SpearCast | Season 2 | Episode 2 - SJSU FB Hires Ken Niumatalolo, Basketball and More

hello and welcome back to another episode of spear cast I'm your host Nick along with Christian and today we are also again joined by Mr Aaron Johnson hello it's good to be back and we as spear cast are excited to be back as well took us a little bit to get things rolling but you know what we're back we're here a lot of sports to go over a lot of big news to go over from football basketball the start of tennis golf all and Just Sports as a whole here at San Jose State whole lot of news and arguably the biggest thing to come out of this winter season I guess you can say this offseason for football biggest piece of news can Niam matalo getting signed as our new head coach and him bringing along the whole new coaching staff at the whole new face for San Jose State football what do you guys think about former Navy head coach being signed for us I'm excited I'm I'm excited to see how he does you know obviously I was really sad when we lost Brennan you know he's put in the work um legendary tenure for him you got us to three bowl games I believe right yeah so yeah I'm just excited to see how Ken takes over and looking forward to the future team he's already he's already recruited uh sorry go ahead no I was going to say I mean obviously big name but I mean some of his accolades I mean or well probably the biggest one most winningest coach in Navy school history yeah he had a long tenure at Navy I mean we last time we met here for spear cast we were discussing possible um coaches that we could have hired and his name did not come up I think but none of us were expecting it no no none of us were expecting it but after we get the sense that it was a good hire I think we all like the hire we've uh some of us have met him and one thing that was notable at the introductory PR press conference was when our athletic director Jeff COA uh said we're not just getting a football coach we're getting a leader of men so that kind kind of tells you about the type of person Ken Coach Ken is going to be yeah I mean he I mean he is a leader of men I mean before coming here he was at San Jose he was not San Jose he was in UCLA and they actually created a position for him the leadership role or something like that yeah something over at UCLA so like that goes to show like going off what Christian said he is a leader of men and which is something that obviously it's it's a lot to say about him and just and I did look up the record uh at Navy 109 over 109 wins 83 losses it's pretty good winning record um yeah I think it's a great hiring and then you know he also brought in a offensive coordinator Craig stman from uh Texas State uh run and shoot offense very much air rid offense so that's going to differ from uh what Ken's traditional triple option offense at Navy so it's going to bring a he's going to be a new element and also notable is our defensive coordinator coach odm is staying he is not he was not one of the many many coaches who departed from sjsu to Arizona with with uh Brent Brennan so which it felt like he almost took his almost his entire staff and and then a lot of the star players like followed him to Arizona as well yeah yeah I mean that is true but um so far I mean it's been interesting to see today we just had even national Signing Day and you know so they're able they're recruiting around the Bay Area they've been recruiting that was one thing Ken made clear is he wants to recruit people here in the Bay Area whether community colleges or high school that was one thing he made clear at his press conference yeah today we got a Lamar Radcliffe and sorry if I say this wrong Tuli tuava Osa which is happens to be tua's cousin so T's cousin so friendship ended with chubba p uh to Tuli took about L Osa is not my new best friend it's going to be interesting to see though cuz obviously like he's a freshman quarterback and then we to have a quarterback as well so I wonder if it's going to be more of a seniority thing or if obviously like I don't yeah I don't think he's going to come in and start immediately probably yeah no way I think Jay Butterfield I think it's kind of his job to lose it's his time now yeah transfer from Oregon I mean was was in the shadow of Cordo yeah yeah exactly he learned under Cordo you could say like yeah I think it's time for them I mean everybody saying you know oh like oh we Lo we're losing all these seniors but that happens to a lot of college teams it's not like the NFL where you can keep these guys for 10 years if they're really good like there's always going to be turnover in college sports so I think there should be more faith among people in Spartan Nation I mean it's definitely going to be interesting though considering now that we know who are who I coaches it's going to be interesting to see how he handles a big rivalry game and obviously he he's used to big rivalry games the Navy and army games yeah but now it's going to be San Jose State versus Stanford in which we haven't seen a rivalry game in who knows how long but then we we just added four six no sorry six games to to our schedule for the next six years yeah and then obviously the first one being here at home which is going to be a big one CU obviously Stanford's right down the road yeah exactly and then I mean me and Christian saw uh had a soccer game once the the Stanford fans show out and that was and that was soccer yeah that was so soccer game um and T does too yeah so football is going to be interesting especially a big rivalry game like that and then that even goes back that rivalry as of recent if we don't look in the very far past we look recently just between the two schools in athletics um baseball like that's our we play them in playoffs we lost to them and we we're going to be playing them this year here in the regular season too so that's like kind of adding like a rivalry between these two schools that are like what 20 minutes 30 minutes away I mean I mean you know the bill wash legoy game so I mean they I mean it even has a title to it yeah I mean Bill Walsh I mean everybody Bill Walsh is a name that the bar area knows very well being a legendary 4ers coach um yeah so that that that alone will attract people to the game too I mean and at that you know the first game being November 30th you know Thanksgiving weekend oh yeah I think about that people will be in town from out of town or you know people going to be in town time off so if we're there should be a big turnout at least yeah yeah but I I trust Coach Ken I think he's going to be able to handle this really you know adversity really well stuff like that I mean being at Navy for that many years um one thing I got is one thing he cares about it's it's bigger than football for him he really loves his players it's it's a more of a connection thing for him yeah yeah like I remember the story he told us about when he was at Navy he would just tell the players to go walk and go Hotel whatever while him and his coaching staff would carry the bags for the players and then as he was talking about that story he actually started to cry and say how he wanted to show the players how much they loved him how much they loved them sorry and it was just it was emotional and he really just does love football he loves the players that he coaches he just loves everything about it and it's it's Dedication that like something like that that like San Jose State is going to love obviously as well yeah and then another big thing was the reports before we hired a head coach and that surge was we wanted someone with head coaching experience and I'm not you know who those reports were the sources were but they got somebody with head coaching experience I mean Navy 15 years or so and then I mean and then then one season at UCLA shortly yeah and that UCLA season was under Chip Kelly a legendary college football coach yeah Mak that but I mean obviously one thing is just we definitely as we mentioned last time we felt sabin's retirement yeah which which was still crazy and like I mean yeah sabin's retirement affected San Jose State but I mean we got a good hire out of it yeah yeah I mean I think kind of was a home run hit um that's what everybody's saying home run higher that was kind of the feeling I mean even though some players did hop in the transfer portal but we also attracted some players from the transfer portal too and I think we'll continue to add more players and I think it might be year one you know might not be what ideal but it's it's a refresher for sounds they say season I think they wanted Ken cuz he's a guy who shows he can commit to a school long term especially at a school like Navy where you don't always you don't get the best selection of guys because they're also signing up for to be in the Navy yeah so here what could he do here like if he was he was very successful at Navy they went to a lot of Bull games and and a lot of army wins yeah yeah at the beginning towards the end what was it three in a row that's kind of why he was pushed out but uh you know one thing he even said after like it was so hard leaving Navy was leing cuz he loved those kids so much that he coached like he he built the you know the bond with them you know yeah but for the culture for the far away yeah uh quick note I remember too seeing on social media one thing that he the the players used to do they would call themselves Ken's men and they would run out with a flag that sends Ken Ken's men so that's that's how much like the players his previous players that he's coached got you know comfortable with him yeah and another thing to know too is like we we spent a lot of time with Coach Ken just talking to him in that press conference we spent a lot of time just being around him I remember coincidentally talking to his wife because she was just there in the press conference and she was getting wanting to know to everybody she I think she walked up to every single media person that was there and shuck their hand and asked for their name just so to get familiar because obviously like we're going to be around a lot and then I remember uh her talking to me and someone else and then she goes yeah that Sunday night that that we first got here we were here till 10:00 at night talking to every single player that wanted to come in and just talk yeah and so to be here just like till 10: at night talking to every single guy that came into his room to like questions concerns whatever it was whatever they talked about about behind closed doors he cares and that's something that like it just stands out to players and it's going to stand out to the community because obviously San Jose State is a community school I mean all the programs are very involved and everything especially the football team is at that yeah and so it's G to be it's going to be just a great to see like regardless it's going to be a shift one way or another yeah and he's also if you in case you didn't have any doubts yet he's also a very competitive person one thing he does usually on his time off when I talk to him because I saw he did it in Navy all the time he plays tennis on his time off um and he he told me he's like I can't get to tennis yet because he had to figure out his staff and what players he was bringing in still but he plans to continue to play tennis when he gets a chance to so that shows his competitive spirit so if you're in San Jose and you're listening to this you drive down south campus you drive P the tennis courts you're policy coach again yeah maybe in the summer we'll see in the offseason yeah yeah but I think that's enough for football let's switch over to the other big sport not as fun news though no yeah Erin you've you've been following them this entire winter and now coming to Spring give us the rundown yeah it's uh it's just disappointing man we obviously you know we're one and nine in conference right now we're dead last we're a half game behind Air Force right now Air Force is 1 and eight and Air Force is the only team we've beaten in the Mountain West so it's it's not looking good and we won on a like kind of a fluke a play that broke down essentially it was supposed to be an inbound play ah I'm not I'm not going to remember who it was supposed to be to it was supposed to be an inbound play but then they ended up passing out to Amy and he was like he had to just hit a step back three buzzer beater win that's our only Conference win and it's disappointing because how long ago was that that was our last win was January 13th and we are filming this February 7th yeah and it's disappointing because I saw a lot of Promise in this team you know especially when we beat Santa Clara and we almost beat San Diego State like at that moment you know Santa CL is beating Gonzaga this year this is a good team you know and like when I've talked to uh MJ or myON Amy in the uh press conferences he said like you know like we have the talent on this team to do it like people fear us when they play us you know like we showed that we can play like the best teams and they did do that but man it is just ever since that San Diego State loss after the Air Force win it's just been all downhill we have not been able to close out games and and second half has been really tough for us man and it just shows that with Robert Viola being out we just really lack that big inside presence like adrama Jong you know he's very athletic he's second in the mountain Western blocks he plays plays good defense able to like create some opportunities but it's just the rebounding that we're really missing from and also the fact that he can't really play like a full game because he gets in foul trouble a lot too that's really what we're missing and whatever it is man it sucks you know the vibe there is really everyone's really frustrated upset and especially coming off one of the best seasons in school history to this it's just like night and day so do you think it's an effect of just Viola or obviously of Amari Moore as well it's definitely both but just the the the loss of Viola is just a lot more apparent right now you can you can see it like you can really just be like okay because there's certain games where like MJ's kind of stepped up and dropped like 20 points scored 20 and like what Amari Moore would do last year but just the fact that we don't have any bigs we're playing Christian wise who's a freshman who's a 66 he's like a three he's getting minutes at the five he's out rebounding pretty much everyone of the team so last few games at least I should say not like this whole season because he's been getting more minutes recently but yeah but then I know going back to what you mentioned you know San Diego State I mean they've been on top of those NCAA polls the entire time they've consistently have been nationally ranked the entire time you know but obviously we only lost by three points yeah and obviously San Diego State having a big body like ladyi and then who will Who possibly could go high rounds in the NBA draft I mean what do you think like how we how we how we fared against him obviously only being back three points well we didn't fa great against him at all we um how much did he drop you dropped 30 something like 31 30 like 30 around there and also when we played Utah State under top team they Center great osore he dropped like 30 he also dropped 30 plus and he shot from the free throw line if I'm not mistaken 20 19 to like 20 times dang so it was kind of insane just like we have no really counters just for like these these big physical guys especially even in the last game even in the last game ifence Fresno like number 13 on the team I'm forgetting his name right now but he just he would just he really just kind of backed our guys down posted them up and that that's really tough I mean we had DJ DJ stous get minutes in the San Diego State game you're talking about and even Tim ma said it's like that's not my ideal match up for him I don't want him to like have to go against Le right like that but that's kind of what we he's been forced to do is kind of try and make this like makeshift five position work like getting a lot of different guys and now we're seeing Christian get or Christian wise get some action in there and yeah it's interesting I mean it's tough you know because I really thought this team uh could compete with the top guys after being we beat Santa Clara competed with San Diego State like Trey Anderson just like dunks that ball you know there's a lot of games that like one or two calls or balls go different way like we could easily have like four more wins right now honestly I have a like a game for you eron okay if you're in 10 miles shoes oh God what would you do differently or what would you tell the team do better listen I mean that's kind of what I've been asking him like a lot I'm just like trying to get like a general idea like what's like how you going to like motivate the guys I mean like honestly I don't know what I would do differently man cuz it's it's he's it's a tough spot right now he's got he's without Viola I've already said he's at without Ryan Perry so they're kind of like they're get like the younger guys are getting more minutes now I mean at this point we're a young team right if I'm Tim miles honestly like obviously we're in the Mountain West tournament right so I to get I with these last few games maybe get the young guys some time to develop like he's been doing Christian wise Ricky Mitchell Jr's been playing a little bit more recently and I don't know it's just like cuz it's tough because he's kind of like tried switching it up already it's not like he's just stuck to the same thing every time it's just kind of like even even himself said it he's just like I just need to find a core group guys that like can Jael together well you know but if I'm to Miles I'm just I'm trying to keep them positive like look we almost beat like San dieo State that's a ranked team you know like we we beat Santa Clara I'll just try and keep him positive but it's tough at this point you know it's like for me like obviously like an almost like an outsider perspective because don't watch basketball like as much as you guys but you know like at the start of the game the energy is there like they're all like vibing they're all having fun and everything and they're still like you know having fun they're being a team you know but like once it once it hits game time once it hits that like second half or like late late late in the game it's like they just fall apart almost yeah it's tough I mean in the Fresno stame we didn't score the last four minutes of the game yeah that's and it was it was it was tough because we regained momentum pretty much right after we haven't mentioned this yet but in the last game tobet gner broke the alltime San Jose State three-point record on a shot it's pretty much after that we kind of went on a run I believe we got up seven at one point the momentum change was insane that for that because after he hit that the stadium just well whatever you want to call it the Event Center just blew up and then like you can tell like it was a whole vibe switch and the team was in it you know everybody was cheering and they were all for it but then after like a few minutes like you like you're just like like you just said or about to say it's just dead essentially it's it's it's interesting like I don't know what it is exactly it's just one of those things man and also another thing to note is just you know perimeter defense has been an issue for Sant Jose State we have the we give up the highest percentage of uh threes in the Mountain West we give up I believe teams are shooting like over 40% against us this season which is just you're not going to win a lot of games like that and but on the other side the flip side we also have the highest three-o percentage in the Mountain West as well I don't know the actual numbers because I didn't I'm sorry I should have prepared sorry speccast listeners but that is that is true that was at least the case in at the Nevada game but but you know obviously you and I were there but and I was I was on the court taking pictures of it but how you know how was it to like to see Tibet like in your eyes to just break that well obviously right in front of you at that yeah no it was really cool man it was really cool to witness just a moment of U sjsu history I just you know like toed said in the postgame press conference you know I just wish you know came with the win as well that's what that's what we're all hoping right now but I mean obviously that's that's all they're hoping for they can they can care less about like the tournament right now they kind of get out of momentum yeah get some momentum I mean we're one and N in conference where that means we're one and nine in our last 10 so it's a tough stretch wow yeah yeah that's tough season and I think it's been the same on the flip side for the women to um it was a tough weekend for the Spartans it was it was tough it was but you know now switching from the hardcourt to the beam to the chalk to the to the floor gymnastics ooh I was just trying to name off things I I if if that worked it worked I'm go for it the floor yeah yeah but I mean our gymnastics team has been popping off lately I don't know if you guys have seen I mean I've heard about it but I haven't like looked into too in depth into it but it it is it just it's a lot too you know one of the first events of the year we had a we we went up against the Illinois Washington and Denver the super 16 gymnastics championships so it's called and apparently those teams are some of the best in the nation finishing top like five if not and then we only finished fourth we finished with 194 points but I mean to go against against that school and then have that high of a score I mean it's pretty well yeah it's big and then obviously this this is obviously the first season with the Mountain West Gymnastics which is huge obviously we were just playing doing some events like just just just to have some events but then now it's an actual season they're competing for a championship eventually and then you know the last two events we've won so so it seems like there's a chance that you know we could there's a chance that another sport besides water polo which is most recent could bring home a conference Championship which is huge that would be huge and uh our baseball team also right they were up there last year right yeah last year they they brought home the Mountain West championship and then and then they they they faced off in the NCAA Regional against Stanford and Texas yeah that's great I think it was Texas right yeah yeah yeah yeah I'm and Fullerton yep yeah was those four in the Stanford Regional yeah I'm hoping our gymnastics can do it CU that'd be crazy cuz I didn't even know this was the first year of Mountain West Play If I be honest with you transparency so that be cool if they can do it hey we can be the first ones yeah I mean title yeah it'd be a cool title obviously first like you said yeah then obviously hopefully like you just brought up our baseball team does it again you know I've talked to a lot of people the head coach the some of the SIDS and everything everybody around that team just is confident it's just you know we might struggle on pitching for a little bit because they because it's a young pitching staff but besides that I mean I think we have a lock down cuz I've talked to everybody they said that the bats are hot and I remember this one guy went to practice one time I forgot his name a I wish I remembered his name but he was just hitting bombs in every every single every single pitch he hit it doing PR practice it was just a bomb it just it was just loud off the bat and everything so there there balls are going to be flying out of excit excited for that for this is going to be a fun spring semester of Spartan coverage and we hope to provide you guys with all that good stuff yeah and then obviously and then and then what else could just going on this this spring uh softball as well same thing exactly same goal for every right climb the mountain climb the mountain CL M that's what everybody says here yeah all right well I think that's all that we have for you today obviously it's a start of a lot of Seasons be we're going to be going a lot longer we're we're going to be going for it as just as all the sports do we're going to climb the mountain to grow spear cast we're going to get it as best it could be but with that I've been your host Nick your host Christian and this is Aaron and we'll catch you guys next time peace