Niumatalolo Leaning On Family Culture Ahead of Year Two With San Jose State

By Simon Carroll

With the 2025 College Football season on the horizon, Simon Carroll sits down with San Jose State head coach Ken Niumatalolo to discuss his journey with the Spartans to date and his thoughts on the year ahead:

Change

Perhaps it’s a fitting beginning to a conversation with Ken Niumatalolo; the San Jose State head coach joining me directly from having a meeting regarding the potentially seismic changes that the recent house settlement has bestowed on college football. Change comes with the territory in this sport even for Niumatalolo, who somehow managed to find more than two decades of longevity with the Naval Academy before departing in 2022. Heading into year two with the Spartans, comfort in his new surroundings came pretty quick – as did a winning season:

“I love it here. I love living and working in San Jose. The first couple of months I would probably describe as a little chaotic, with the new roster, the new coaches; you’re at a new university and a new athletic department and you’re trying to learn all the ins and outs of stuff – and of course this after being at a school for 25 years where I knew everything and everybody. So I guess that was the trickiest part of the transition. But I was quite pleased with the first year. We were able to do some good things, went 7-6 and to a bowl game, and I think there were some games we left out there too – there were easily three games we could have won. As a coach it’s natural to focus on the negatives; instead of celebrating the victories you’re always analysing the losses and how you can improve. But overall it’s been a great first year here, and I’m looking forward to year two.”

Those familiar with Niumatalolo’s exploits at Navy will not be surprised to learn of his quick assimilation to life in California. This is a head coach who took the Midshipmen to 11 bowl games in 16 years, a phenomenal achievement for a leader of any service academy’s football team. What has impressed the most, perhaps, was Coach Ken’s willingness and success in embracing an offense radically different from the one he made so famous in Annapolis. A fresh start, Niumatalolo knew what he wanted to implement, and who he needed to help do it:

“Offensively, I knew I wasn’t going to run the triple-option if I was hired by a non-military civilian school. And Coach [Craig] Stutzmann was a guy I had my eye on – because when these job interviews come you have to have everything in place. You can’t get hired and then figure out what you’re going to do offensively and defensively. And so Coach Stutzmann was really someone I wanted to bring on board with me. He’s had a lot of success at a lot of places, and we both played for Hawaii. His ‘run and shoot’ passing game along with the RPO elements he’s added over the years, it was an offensive system I was very interested in. So when he came on board and I had my coordinators set, that was key.”

The Niumatalolo-Stutzmann partnership would ultimately result in San Jose State delivering the best passing offense in the Mountain West in 2024, and one that finished top-five in the nation. That offensive output helped the Spartans to their third winning season in a row – but it relied on having the pieces in place to execute it, and buy-in from the roster in what the new coaching regime was trying to achieve:

“We were able to keep a couple of guys who were thinking of going to Arizona in the portal. One of them was Nick Nash. I said to him ‘hey, just give me a second, let me get our offense in place here before you decide’. And thankfully after talking to Coach Stutzmann he stayed. And after that, it was about establishing our culture. Making sure our guys knew exactly who we are and what we’re about. We were in the middle of recruiting, and it was important to try and make as many committed recruits stay committed as possible. And once we had our roster, it was about letting them know how we were gonna run things and the culture we were gonna have. It took some time – especially with some of the guys who had been here a while and had success in the past. They would ask why we were doing certain things. Some guys made the transition easy, others a little harder. But I could tell as the season went on that any skepticism left, and people adjusted to our culture. And we had success because of it.”

Culture Over Cash

It was only a matter of time before Ken Niumatalolo discussed culture as the platform for success on the football field. It’s something his Navy teams were synonymous with, a tool that helps smaller programs compete with those blessed with far larger resources. This core belief remains at the heart of everything at San Jose State too, including how the program attacks the transfer portal – a recruiting tool that the Naval Academy was unable to use. ‘Different’ was how Niumatalolo described it, although the portal is such a new phenomena that no head coach has much experience trying to navigate it. Similarly, the introduction of NIL has once again changed the college football landscape. Schools such as San Jose State would be forgiven for considering this another way of separating the haves and the have-nots; but Coach Ken has already seen success sticking to his principles:

“The NIL is different. We don’t have a ton of money for NIL, so I think in that situation you kind of gravitate to who you are. The one thing we try to establish here, like we did at Navy, is building a family culture. We want the staff and the coaches to help establish that kind of culture that offers an alternative attraction to NIL revenue. I know that we had a bunch of kids coming from Power 4 schools on official visits – USC, Arizona, Purdue, Utah – and all of them talked about how it felt different here. Some signed, some didn’t, but it tells me we have something to offer everyone. It’s a testament to me that guys from big programs have found a home here, recognizing we’re not an SEC or Big Ten school, we don’t have the NIL riches of other programs. It’s encouraging to see the caliber of football player and caliber of people we were able to bring in.”

Can this approach to recruitment in the NIL era be as successful in the long-term as it is commendable? College Football’s perpetual chase for the next dollar has ultimately made many of us cynics, equating financial might with success. It’s easy to forget that for most of the Group of Five this is a battle they have been fighting longer than they care to remember. The clever ones like Niumatalolo find a way to work this adversity to their advantage:

“We have to have something unique to offer. Everybody wants playing time, so that’s something we like most schools at the D1 level can offer at varying levels. Our University San Jose State typically sells itself on its alumni, many of which have established themselves in Silicon Valley. So being a major player in one of the biggest tech hubs in the world has its appeal. But if a kid comes to visit and his first question is about money or revenue sharing, then we know this isn’t the right school for them. The modest system we have here, it won’t compete with other schools – and what we do have to give will be earned and given out on merit, not used as an incentive to come. But it won’t be the big sums of money you see at some Power 4 schools. So we want to be a place where you can thrive as a student and have fun playing football. So far, we’ve become a home to guys who were at big programs but had lost their love for the game. One of our recent transfers was in the weight room the other day with this big smile on his face. I asked him if he was okay, and he said ‘Coach, I love it here.’ That made me proud and excited, and reinforces what we’re trying to do here – because really it’s the only way we can do it.”

Year 2: Growth

The 2025 iteration of the San Jose State Spartans is going to look a lot different to the one that went 7-6 last year. Attrition on both sides of the ball has been matched like for like with recruitment, and Ken Niumatalolo is feeling optimistic:

“I feel really good. I feel way better today than I did on this day last year. I was still new back then, adjusting, and now I’ve got a much better handle on everything than in those early days. It started at the end of last season; some guys graduated, Nick [Nash] and Justin [Lockhart] headed to the NFL, others hit the portal. So we knew where we needed to rebuild. And I felt really good about the pieces we added before Spring practice, and we carried that recruiting momentum after Spring too. We needed some pieces at receiver, cornerback, defensive end, and we wanted a kicker. And we got ‘em. Everything we wanted to do recruiting wise, we’re confident we achieved, and I’m so excited about our group this year.”

In an offseason of change, one thing remains constant; after establishing himself as the starting quarterback midway through last season, Walker Eget returns for his senior year. Thriving in Craig Stutzmann’s QB-friendly offense, Eget threw for more than 2,500 yards and 13 touchdowns in 2024. According to his head coach, Eget is leaving no stone unturned ahead of a potentially huge season at CEFCU Stadium:

“I think Walker will have as big a jump as any QB in the country. I think he’s gonna shock some people this year. I thought that by the end of last season, and since then he’s worked hard through the January to March workouts to show he’s taken on a lot of the leadership stuff. The player-run practices that coaches can’t be involved in, Walker would take them. All of them. He’s a great kid who’s coming out of his shell more every day. He’s becoming more assertive, not in a dominant or negative fashion but taking a more servient leadership role. And then he had an incredible Spring too. I was encouraged before then, but he knocked Spring practice out of the park. And since then he’s been working on himself, came back after the last month looking leaner and stronger. You can tell he’s taking this opportunity to be a leader of our offense, be a captain of our team, seriously. And he’s doing it in a great humble manner too. Other guys want to be a part of it, and his knowledge of the offense has skyrocketed. This time last year, we didn’t know who our starting QB would be. This year, we have no doubt; Walker has earned it, and he’s ready.”

"When You're In A Conference, Your Goal Should Be To Win It"

The Mountain West is as interesting a conference as any in college football in 2025. Already considered one of the best in the Group of Five, it has attracted some big-name head coaches this offseason in Bronco Mendenhall (Utah State) and Dan Mullen (UNLV) to join the likes of Niumatalolo and others like Troy Calhoun, entering his 29th season at Air Force. Boise State, last year’s GO5 representative in the College Football Playoffs, will still be the team to beat despite losing Ashton Jeanty – but a number of programs will be optimistic for a good season, and San Jose State is rightly one of them. Despite the roster overhaul, the Spartans return 54% of their production from last year, including the aforementioned Eget and running back Floyd Chalk IV, who averaged an impressive 0.3 missed tackles per touch. Defensively, Coach Ken leant heavily on coordinator Derrick Odum’s eight years of experience with the program, and was rewarded with a solid season despite having to rotate through 22 starters. All signs point to a jump on that side of the ball this coming year.

There’s also an uncertain atmosphere in the conference too, with the PAC-12’s recovery coming at a cost to the Mountain West. Five teams are expected to leave the MWC this time next year, raising questions as to the future for the remaining seven; San Jose State is one of them, but in classic head coach fashion Niumatalolo is only focused on the season ahead. Considering how quickly the landscape shifts in College Football these days, it’s probably an astute move. Regardless of how the world turns around them, San Jose State looks to be in a good place both on and off the field, with the recent $70m renovation of the athletic facilities a sign of solidarity. Reducing the stadium capacity to accommodate this may seem a big compromise to some, but it’s just another example of this university thinking differently in order to remain competitive.

Both Niumatalolo and the school that employs him have embraced change – it’s a part of the culture they’ve worked tirelessly to build. Now, less than eighteen months since he was hired by the Spartans, Coach Ken can already see the fruits of their labor. The feel-good factor is high at San Jose State right now, matched only by their ambitions for the season ahead – ambitions which Niumatalolo is unafraid to go on the record with:

“Every team wants to go to a bowl game, and it’s a commendable goal you can have on your docket. But I said this last year and I’ll say it again; when you’re in a conference, your goal should be to win it. And the way the twelve-team bracket is set up, you win a conference as good as the Mountain West and you have a strong opportunity to be in the College Football Playoffs. I said all this when I was hired, and it may sound like some pretty outlandish goals but I don’t think they’re unachievable. Last season we were 14 points up against the team that made it to the playoffs. We should have gone up a third score too, I should have kicked a field goal! But we could and should have won that game. Boise State is a very good football team, but my point is I thought that last year when we were really just figuring things out. This year…   …I like our chances, that’s all I’ll say at this point.”

Mock Draft

SIMON CARROLL

Lead Writer/Head Of Content

PREVIOUSLY THE FOUNDER OF NFL DRAFT UK, SIMON HAS BEEN COVERING COLLEGE FOOTBALL AND THE NFL DRAFT SINCE 2009. BASED IN MANCHESTER, SIMON IS ALSO CO-CREATOR & WEEKLY GUEST OF THE COLLAPSING POCKET PODCAST, AND COVERS THE JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS FOR SB NATION.

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A huge thank you to Coach Ken for taking the time to talk to us. Everyone at The Touchdown wishes him and San Jose State well for the season ahead.