n

The coach is learning to spot the \u201cright guys\u201d to wear his team\u2019s blue-and-gold. <\/p>\n

Recruiting today\u2019s college athletes to San Jose, he said, is a bit like shopping. Don\u2019t bother wasting time in high-end \u201cstores\u201d shopping for multistar players. That\u2019s for the deep-pocketed programs.<\/p>\n

But quality, he insisted, is still plentiful at the affordable stores. And Niumatalolo\u2019s certain he found some bargains going into the fast-approaching 2026 football season.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur \u2018sell\u2019 (to recruits and transfers) is our family environment,\u201d said Niumatalolo. \u201cYou get a great education. And you\u2019re in Silicon Valley \u2014 so you\u2019ll find job opportunities when you finish playing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coach Niumatalolo x 3<\/p>\n

College football fans have fun diagramming \u201ccoaching trees\u201d of influential coaches such as Nick Saban, LaVell Edwards or Urban Meyer.<\/p>\n

Niumatalolo has cultivated a family coaching tree. <\/p>\n

Both of his sons are on the coaching staff at Division 1 programs. Oldest son Va\u2019a (a former BYU player) is the assistant linebackers coach at Navy<\/a>. Younger son Ali\u2019i now works as Michigan\u2019s assistant tight ends coach under the direction of his former coach at Utah, Kyle Whittingham.<\/p>\n

\u201cI kind of tried to warn them,\u201d said the elder Niumatalolo, laughing, when asked about his offspring pursuing the college coaching ranks.<\/p>\n

Having a familiar last name might help get a young coach through a program\u2019s door \u2014 but if the coach can\u2019t do the job, he won\u2019t last long.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe profession is too hard,\u201d said Niumatalolo. \u201cA (head coach) can\u2019t hire people because of nepotism or favoritism. That\u2019s going to get you fired. It\u2019s based on merit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Niumatalolo relishes watching Va\u2019a and Ali\u2019i build their own respective coaching careers and reputations in a brutally competitive, unforgiving profession.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe call and talk all the time \u2014 but I\u2019ve got my own issues to deal with here. I just check on them and see how they\u2019re doing. I\u2019m proud of both of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Niumatalolo fires quick \u201chang-in-there\u201d texts to his sons if one of their teams has a bad Saturday. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut to be honest, they were counseling me a lot last year,\u201d he said. \u201cThey would both tell me, \u2018Hang in there, Dad. We know you can do it. You\u2019ll get the next one.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Outlasting game results: Faith and covenants<\/p>\n

The rising generation of Niumatalolo pigskin coaches know well the ups-and-downs of college football seasons. You can be the hottest coach in the game \u2014 and a year later, on the hot seat.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just finished learning about Joseph in Egypt in the \u2018Come Follow Me\u2019 gospel study program \u2014 and (college football\u2019s) kind of like that,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve had some years of prosperity. We\u2019ve had some years of famine.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Va\u2019a, Ali\u2019i and daughter Alexcia watched their father during the good years and the lean ones.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think the greatest lesson, hopefully, that I left with them is that my faith in the gospel has not wavered one bit,\u201d said Niumatalolo. <\/p>\n

\u201cEven through our down years at Navy, or during our down year here, I have never questioned the Lord or my covenants,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy wife and I, who\u2019s phenomenal, just stay strong to our covenants. We keep serving wherever the Lord calls us. We keep doing what we\u2019re supposed to do. And we don\u2019t let our temporal circumstances affect us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Forgive the analogy, but life can be a bit like a 60-minute football game. There are touchdowns, penalties and injuries. Wins and losses.<\/p>\n

And to be clear, Ken Niumatalolo hates losing.<\/p>\n

Prior to the 2020 Navy-BYU game, a reporter was working on a story about the uniqueness of a college football contest featuring, on opposite sidelines, two Latter-day Saint head coaches of Polynesian descent \u2014 Niumatalolo and BYU\u2019s Kalani Sitake.<\/p>\n

One of Niumatalolo\u2019s oldest friends, BYU football relations director Jack Damuni, busted into laughter sharing the memory of playing against young Ken Niumatalolo\u2019s ward in a church basketball game in Hawaii. <\/p>\n

Damuni\u2019s ward won the game \u2014 and Niumatalolo was apparently very, very unhappy. The two pals soon put the game behind them, but Damuni hasn\u2019t forgotten his friend\u2019s competitiveness.<\/p>\n

Niumatalolo has now spent almost four decades in the college football coaching business. He\u2019s celebrated wins and endured losses.<\/p>\n

But the coach\/bishop\u2019s eternal perspective still allows him to approach each season, game and huddle with assurance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tough when hard things in life happen,\u201d he said. \u201cTrials come \u2014 but those are the times when you cling to your covenants harder. That\u2019s not when you push the Lord aside. That\u2019s when you get closer to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that my kids have seen that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Veteran Latter-day Saint Ken Niumatalolo draws upon faith and experience to prepare his team.After a long coaching tenure…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":313036,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[11548,8378,88,90,89],"class_list":["post-313035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-news-division","tag-news-feed-local","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=313035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}