Close ties on the sidelines
When Mark Atuaia was going through the college recruiting process, he felt bad that he would have to disappoint one of two men he greatly respected.
As a youngster in Laie, Hawaii, Atuaia looked up to Robert Anae and Ken Niumatalolo — two of the finest athletes to come out of the tiny town on the north shore of Oahu.
Anae was working as a graduate assistant with the Brigham Young football program while Niumatalolo held the same Thursday, 1:30 p.m. TV: ESPN Radio: 1090 AM, 1430 AM Line: Navy by 11⁄ position at Hawaii when Atuaia was a senior at Kahuku High. Both young coaches really wanted Atuaia, a dynamic running back who was the all-time leading rusher in Hawaii high school history.
“Kenny and Robert both cut their teeth as recruiters with me,” Atuaia said in a telephone interview last week. “It was tough because I have known both of them my whole life and always looked up to them. Our families have been together a long time and are very close.”
Laie had a population of just over 6,000 in the latest census, so it is rather remarkable that three men from there would wind up coaching at the highest level of Division I football. Niumatalolo is the head coach at Navy while Anae and Atuaia are assistants at Virginia, meaning they will come together Thursday when their schools meet in the Military Bowl.
“It’s actually pretty cool because Laie is a very small town. I think of playing pickup football and basketball in the park with