San Jose State offensive coordinator Craig Stutzmann was proof that dreams that you dare to dream really do come true.<\/p>\n
In 2021, the Hawaii-reared Stutzmann was a co-offensive coordinator in the Pac-12 \u2014 the legit version \u2014 and the Washington State football team was riding a three-game winning streak.<\/p>\n
\u201cThings were going great,\u201d Stutzmann recalled, \u201cand maybe there were opportunities (for coaching jobs) after that.\u201d<\/p>\n
And then Stutzmann put a pin in the dream.<\/p>\n
At the start of the 2021 season, Washington State athletic director Pat Chun set an Oct. 18 deadline for the coaches to comply with the state\u2019s COVID-19 vaccination mandate.<\/p>\n
Head coach Nick Rolovich and four assistants, including Stutzmann, declined to receive the vaccine. On Oct. 19, all five were fired.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s unfair to say it\u2019s all because of Rolo\u2019s decision,\u201d Stutzmann said of his former Hawaii football teammate. \u201cIt\u2019s not. It really isn\u2019t. Everybody makes their own personal choices. Honestly, we never really discussed that very much because it was a personal thing. Nobody has influence on one another. It was top down, talking about Rolo down. He wasn\u2019t going to pressure anybody, and nobody was going to pressure him. It was everybody\u2019s personal decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
And it was Stutzmann\u2019s decision to remain faithful to his choice not to receive the shot.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody in my inner circle was 100% on board and understood the decision that we\u2019re gonna make,\u201d Stutzmann said. \u201cAs a result, thing happen, and we\u2019re no longer at Washington State.\u201d<\/p>\n
And it appeared at the time, Stutzmann would not be coaching in the NCAA anytime soon.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was hard to find a job,\u201d said Stutzmann, who eventually was hired at Utah Tech in January 2022. \u201cIt was really the only job that was available. And, initially, it wasn\u2019t available. It just worked out. \u2026 Faith in God, and (God) provided.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stutzmann likened his journey to Rocky Balboa\u2019s. Stutzmann grew up in Varsity Circle, just outside of what is now the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletic Complex. He was a standout slotback at UH, made the coaching circuit, circled back as the Warriors\u2019 offensive coordinator, and followed Rolovich to Washington State.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy man (Rocky) is climbing up the ladder,\u201d Stutzmann said. \u201cHe\u2019s getting to where he wants to go. And all of a sudden there\u2019s a setback in Rocky (III). \u2026 And he\u2019s got to go back to the grind.\u201d<\/p>\n
Under the tutelage of a former foe, Rocky trains at Apollo Creed\u2019s no-frills \u201cTough Gym\u201d in Los Angeles, where he regains the \u201ceye of the tiger\u201d and, eventually, the title.<\/p>\n
After a year at Utah Tech and another at Texas State, Stutzmann received an offer from San Jose State head coach Kenny Niumatalolo, a former UH quarterback and coach, to serve as the Spartans\u2019 offensive coordinator.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was almost cinematic,\u201d Stutzmann said of his coaching comeback. \u201cThe things that I went through \u2026 in that profession during that time, it was very similar to, I would say, Rocky.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stutzmann said he was \u201cblessed\u201d to receive the offer from Niumatalolo, who also was making a professional comeback. In December 2023, Navy declined to retain Niumatalolo for a 17th season as head coach. In January 2024, San Jose State hired Niumatalolo, who then asked Stutzmann to implement the spread-and-shred offense.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been nothing but a blessing,\u201d Stutzmann said. \u201cIt\u2019s been fun. My brother (Billy Ray) is here (as receivers coach and pass-game coordinator). My son is here. My wife is here. My parents get a chance to come out. There are a lot of local coaches or people familiar with Hawaii here. A lot of local players. This is what I need. This is where I\u2019m at. And I\u2019m excited to be where my feet are right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
It also will be a homecoming when the Spartans play the Warriors on Saturday at Ching.<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough that adversity,\u201d Stutzmann said. \u201cwas the juice worth it to squeeze? Absolutely. I wouldn\u2019t change it for the world. If I were to go back in time and they said, \u2018Well, if you do this, you\u2019re going to be at Washington State and, after that, maybe you have a chance to be a head coach at a Big Ten (school) or the Big 12,\u2019 I wouldn\u2019t change it.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause where I am in my personal life, and who I\u2019m with, and who I trust, and the things that got drained \u2026 I\u2019m in a way better place where I\u2019m at right now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Jose State offensive coordinator Craig Stutzmann was proof that dreams that you dare to dream really do…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":480733,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[48641,88,90,89,24594],"class_list":["post-480732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-column","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-uh-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480732","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=480732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}