Provo • Ken Niumatalolo stood on the sidelines of the BYU practice field Thursday, watching a team some thought he was meant to coach.
Not Niumatalolo, though.
Back in 2015, when the Cougars were looking to replace Bronco Mendenhall, the then-Navy coach Niumatalolo emerged as a top candidate. He interviewed for the job on campus. ESPN reported he was offered the position at one point, but declined. Ultimately, BYU landed on current head coach Kalani Sitake and Niumatalolo stayed in Annapolis.
Eight years later, and just a few months removed from being fired by Navy, Niumatalolo says he believes everything worked out as it should have.
“It has worked out great,” he said Thursday. “Obviously the head coach now [Sitake] needs to be the head coach. He is a phenomenal head coach.”
Niumatalolo, in Provo this week to headline BYU’s annual clinic for local high school coaches, declined to say whether he was ever offered the Cougars’ head job. He did acknowledge he got deep into discussions with athletic director Tom Holmoe, and also confirmed he visited Provo for an in-person interview.
“I’ll just say I was deeply interested in the job,” he said. “... I mean, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t interested in the job. But I also had a great job too. I came to [Provo] to take a look at it. I was grateful they interviewed me. But in the long run it ended up right. [Sitake] needs to be the head coach here.”
Niumatalolo spent the last eight years at Navy. He was fired in December after three-straight losing seasons, but remains the program’s all-time leader in wins.
When he was let go, some speculated whether BYU would have any interest in bringing him on staff in some capacity. He is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and has roots close to Orem. One of his sons, Va’a, played football at BYU. He also has a close relationship with Sitake.
But after Niumatalolo watched one of BYU’s spring practices, he tempered those expectations. He would like to get back into coaching, he said, but it won’t be at BYU.
The Cougars did have an open defensive coordinator position open this December, but has since filled it with former Weber State head coach Jay Hill.
“No, I am here to support Kalani and his program,” he said when asked if BYU was a possibility. “Obviously I have a great amount of respect for Kalani and what he has done. He has done an awesome job here, so I am just here to watch.”
Niumatalolo indicated he intends to accept a coaching position at a different program quickly. He interviewed for several jobs already and is mulling over different options now, he said. He also interviewed for a handful of television opportunities, but did not hear back.
“I had a couple [coaching] opportunities, and I am looking at a couple now,” Niumatalolo said. “That should materialize real quickly here. I am going to stay in the game.”
One of the main questions around Niumatalolo’s candidacy for other jobs is whether he can coach in different systems other than the triple-option. Almost all of his coaching experience has come at Navy, dating back to when he started as the running backs coach there in 1995. He had a brief two-year stint at UNLV coaching tight ends, and was a graduate assistant at Hawaii. Other than that, his 32 years coaching have all been with the triple option.
Niumatalolo understood the perception, but didn’t agree with it.
“We did that by necessity,” Niumatalolo said. “We weren’t as big as everybody. We can’t match up. We can’t run conventional stuff. But you know football is football,”
For now, Niumatalo is still living in Annapolis and starting the process of moving. Currently, he views himself as only a soundboard for Sitake and not a potential assistant. And he is at peace with that.
“The coaching world, the head coaching world, is a small circle. There are only so many people who understand the decisions of a head coach,” he said. “Our discussions are usually deep discussions. We are both from [Hawaii]. We are both of Polynesian descent. We have also both been Division I head football coaches. It is a tough job. Everybody sees the glitz. But they don’t see the tough decisions you have to make. Those are the tough decisions he and I [talk about]. I’ve learned a lot in our discussions. Our discussions are usually talks for head coaches. There are things that only a person in that position can understand.”
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