San Jose State has announced their new head coach for the new year.
Despite losing the only coach in team history that won a Mountain West Conference Championship, the San Jose State Spartans are still excited for the upcoming season. On Jan. 21, SJSU announced that Ken Niumatalolo was hired for the vacant head coach position.
“We are thrilled that Coach Niumatalolo has accepted the opportunity to lead our football program,” said SJSU’s Director of Athletics Jeff Konya. “He is a proven winner and brought the Naval Academy to unprecedented heights by winning eight or more games in nine seasons during his tenure.”
During his 20 years at the Naval Academy, Niumatalolo became the most successful coach in the programs history. As an assistant coach, the Midshipmen led the NCAA in rushing yards per game in four out of his first five seasons. As a head coach, Niumatalolo set a program record for wins with 109 while being named a three time American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year.
Big Expectations for the New Coach
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Coach Niumatalolo has some big shoes to fill. Brent Brennan was the first coach in over 25 years to bring a conference championship to San Jose. When the news broke that Coach Brennan took the coaching job at University of Arizona, Assistant Head Coach Alonzo Carter and edge-rusher Tre Smith left with him.
The Spartans are also losing a lot of talent on this offense, including two All-Mountain West First Team players: senior quarterback Chevan Cordeiro and sophomore running back Kairee Robinson. Replacing these two is going to be at the top of Coach Niumatalolo’s to-do list for this offseason.
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3 Comments
Great insights!
Will be interesting to see how they will fare vs FCS powerhouse sac state in the first game of the season with a new coach.
Great info on the new coach!