Coach interview podcastle edit
Thu, May 01, 2025 8:01AM • 44:29
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
American football, leadership, great coaches, Ken Niumatalolo, Navy Academy, discipline, return with honor, Chip Kelly, Paul Johnson, high school coach, spiritual leadership, family balance, player motivation, love in coaching, military service.
SPEAKERS
Ken Niumatalolo, Speaker 1, Paul Barnett
Paul Barnett 00:00
Coach. Nia matalolo, good morning. Well, good morning, my time. Good afternoon, your time. And welcome to the great coaches
Speaker 1 00:06
podcast. Well, thank you for having me. It's sad to be here. Oh, well, I was just
Paul Barnett 00:10
telling you off off air. We love American football coaches, so we're very, very keen to get into your experience and hear all about it. Such a gladiatorial sport. It's it's growing globally. But Coach, could I start by just name checking some of the people you've been involved with. There's dick to me, Paul Johnson and Chip Kelly, very, some very famous coaches in the game of American football. But from working with these people up close, I really intrigued. What is it you think that the great coaches do differently that sets them apart.
Ken Niumatalolo 00:42
The great coaches, I mean, they're leaders. First, they inspire people, and it's about the people. It's about the people they lead. Give me example, just what Dick told me, who was our coach and my college coach, but I was amazed how we brought different groups of people together. From the standpoint, I'm from Hawaii, so a lot of Polynesian kids came from, you know, from the islands. Played at the University of Hawaii. Maybe a third of our team was white. A third of our team were Polynesian kids, and a third of our team were black kids, maybe from the West Coast, you know. So we all had different backgrounds, raised differently, and came from different places. And it was just impressive to me as I look back and now, whatever, some 40 years later, how this man was? It a big man? I don't know, because some might have been five, eight or whatever. Five, it wasn't a big man, but he was able to command respect and disabled people. And so I think the great coaches, first of all, foremost, are great leaders, great teachers. And so Paul Johnson was the same way my position coach, very astute, smart man. But here's a guy that's from the south in America, which is different from the islands, you know, and but even though he was from a different place, you know, we speak pidgin English in Hawaii and the end of the Southern draw from where he's at. But he was able to communicate perfectly, because, if we was Chip Kelly, um, probably a mastermind in sports science and conveying messages, you know, I mean, so his leadership was, might have been a little bit different, maybe for sports, but those names that you but I find interesting, because they're all different, and they're all great leaders in their in their same way. So these great coaches, you know, they want on off the on the field, but off the field it was, there was a leadership and bringing people together.
Paul Barnett 02:54
Can I ask you about the impact your high school coach had on you? John Velasco,
Ken Niumatalolo 03:00
my high school coach had a probably as big as any of those guys, impact on me, um. He was a black belt in kipple karate. I just remember him. He is his hair was always immaculate. His side comb he had wore these dark, dark um pilot glasses, you know, the you know, pilots wear, he was always, I mean, not dressed like not wearing a tuxedo and thing, but his clothes, whether he's, you know, gym clothes or workout clothes, his shirt was always tucked in. I saw his car. His car was always clean. He was an immaculate dude. And again, these are things that I think about later. But just just as attention to detail started in the way he carried himself was clean cut, but he was a very strict disciplinary he demanded detail and excellence and things that we did we were, you know, the way we exercise. We had to be on the line. You have to clap, clap in sync, you know, all these things that kind of, to me as young kids, kind of seem like we're in the military or something like, what? Why don't My feet have to be behind the line? You know? Why do I have to stand this far apart? Why does everybody have to be synchronizing their lines and clap before we do this and do certain things? I didn't realize it was too later. It's just because he was teaching us the details are a big part of when you're playing, like a lot of times when things broke down, is because a guy didn't take, you know, on defense, didn't protect the right gap or an office maybe, as he cut his route too short, maybe supposed to run a route those told you to go 15 yards, but you ran in at 14, therefore, you know, you're a little bit short. They just I didn't realize I I didn't see the deeper meaning what we were doing things. I just looked at it from the top layer of like, why do we do that? Why do I have to tuck my shirt in? Why don't you do all these things? What do you. Teaching you detail and and the details led to discipline. And so I didn't recognize the correlation between those two things, discipline and details. I mean, those two go hand in hand. You won't ever see a disciplined person. It's not that doesn't do things in detail. There's, there's a detail on how to do things. And he was teaching us young high school guys that we always used to, always have a saying on our shirts, you know, to start camp one year is ohana, which went family. One year said, I am with the blank, meaning, you know, who are you going to be? And all these things that I thought back then a little bit, and it's kind of corny, or, you know, what are we doing this? But there is a method to his madness. And I really I found myself when I became a coach. I didn't recognize it, the impact, the influence that he had. But a lot of things that I did, I followed him, and being at the Naval Academy for 25 years at, you know, one of the three military schools, you know, big military schools at the United States, I didn't recognize that it was so similar. You mean, some of the things that he did, you know, just wearing a uniform. And when I was at the Naval Academy, start to learn, okay, they wear the uniform because of this. So you're one, and you learn how to, you know their structure, you learn how to be detailed. But I learned that way before that, you know, being with coach, Coach philosco, but super strict, a disciplinarian, a detailed person, they allowed me to teach me how to bring a team together through toughness and discipline. Like
Paul Barnett 06:46
to talk a little bit about the Navy Academy, if we could. I mean, it's, it's one of the world's premier leadership organizations. And you were there for so long, I could, I start the questions in 2007 you, you'd already been there for a while, but you became at that point, the 38th head coach. But what I find interesting is that you were promoted from the assistant role. So what I'd like to ask you about is, how do you remember navigating the changes that came from moving from a peer to suddenly leading your peers and the whole organization? Great
Ken Niumatalolo 07:19
question. I'm a spiritual person. So I, you know, I just just who I am. I'm not, you know, trying to, you know, force my faith on anybody, but that's just who I am. I had an impression earlier in that year that there could be a chance that I could be the head coach there again, I'm a spiritual person. I just felt prompted, like, and I don't know why, I just thought it was just a prompting I had.
So I started to prepare. I just started to put thoughts together, like, if Coach Johnson left, or something happened, and nobody knew I did this, I don't my wife anymore. I didn't when I started with things in philosophy on recruiting, philosophy and discipline, you know, philosophy on offense and defensive special teams. You know what I would do in a strength, just everything. I just ideas would come to my mind. I just start to formulate ideas and put them together. And at the end of that season, you know, Coach Johnson ended up leaving and going to Georgia Tech. I remember, I was on the road recruiting in Seattle, all the way on the West Coast, in Seattle, Washington, and I get a call from our athletic director telling me, hey, you know, Coach Johnson just took a job at Georgia Tech as a head coach. I'd like for you to come back in energy for this job. And I was one of the guys. I was lucky from that standpoint, because we ran such a specialized offense. Our triple option offense was unique. Very few people ran in the country. In fact, they made me funny. The three service academies ran it, and I had learned it from Paul, and so Paul was like the premier spread option guy. And so Georgia Tech hired Paul because of his offense. And so maybe want to keep that same offense because we were successful and I was the next guy. You know, Paul had kind of told, you know, he I learned from him, and he taught me. I was kind of this protege. And so I, I think I got the opportunity. I don't think I was just revolutionary coach or anything, but okay, we want to run the same offense. How many guys know it? There's just a handful of us who know it. But I was there at the academy, like you said, I was an assistant coach, and so when I went to the interview, I mean, I guess I answered the questions, right? But I was ready for them. I had no idea what Arthur director was going to ask, but anything he asked me about I was ready. And I don't think like in previous years when I was there, because I was there six years with this athletic director before I became the head coach. We. Have much interaction. I don't know if he really knew me. You know, he'd see me coach and stuff, but it's not like we interacted much together. So I don't know if he really knew who I was. And so I don't know if I surprised him with all of my answers, you know, I mean, but I was ready for everything he asked. It wasn't like, Oh, can I get back to you? That on that? Oh, I mean, you know, can you give Can I come back to you tomorrow, give me an answer? Everything that he asked me, I was prepared, because some of the impressions I had on earlier, but I think I don't know why it is, is I'm just my I don't know this.
But growing up, I played quarterback, um, you know, and you always have the ballot ball in your hands, and so you're making decisions. I was a point guard in basketball, so I was used to making decisions. You know? I was a pitcher in baseball, so I was used to having the ball in my hands. I was used to making decisions. So I kind of feel like that came easy to me, the leadership part. There's some parts that I still struggle with. Like, I'm still bad at technology and certain things, but I feel like the leadership parts, um, wasn't going to be hard for me, because I was just going to be me, you know. I mean, I wasn't going to become Genghis Khan or anybody like, hey, you know, not on the head coach. I'm in strong. Give me some grapes, you know. I mean, or, you know, can somebody can wash my feet or whatever, you know, wasn't I was just gonna be me. And I don't know if I was to say this might sound arrogant, or I wasn't arrogant, but I was pretty confident that was gonna be good enough that I was just gonna be leading by who I am through my culture. You know, being Polynesia. Were used to serving first, and I'm a firm believer. And just before you can learn how to lead people, you don't have to know how to serve them. [PB1]
And I think people saw me before this. I wasn't aspiring for the job, you know, it wasn't like, like I said, athletic director. I had very few interactions with him. You know, it's not like we went engulfed every weekend. And I got to know very well. So I wasn't trying to brown those for anything and try to, you know, get this job. Um, between that happened, I was ready. And I feel like the leadership parts, I feel like I've always done that, you know, just in the and I think because, again, I have the perspective now, almost being 60, I look back, you know, you know, especially a question like this, why was I rated this time? I think a lot of it again had to be because positions I played in sports. I wanted the ball in my hands. I wanted to be the guy making decisions, going to get it and going to, you know, that wasn't hard for me, and it wasn't from a an authoritative position. He was just always just used to that I was just like, you run over there. You were there. You know, I can think of playing pickup basketball. I was normally one of the guys that I would try to pick teams, you know, like, if a way, just meet you, you, you, you know, some guys will care, like, y'all play with you, and they're just waiting on the sideline for pickup basketball game. They'll just go. But I always feel like I was a guy trying to come out, okay, who do I try to take him? He's no good come pick this guy, you know? I mean, and so some of those things, from a leadership standpoint, I feel like just because of my background, because of my nature, I don't think that was that big of a transition, and I just knew that I was just going to be, I was going to try to be Coach Johnson. I wasn't going to try to be Coach Belichick or whoever, you know, I mean, I was just, I couldn't be anybody else. I didn't know any other way how to lead. I was just going to lead the way I lead. And, you know, and I'm a spiritual person. Guys knew that I like to eat, no Polynesia. Get together a lot of you know. And so I feel like, okay, somebody just thought a lot of stuff we can do, we're gonna get together and eat. And I feel like it kind of lowers the guard of people and gives people kind of more on one level and get more relaxed. But I wasn't really worried about it, and I don't know why, but it didn't I wasn't stressed out about it, because I was just going to be me if I got the job. I wasn't going to try to be anybody else, because I can't be anybody else, and I was just going to try to lead the way I love I'm going
Paul Barnett 14:16
to talk a little bit about leadership that this journey takes you to UCLA, but I want to just step there, if we can. There's one of the interesting things reading about you is that on six occasions, you've won the commander in chief trophy, which is four, four against the the service academies, and you get to receive the award directly from the President. Now I imagine you've met, you met bush and your your fellow Hawaiian, well, from the area of President Obama. Yeah, tell us about that experience.
Ken Niumatalolo 14:51
Well, I so I've met both Bushes, you know, one of them at the White House, the younger at the White House. But I've met both of men in different zone. Her and different occasion, met President Obama there at the White House, met President Trump before a couple games. I mean, you're humbled to meet those guys. You know, just, you know, just to be able to meet them, you know, you know, being able to go to the White House to receive those the wars were the pinnacle of what we did. And so I just try to soak it all in. Don't talk too much. You know, one of the one time when we went there, you know, it was in a room with our superintendent, you know, the president of our school. And, you know, they asked for me and him and President Obama to go in the room. We were gonna chat a little bit before we went out to the ceremony. I just remember that, but I don't remember anything else. I just kept quiet. I just, you know, like you're just in awe to be there, President, President Obama. You just sit there and listen. And you know, I just, I, you know, was humbled to be there. And you know, I respect who they are as people. I respect their position as you know President, you know of our country. And so I guess my Polynesian background, too, made me know just, just be quiet and listen. You know, those are experiences. Just soak it all in. You know, very humble to have been there and, you know, just trying to soak it in with my players and family and those guys. Yeah, there are pretty surreal moments.
Paul Barnett 16:38
Well, can I stick with Navy for a minute. Then just we will, we will get to where you are at the minute, San Jose. But the other thing that I found fascinating reading about you and learning a bit about Navy was the the players on your program have a five year obligation to serve after their their schooling is finished. And you transformed this obligation into this idea of return with honor. Now, when I read your players talking about this idea of return with honor in an article, it really caught my attention, and I thought it was a it was a fascinating philosophy, and I'm wondering if you could just unpack it a little bit for us and explain how you applied it.
Ken Niumatalolo 17:19
Yeah. I mean, it. You know that originally stems from, you know, being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ, Larry saints, like when they for missionaries to go out on a two year mission just to hopefully come back, you return with honor. Then when you went out and serve, you did the right things.
You know, your people, you make mistakes, hopefully you just return with honor. So I apply that to our football team. From the standpoint, I put it out the exit of our doors, because we were you left the locker room to go to the back to the, you know, dorms or Bancroft Hall, and back to the hall where, although the midshipmen were at and I just want to make sure that they represented our football program and their family the right way, that they weren't cheating at tests. If there were people that weren't cutting in line and, you know, or people that were treating others wrong, just that, when you came back that Chica said, like, you know what I represent in our program? Well, that people aren't saying, oh, here comes the football player. These guys are a bunch of prima donnas, you know, just I didn't want that. I i wanted to win and be a great football program, but more importantly, I wanted to win with good people. I wanted guys to look at our football program like, Man, you guys are really cool dudes[PB2] .
You know, I didn't want to be a team like, man, they're really good football team, but you know what? They're jerks, they're inconsiderate. There's They're selfish, and so I just so some of that was like, Hey guys, one of my best friends in coaching, Brian Norwood. You know, he's coached at Penn State and a lot of different places, UCLA and Baylor, a lot of places. But he told me something a long time ago, and something I've tried to adopt, but I've kind of coached that way, but the way he said it, I think, encapsulate articulates as well what we're trying to do, but Ken, we're trying to go for. So I told me his name is Brian Norwood, Ken. We're what we want, our victories in life, not wins on football field. And I was like, You know what that is so profound? Because there's a lot of coaches that win on the football field, but there's other things going on in life, either they, you know, something's going on and you cheated, or I didn't want that. I didn't want to have, you know, winning record and do all these things, but I sold my soul to the devil so to speak just to win, you know, win at all costs. Screw everybody else, be a jerk, everybody else, as long as we get the W that's all we want. I wanted to win with good people, and that was important to me. And I told somebody a while back, you know, after leaving the Naval Academy, the thing that I probably most proud of is, you know, obviously, first. And foremost, with the players and the type of kids that were there and they came back. I see them as part of the return and honors fathers and husbands. And it's, you know, I was there for so long twice, but you know guys that come back. Hey, Coach, Hey, what are you doing? Coach, this is my wife. Here are my two kids, you know, what are you doing now? Coach, I'm a vice president bank, you know, bank, so and so. I'm an executive here that was returned with mine. You know? I mean, just recognizing that not everybody, you had a couple guys go to the NFL. The majority of them did it because he had to serve in their part, their commitment, but to see them come back as officers in the Navy, Ric or seeing them come back as successful fathers and husbands. You know, that was most important to me. But yeah, I wanted to make sure that they returned with honor, because I wanted to win with honor. And like I said, that one of the most gratifying things about my time at the Naval Academy is not the wins and all the games we want there, but being able to look at the guys that came back, that they returned it on Earth, the literally 1000s of guys that I've coached. But also I know that I could at night, I could put my I could go to sleep. Did I even go and lay down like, you know, rise right up. Oh no. I gotta go back here, up and shred those, those documents before the NCAA sees this. Or I gotta go, you know, whatever. You know, cut off the feet for this camera, because there are some improprieties, you know, occurring within the building. I didn't have any yet, and I wasn't wearing it. So, you know what I left there, whatever circumstances I left, I left with that in mind. Like, you know what I left with, with what I really wanted, I wanted victories off the field, victories in life off the field, and I wanted ways on the field, and I wanted to do it the right way. And could I have stayed a little longer or done some other things? Probably could have. But I don't have a regrets. You know, I got to be a father and husband. Got to see my kids play in your sports on certain things. And yeah, that's what returning with honor is. It was more than football.
Paul Barnett 22:08
I interviewed a lawn bowl coach, actually, a couple of years ago, and he said, be a great ambassador to your last name, and it similar to what you're talking about. Return with honor. It just hit me between the eyes. And I thought, as a father myself, what a great, great idea, but Coach, you come across as being even in this interview, you're very balanced. I can see you've got good energy and you're not stressed. But you also talk a lot in your articles about making sure that your staff stay fresh and they're not fatigued on game day. Now this in the world of American football, I've read horror stories about coaches sleeping in their offices and working around the clock, but you don't subscribe to that theory. Could you tell us about that?
Ken Niumatalolo 22:51
Well, I remember this, and I don't want to say these coaches names, because they're great men and they're great coaches, so I don't want to talk like I'm talking bad about them, but it wasn't for me. And I was at a national coaching convention and had these two coaches. One of them was a national champion college football coach, won the national championship, and one of them was the NFL Super Bowl champion coach. So two guys that had reached the pinnacle, and what I do as a living. So you're looking at them and the SS and all, part of what they did was unbelievable. I mean, I mean, I couldn't take notes fast enough, and leadership and how they did things and how they ran their program was phenomenal. But at the end of their session, you know, the moderator like, Okay, we're gonna open up for questions. And one of the questions was, you know, the guy say to both you guys, if there's anything you could take back or any regrets in your career, what would it be? And both of them had the exact same answer. Both of them, he said, I wish I had spent more time with my family, and I just sat there as a coach, a young coach like whoa. Here are two guys that have reached the pinnacle of what I do in my profession. There's there's nothing higher, you know, to win national championship in college, in an NFL, there's nothing more than winning the Super Bowl. But if they already do it again, be able to go back to spend time with their family, more time with their family. But I was thinking, that's over. You know, you can't rewind that. And I was thinking, I don't want that. I don't want that. So in my mind, I see, if I ever become a head coach, I'm going to make the schedule where my guys can be fathers and husband.
And I'm a firm believer that I don't think you have to. You know work, you know from six in the morning to 230 in the morning, but how are you going to function as a person? And and then you see all these successful people, but, and again. This is bad, but I'm just talking a lot. I'll just say it was just, but, you know, they're on their fourth marriage, or what do you know? I mean, something had to give somewhere. And, and I again, I'm not saying, you know, like, I'm just saying, right, damn, I got my flaws, like everybody else's, but if I was going to sacrifice, it wasn't going to be my family, it was going to be my wife, company, it was going to be my job. And, but I also realized, you know what, I don't have to sacrifice my job if we can be organized.[PB3] [PB4]
On an early morning, I get to work early, but I feel like, you know, most of my kids at that time were sleeping anyway, and then I try to get home by dinner time. So, you know, in off season, I try to get to work around three or four. I mean doing during the season and off season like right now, you know, I get into work, I get up around four. My time I get to work is between 430 and five, and I leave at five. So I have a 12 hour day. There's plenty enough for me to do. You know, off season right now, 1212, a day, as long as you organize this stuff as a young assistant, I remember sometimes being in meetings, and when you're assistant, you you're at the beck and call of your your coordinators and your head coach, whatever they say, kind of work, you got to come What's your job? Which I get? But it, it used to, I don't know what the right word is, um, frustrated. It's not really frustrating. I'm really annoyed, but I guess I didn't really like sometimes where we'd be in there and maybe we talk, if we're in a staff room for six hours, maybe five of it was all good football every time, but maybe an hour of it, we're, I don't know, I'm making a sub now. I'm talking about politics, talking about the Super Bowl, you know. But some of the things that I don't know you have to socialize with your co workers, but I'm like, I don't want to sit here and talk about this. I want to go home, you know, I mean, you know, I don't want to talk about the election. I want to go home. Just like, Can we, can we talk about this later? So I just felt like, as an assistant for 18 years, I just saw all these places where I could cut the fat, okay, we didn't have to do that. Probably just move this to this. Or we're just more synchronized.
If you're more organized, we can definitely get all your work done in 12 hours. Analysis now, during the season a little bit longer, but I still feel like in those times, if you're organized, you don't have to work till midnight every night. And like I said, I'm a firm believer, if you are it's hard to be, you know, give everything you have. And again, I don't want to save this team that I've been to because, like I said, he's all successful teams. But I remember going to a professional team and watching in practice, and in my mind, I talked to some of the coaches, they look gas to me. I mean, I'm just looking at them. I mean, bang, dark, you know, baggy eyes, dark eye. I mean, they just look gas. And I didn't feel like they had energy coaching. And I just thought, I'm like, wow, this is one of the most, you know, meetings for a coach meetings and your practice are the most important times you got to be on, you know? I mean, you have to be on the you can't be tired in that time. So I was like, I just feel like, guys, I want to make sure that we get our work prep done in but the most important part is you got to be on for your for your players, for your coaching, for your meetings. [PB5]
But yeah, like I said, I just feel like if you could keep it where you're organized, you could do both that you could be successful. I don't work on Sundays, which is unheard of in my profession, but a lot is my faith and you know, and my faith is decided that I'm going to go to church. And I I still remember one of my first Well, I think it was my first meet as a head coach, I guess to your earlier question about a period. So both the defensive coordinators, long time defensive coordinator, had been phenomenal coach, one of my good friends, but him and another coach who's an older coach, he made secondary coach, and I remember my first meeting, because guys, you know, kind of going over the schedule, and like you said, it was little awkward, because, you know, here a couple days ago, I was sitting right across with them, and now I'm at the head of the table, you know, like, What lie at the head of the table. But anyways, just talking a little bit, I said I'm not coming to work on Sundays. You can do whatever you want. I'm not fortunate. You guys can do whatever you want. But I said guys now with computers. So I mean, we can take our work home or whatever, but I don't want anything organized. Just go spend time with your family. Do work on you, but we're not going to have any organized staff meetings. And I just could feel eyeballs beaming on me like what we're gonna get killed, or like we're not wait where we're not gonna be on Sundays and but then I told but don't be confused, that I'm trying to cut corners, or that I'm lazy, or I feel like this is the best way. I can lead our football program. I have to be with my family, I have to go to church, spiritually rejuvenate myself, so that can be the best version of me on Sunday when I come back. And so that's I'm doing. I'm doing this because I know for me, this is the best way that I can lead our football program. And so I think when I said that, you know, I don't know if they thought like, you know, when I told him I wasn't coming to work, that I was going to go golfing or something, you know, I mean, or sleep in to mid to noon or whatever, I said, No, I'm doing some things so that can be the less best leader for for me to help lead our program.
And so, yeah, I wanted our guys to be fathers and husbands first. And I always tell our coaches that, you know, as you coach somebody, coach somebody, the number one rule I have for guys coach somebody like somebody else's son. How would you want somebody else to coach your son? And so, you know, I don't want our guys MFE kids, you know, I mean, you can be you can coach hard, you can hold people accountable, but I'm a firm believer that you don't have to be demeaning. You can be demanding, but you don't have to be demeaning. [PB6]
So those are all just principles and bullet points that I know, and some of the tenants of the football program that I was going to lead, those are some core tenets that I wasn't going to deviate from.
Paul Barnett 31:23
You finished at Navy, and you had a season at UCLA, where you were the director of leadership. Now in that role was a bit different. You worked with the players and the staff. You had to coach them off the field. I'm curious how that experience has shaped who you are now at San Jose?
Ken Niumatalolo 31:44
Well, I think it was very easy for me, because it's who I am that's I'm not good at a lot of things. My wife still fixes all the appliances at home. I got a knock on wood. Hopefully I don't ever get a flat tire. And, I mean, I have to call triple A I can't do myself. I mean, I mean, I'm not very good at many things, but I feel like being able to lead people. I feel like that's the one thing in life I can and so going to UCLA, I was just going to go off coach, Coach Kelly. He's the one who bought me there. And I wanted people to know, to make sure that it was crystal clear that he was the leader. You know, there was no deviation from that. He is the leader of this, this, this football program, and I was going to do anything I could to help him in that. And so my leadership stuff is, I had one formal meeting with all the coaches where I talked about some of my leadership principles and about, you know, serving leadership and all those things. I had a couple meetings which each class, you know, the sophomores, the freshmen, juniors, as you know, I met with the individual groups. I weigh a couple of them out a ton, but I felt like the most I did were just individual things, you know, just from doing this for a living as a head coach, you have to see everything. So I just be at a practice and I'd see somebody that maybe their shoulders were little bit, you know, drooped, you know, or they had a long face, or maybe got Yoda at their coach, or he could just tell something's wrong, I would just grab him after him, so, brother, you do okay, because what's going on, and we just sit and talk, you know? I mean, it just was, and I would just be a voice. Lot of it just be a sounding board, you know? I mean, I didn't want to be a snitch, but I also didn't want to be, I also didn't want to be also where it's all negative, where, like, if they're complaining about a coach, you know, I was like, oh, yeah, your coach is screwing I didn't want that either, you know, just like, well, I saw him get on you too, but you weren't short on your route, right? Yeah, well, he's gonna coach you out of that. What would you want him to do? Not coach you. It's nothing personal. Don't take it personal. He got on you. Yeah, maybe coach could have said a little bit different way, but you, you'll get over it, you know. And God, those are kind of my discussion people to and I talked with several coaches, you know, obviously, most all of them knew that I was head coach before. But sometimes I get a knock at door, and some would come in and go sup man, it's like another coach. Hey, Coach, you got a second. I just had a question, you know, if I was trying to reach some of our guys and blah, blah, blah, what would you do? And those are kind of things we would talk about. Or I'd see a young coach that I'd feel like had great prospect, a great chance to be a coordinator, but I would see maybe how he dealt with a player, and I would just go to, just walk into his office, just casual, and sit on and be eating. Is Hey, man, it's I thought I love your meetings. I think it means are rude, but maybe in your meetings. Have you ever thought about maybe, maybe doing this, maybe having a little bit more dialog, as most monologs you. Be asking a little bit more of the why question, because I never thought about because, yeah, just like I said, you do a lot of great things, but there's just one thing that just non sitting means thankful Ladies, thank you for letting me sit in the meeting. But maybe that's something, or just maybe, if I saw a drill and just so I might just say something, and I knew God, but before I did, I think I was a maybe there a month or so before I did any of that with any of the coaches, I was just more flying the wall. You know. I mean, I went from being in a place for 15 years I sat at the head of the table and out there I was in the back corner of the room and just taking everything in. Didn't want to, you know, remember what, hey, you guys, you know, I know what I used to be head coach, none of that. I just sat in the corner and just try to listen to channel, kind of what guys are doing. And so I think when I got to that point, when I was able to ask, or when I felt comfortable that I built a relationship for a coach or players, then I felt like I could give him some constructive criticism, or maybe some stuff might help them, and I might talk to a coach. Because, hey, you got your resume together. Goes on. I really coach, you know, I'm talking to another sister who say, I feel like you got a chance, you know, to be a coordinator. You gotta you got a chance to be a head coach, how to put your stuff together. Because these things happen really quickly at the end of the season. You know, somebody might get a job with opening. Opens on on Thursday, and then on Saturday they're in it. They're introducing a new head coach at another school, and in that time of the interview, you gotta be ready. You can't go to any interviews unprepared. So I talked to them about, hey, how about getting a resume together? So I think for me, it was awesome because I got chance to sit back and observe, uh, which I feel like I do a lot anyway, as a head coach, my son was there, so it allowed me to get a perspective of it, and had, you know, just to kind of look at things, like I go home with my son and I say, Son, did you watch coach so and so? Because watching, he's a really good football coach. Watch how he teaches. Watch how he does his drills. He's very clear in our tickets. Everything is great detail. Watch how he does Ric coach, I said, Son, did you see so and so does that. He's always talking to everyone. He talks to the quarterbacks, he talks to the kickers. And he said for you to kind of get to know, don't just talk to your own position, talk to other players, branch out, get to know the whole team by first name. Don't just know the starters, know the guy, the backups. And so it was a lot of that just unsolicited places that I might observe, that I might have a perspective or a suggestion that might be beneficial, I would just do it that way, where early on, there may be some structured conversations I had. Toward the end, it was just not going to someone's door, going in informally, having discussion, talk about things sometimes, just about life. And, you know, those are the things. But it was, I really enjoyed doing it. I got to learn. I got to see another way of leading, just watching Chip Kelly style, and who's one of the best football coaches in American football. And for me, it was good because there are things like, I love that I would do that. That's really good. That's a great idea. But there are also stuff like, I don't know if I'll do that, so it's a great time for me to kind of have some checks and balances how I do things. You know, just taking a mental checklist of watching how he does things, and maybe taking some ideas like, Okay, if I get another opportunity, coach, I'm do that. I really like that, or I don't like that. I'm gonna keep doing it away. And so that's really what it was. Most of it was informal.
Paul Barnett 38:53
Can I go from UCLA? I'd like to, like to play a quote back to you, actually, before I ask the question, and you say, being from Hawaii, the aloha spirit, we love people, and the foundation of our program was very simple love. Now, I hear many coaches talk about care, but not necessarily love. And Ken, I'm wondering, was there ever a time that you felt pressured to have a less emotional platform for your teams.
Ken Niumatalolo 39:27
No, because it was me, and I knew that. I knew as a player, you know, you talk in the locker room, there's some coaches you like, or this, or you might say, like, the way you did this, but can also tell some guys that you didn't think that they're being real to who they were. And I just want I feel like, as a player, you could see Ric two people, and I didn't want that this is who I was, and I was gonna be an unapologetic about it, that I'm a I'm a passionate person. I. Um, but I've always been, I've always believed, and I've been taught, that the greatest form of motivation is love. You know, I think of my parents, they would do anything. I would do anything for my kids. It's not because they it's of fear. It's because they love you. When you love somebody, you do anything for them. Now, there's also the fear factor too, like, if you didn't do something, you know that, you know the Polynesian culture, you get whacked in the head or something, or, you know.
So you know, you can be motivated by fear and fear of losing. But I've just always believed that the greatest form of motivation was love, you know. You know. And I used to share with our team. And you just think of, if any of you guys that in fights with other brothers or with other guys, you don't want to fight other brothers, because they're gonna go to, you know, I mean, if they're fighting with their one brothers fighting they sees one, he's gonna jump in and he's gonna, you know, you know, backed his brother to him because he loves his brother. And so I just always felt I didn't look at his weakness. I didn't look at his as something that made you weak. Um, I'm not afraid to show my emotion. You know, probably cry too much. I'm a guy that could be crying one moment and yelling the next moment, you know, I mean, but I just wanted our guys to recognize that I really care about them. And I think again, one of the things that when my left baby, just hearing from so many players, you know, I mean, just to tell, you know, to hear, more importantly, besides anything else to say, Coach, thank you. I love you. I love you. Just to hear these kids, or even just grow men say that, and we're coming to San Jose. I knew I was going to do the same thing. [PB7]
And even here, some of the interviews of our players at the end of the season. Again, we went to a bowl game and had a decent year. But again, the for me, the hallmarks of this year is to hear some of the guys say, you know, I know that Costa matalou really cared about us. You can't fake that. And it's not something that, you know. I don't have a this, this PowerPoint presentation, I hear the seven steps how to prove to people that you love them, actions speak louder than words. You know? I mean, it's just they know who you are. And I just knew. I just told our guys this, if you have a room of guys that know that you love them, not only that you can, not only can you coach them hard?
Because they know it's coming from a good place. They will run through a wall if they know that you love them. But if you're coaching them out of fear, and they know that you don't have any you don't care about them as people, and you're just a commodity, or they're just a commodity, an item, you're this faceless person, just plays for them. They're not gonna play hard for you. And so I've always believed that. And, yeah, that's, again, been a, probably the foundation, not the pop. That is the foundation of my leadership, is just love. I really believe that just that's the foundation of anything love. [PB8]
I believe I've said my dad was great leader, but I lied. He just passed away, but he knows I'm telling the truth. My mother is the best leader I've ever been around, and my mother is the greatest leader because of her love. I know she would do anything for me, my siblings, anything. She worked all day, came home late at night, clean when she got home Ric she led our family, and it's because of her pure love. And so watching her lead our family because she loved us, that's how I want to lead our team, not because it's not because it's for money, not because just to win, you know, because I love my family, when we provide for them and I wanted my closest I love them.
Paul Barnett 44:04
I think, I think love is a pretty strong place for us to finish. Coach NIC Martha Lolo, it's been terrific learning a little bit about you, the programs you've been involved with and and taking this time to talk to you today about leadership. I can see that you have a very deep care and appreciation for the art and craft of leadership and I thank you very much for your time.
Speaker 1 44:25
Thank you, brother, thanks for having me. Bye.