Ken Niumatalolo

Ken Niumatalolo (born May 8, 1965) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head football coach at the United States Naval Academy, a position he has held since the 2007 season. Niumatalolo played college football at the University of Hawaii. As a quarterback he led the then-Rainbows to their first postseason bowl game in 1989. Niumatalolo is the second person of Polynesian descent to be named head coach of a NCAA Division I FBS college football program and the first Samoan collegiate head coach on any level.

Before coaching
Niumatalolo was a star in both football and basketball at Radford High School in Honolulu, graduating in 1983. He went on to play at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa, eventually becoming the Rainbows (now the Rainbow Warriors) starting quarterback after serving a two-year religious mission to the Spanish speaking people of the Ventura California area. During his time with the Rainbows, he ran an option-oriented offense under the direction of Paul Johnson, who was then the offensive coordinator.

Hawaii
Niumatalolo stayed on at Hawaii after his graduation, taking a position as a graduate assistant under Johnson. By 1992, he had been elevated to a full-time assistant position.

Navy
When Johnson left Hawaii to become the offensive coordinator at Navy in 1995, he took Niumatalolo with him as his running backs coach. The following season, Niumatalolo was elevated to offensive coordinator after Johnson left to take the head coaching job at Georgia Southern. Notably, while offensive coordinator at Navy, he tutored quarterback Chris McCoy, who set a Division I-A record in 1997 for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback with 20, a record that was broken in 2007 by Florida's Tim Tebow. On December 12, 2009 at the annual Army-Navy football game, Navy quarterback Ricky Dobbs reclaimed the record with 24 touchdowns in the 2009 season.

UNLV
In 1999, Niumatalolo left Annapolis to become an assistant at UNLV. While there, he called the plays and also worked with the kickoff return unit.

Back in Annapolis
Niumatalolo returned to Navy in 2002 when he was hired by Johnson, who had just taken over the head coaching job at Annapolis, as his offensive line coach. Niumatalolo's work helped Navy establish a rushing attack that led NCAA Division I-A/FBS in yards per game in four of his first five seasons since he returned to Annapolis, including an unprecedented three consecutive seasons leading the nation in that category (2004 through 2006). In 2008, Navy averaged 292.4 yards per game on the ground, leading the nation for the fourth straight year in the category. This rushing game has helped Navy football reach a level of success it had not seen in decades:
 * Navy went 45-29 under Johnson, including 43-19 since 2003.
 * The Midshipmen began a streak of bowl game appearances in 2003 that continued until the failure of the 2011-12 season.
 * In 2004, the Midshipmen had their first 10-win season in nearly a century.
 * They won the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy, the annual football trophy contested by Navy, Army, and Air Force, from 2003 until 2009. The 2006 first-class midshipmen (seniors, Class of 2007) went 8–0 against the other academies during their careers at Navy. The Class of 2009 repeated this achievement during the 2008 season with the 7th straight victory over Army and the 6th straight victory over Air Force.
 * Perhaps most important to Annapolis graduates, the Midshipmen have won eleven straight Army–Navy Games for the first time ever. This also is the longest winning streak for either side in the rivalry.
 * Highlights in 2008 included an upset in Winston-Salem over #16 Wake Forest, 24-17, the Mids' first victory over a ranked team in 23 years, and a 34-0 shutout victory of Army.

Niumatalolo was promoted to head football coach at the Naval Academy on December 8, 2007 by Naval Academy Director of Athletics Chet Gladchuk after Paul Johnson departed for Georgia Tech. Niumatalolo, is the 38th head football coach in Naval Academy history. On January 7, 2009, Niumatalolo was given a contract extension, although terms of the contract, or the length of the extension, were not released. He is also the highest paid federal employee.

Niumatalolo resides in Annapolis with his family which consists of his wife, Barbara, daughter, Alexcia, and sons, Va'a and Ali'i.