UCLA has hired former Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo as its director of leadership, the program announced Friday.
In the role, Niumatalolo will serve as "an advisor to UCLA football's staff and student-athletes."
The move takes the Hawaii native close(r) to home after two straight decades at Navy, the last 16 seasons as head coach. Niuamatalolo left the Naval Academy in December as the Midshipmen's all-time winningest coach, going 109-83 with 11 bowl appearances. Niumatalolo led Navy to seven Commander-in-Chief's Trophy titles and an 11-5 record versus Army, including a victory in his first nine Army-Navy games.
Prior to his 16-year head coaching stint, Niumatalolo spent six seasons as Navy's assistant head coach and offensive line coach.
Far more important than his on-field exploits, Niumatalolo was relentless in developing his players off the field. His management style will mesh well with Chip Kelly's.
"I go to conventions all the time and I hear all these coaches talk about some of the regrets they've had in their careers, and these are all great coaches that have accomplished a lot of great things, and a lot of them mention, "I wish I'd spent more time with my family." I don't want that regret. I'd rather at the end of the day look yourself in the mirror and be like, "You know what? I was able to be a father and a husband." And I want my coaches to have that same opportunity. To me, family time is very important. I've always taken this approach: if it takes you 24 hours to watch tape and you've been in the film room all day, how are your kids going to figure it out in a 45 minute meeting? You've just got to make sure it's not that complicated, try to keep things simple," he told FootballScoop in an interview.
Niumatalolo played quarterback at Hawaii from 1987-89 and started coaching as a GA at his alma mater from 1990 through '94. He also spent 1999-01 at UNLV in between stints at Navy.
Niumatalolo considered the idea of taking head coaching jobs on the West Coast (he went deep in the process with BYU and Arizona) but ultimately remained at Navy. Now he'll be able to transition to the next phase of his career at a spot closer to home.
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