Ken Niumatalolo could be close to leaving the Navy for the desert.
The 52-year-old coach of Navy's football team has been offered the head coaching job at UA, according to Wildcat Authority's Jason Scheer. Football Scoop's Scott Roussel said UA is currently negotiating a contract with Niumatalolo. He would replace Rich Rodriguez, who was fired by Arizona last week amid sexual harassment allegations.
"Sources are expecting an answer (from Niumatalolo) by the end of the day," Scheer reported.
Niumatalolo has coached at Navy since 1995. He served as a running backs coach, QB coach, special-teams coach, offensive coordinator and associate head coach for the Midshipmen before earning the head coaching job in 2007. He has a career 84-48 record as Navy's head coach, including five seasons with at least nine victories. Navy went 7-6 in 2017.
A Hawaii native, Niumatalolo was a quarterback at the University of Hawaii, where he briefly played under eventual UA head coach Dick Tomey. Niumatalolo wrote the foreword for Tomey's book, "Rise of the Rainbow Warriors."
