By Andrew Hartley(@andrewhart1ey) – Spear Reporter
After five days of careful consideration, SJSU finally found its next head coach down south in UCLA’s facilities. The program made it clear that they were looking for candidates with head coaching experience, and they found it.
Ken Niumatalolo, the most successful and longest tenured head coach in Navy history, was announced the next leader of the football program according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
Reports believe it’s a five-year contract that extends through the 2028 season.
Niumatalolo, 58, went 109-83 in his 15 years with the Midshipmen, leading them to 11 bowl games. A trend Spartan fans would like to continue after seeing three bowls in the previous four years. He took this past year to learn under Chip Kelly as the director of leadership for the Bruins.
“He’s revered in the coaching profession,” Kelly told The Washington Post. “How much he truly cares about helping people grow, it’s evident from the first time you have a conversation with him.”
This all comes after Tuesday when the coaching carousel hit SJSU with Brent Brennan announcing his departure to take the job at Arizona. After Nick Saban unexpectedly announced his retirement, the universities of Washington and Arizona lost their head coaches. Ultimately resulting in Brennan’s exit.
Under Brennan, SJSU had a 34-48 record but that doesn’t account for the rebuild he underwent. Now that he departs, he leaves a new state-of-the-art athletics facility and a 2020 Mountain West championship.
Thamel also reports that SJSU will not run the famed triple option during his time. Niumatalolo will be targeting, “an offensive coordinator for some type of wide-open and pass-heavy system,” Thamel reports. Quite the difference after having a running back like Kairee Robinson this past year.
One of the greatest advantages of Niumatalolo is his understanding of recruiting without NIL presence. The government considers all Navy players as employees, meaning they cannot receive outside financial compensation. Now after learning under Kelly for a year and his current understanding of the recruiting landscape, a bright future could blossom.
“He (Kelly) knows how he wants to handle the transfer portal and NIL. I’m learning how people handle that,” Niumatalolo told The Athletic.
Niumatalolo also became the first head coach of Samoan ethnicity at the professional or collegiate level when the Midshipmen first hired him.
Now it’s about the waiting game. Which position coaches will follow Brennan or will Niumatalolo bring in? All players have 30 days to enter their name into the transfer portal so they’ll await those decisions.
But for now, a big name lands in San Jose.