Ken Niumatalolo was hired as the football coach at San Jose State, the school announced Sunday night, a little more than a year after he was dismissed at Navy, where he is the winningest coach in program history.
“We are thrilled that Coach Niumatalolo has accepted the opportunity to lead our football program,” San Jose State Athletic Director Jeff Konya said in a statement. “He is a proven winner and brought the Naval Academy to unprecedented heights.”
Niumatalolo’s 10 victories in the Army-Navy Game are the most in series history. His six bowl triumphs, including three in a row from 2013 to 2015, are a Navy record.
But following three straight losing seasons, Niumatalolo’s tenure at Navy ended when Athletic Director Chet Gladchuk informed him in December 2022 that he would be making a change. That conversation unfolded in the immediate aftermath of a heartbreaking loss to Army in double overtime.
“Throughout his career, Coach Niumatalolo has led with integrity and a commitment to inspiring student-athletes to be successful on and off the field,” San Jose State President Cynthia Teniente-Matson said in a statement. “We are confident Coach Niumatalolo will continue to build a strong Spartan football program focused on student success and making a positive impact in our community.”
Niumatalolo replaces Brent Brennan, who left San Jose State after seven seasons to take over at Arizona. The Spartans, members of the Mountain West Conference, went 7-6 this past season and lost to Coastal Carolina in the Hawaii Bowl.
In an interview with The Washington Post in August, Niumatalolo expressed interest in getting back into coaching, adding that he had made peace with the circumstances surrounding his exit from Navy and that he was eager to learn from UCLA Coach Chip Kelly.
“I don’t have anything to prove to anybody,” he said then. “I came to help and learn, whatever Chip wants me to do, be with my son [a graduate assistant at UCLA], which has been awesome. I don’t know how long this will go. Chip and I have talked. I want to make one more run at it, and I feel like coming here has helped me from that perspective.”