UCLA Football: Former Navy Head Coach Served As TE Leader For Bowl Game

A sign of things to come?

Sixth-year UCLA Bruins football head coach Chip Kelly salvaged a disappointing 8-5 season, somewhat, with a 35-22 comeback victory during the club's LA Bowl pairing with Boise State last Saturday.

But he didn't do it alone. Former Navy head coach Ken Niumataloo made his debut as Kelly's tight ends coach under Kelly during the contest, as Kelly detailed in postgame comments, per Grant Hughes of 247Sports.

"Ken Niumatalolo was up in the box for the first time. He coached the tight ends," Kelly said. 

Kelly, too, got an opportunity to be a bit more granular in his prep for the bout.

"I've had more fun coaching the last two weeks than I've had in a long time. I actually got to be in the quarterback room and coach quarterbacks again. Sometimes, as a head coach, you get disconnected from those guys. Our entire coaching staff did an unbelievable job, especially with all of the outside things. We didn't let finals, we didn't let recruiting, we didn't let any of that stuff get in the way of what the most important thing, sending that group of seniors out the right way."

It's unclear exactly how long-term the Niumataloo addition as a coach will be for the Bruins. He's officially the football program's director of leadership, not a coach, but stepped in to help out for the bowl game.

During a 16-year career as the head coach of the Navy, he led the club to a 109-83 record and 11 bowl game appearances.