Ken Niumatalolo
Followed Brent Brennan. Ken Niumatalolo held San José State at Regional Program III for 3 seasons.
In his own words
Our guys fought their resilience, lot of the things that I’ve seen in this team during camp doesn’t surprise me because I’ve seen some of that character that they have
Because of what Luke brings to the table, it opens up a whole different realm to what we can do offensively
We feel like we’re deeper at wide receiver
The first and foremost thing is we’ve got to do a better job of stopping the run
That’s far and away the best football team we play all year. Our guys were able to get open, we were able to protect them
I just like who he is, he processes things really quickly
Career arc
His real stature score, season by season, across every program he’s coached — so a stretch that stays in one tier the whole way can still climb or sink on the line, not just flatten out. Node color marks the tier reached. Which program a stretch belongs to is carried by the shaded lane behind it.
Reached National Program in his 9th career season — faster than 5% of the 675 FBS coaches who have ever reached National Program (rank #630 of 675 by seasons-to-arrival).
Style position and drift
Where each stint’s offense sat between run-first and pass-first, and how far it moved from one season to the next. The band is that stint’s real season-to-season range, not a fixed-width box.
Season-to-season pass-rate range for all 258 FBS coaching stints with at least three covered seasons, 2014–2025.
The big-game ledger
How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.
17–13 against his rivals. Winless in 3 tries against David Cutcliffe.
His own effect, isolated
A statistical estimate of this coach’s contribution to team performance, separated from that season’s roster talent, returning production, and his coordinators — pooled across his whole head-coaching career.
Model fit as of 2026-09-04.
Coaching career
12th-best San José State tenure of 19 by the numbers.
Performs about as expected for his recruiting talent, on both sides of the ball.
Followed Brent Brennan (2017–2023).
| Season | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | ||||
| Record | 7–6 | 3–9 | 0–0 | |
| Postseason | L bowl | — | — | |
| Recruiting rank | #104 | #117 | #129 | |
| Style — pass rate | ||||
| Pass rate | 63.2 | 60.9 | 50.7 | |
| Coordinators | ||||
| OC | Craig Stutzmann | Craig Stutzmann | Craig Stutzmann | |
| DC | Derrick Odum | Derrick Odum | Bojay Filimoeatu | |
| Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile | ||||
| Offense | 33 | 47 | 96 | |
| Defense | 68 | 30 | 54 | |
| Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only) | ||||
| 1st-down pass% | 60.1 | 55.1 | 44.0 | |
| Red-zone pass% | 63.7 | 54.8 | 57.1 | |
| 4th-down go%opp. territory | 33.3 | 36.4 | 28.6 | |
A typical amount of portal roster-building.
Brings in smaller-than-position-typical players than most.
Recruits younger transfers than most — more of a development bet.
1 player-season honored (All-America / national award): Nick Nash (2024)
AI Narratives — “San José State — stat check”.
10th-best Navy tenure of 18 by the numbers.
Outperforms his recruiting talent on offense and performs about as expected for his recruiting talent on defense.
Succeeded by Brian Newberry (2023–2026).
| Season | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | |||||||||||||||||
| Record | 0–1 | 8–5 | 10–4 | 9–4 | 5–7 | 8–5 | 9–4 | 8–5 | 11–2 | 9–5 | 7–6 | 3–10 | 11–2 | 3–7 | 4–8 | 4–8 | |
| Postseason | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | W bowl | W bowl | L bowl | W bowl | — | W CFP | — | — | — | |
| Recruiting rank | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | #107 | #112 | #91 | #88 | #106 | #123 | #125 | #106 | #130 | |
| Style — pass rate | |||||||||||||||||
| Pass rate | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 15.2 | 14.0 | 17.6 | 11.0 | 15.0 | 11.9 | 20.4 | 12.2 | 15.1 | |
| Coordinators | |||||||||||||||||
| OC | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Ivin Jasper | Ivin Jasper | Ivin Jasper | Ivin Jasper | Ivin Jasper | Ivin Jasper | Ivin Jasper | Ivin Jasper | — | |
| DC | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Buddy Green | Dale Pehrson | Dale Pehrson | Dale Pehrson | Dale Pehrson | Brian Newberry / Brian Norwood | Brian Newberry | Brian Newberry | Brian Newberry | |
| Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile | |||||||||||||||||
| Offense | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 82 | 98 | 98 | 82 | 27 | 96 | 7 | 42 | 29 | |
| Defense | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 35 | 39 | 1 | 30 | 15 | 74 | 60 | 47 | 65 | |
| Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only) | |||||||||||||||||
| 1st-down pass% | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 15.6 | 14.2 | 16.8 | 10.0 | 13.4 | 15.1 | 17.7 | 13.0 | 15.6 | |
| Red-zone pass% | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 16.1 | 8.3 | 9.1 | 10.8 | 3.1 | 6.5 | 8.1 | 13.0 | 12.2 | |
| 4th-down go%opp. territory | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 47.1 | 45.5 | 56.5 | 51.1 | 50.0 | 51.9 | 50.0 | 34.3 | 52.8 | |
Barely touches the portal — recruits and develops his own.
3 NFL Draft picks: Joe Cardona (2015), Keenan Reynolds (2016), Malcolm Perry (2020)