The football players at the U.S. Naval Academy tomorrow will embark on a 4,855-mile trip here for Saturday's game with the University of Hawai'i.

For their head coach, Ken Niumatalolo, it will mark something larger, a life-changing 20-year journey come full circle.

It was in the waning games of his 1989 senior season at UH that Niumatalolo, a backup quarterback to record-setting Garrett Gabriel, was summoned into offensive coordinator Paul Johnson's office for what would be a career-launching meeting.

"I had no idea what he wanted to talk about," Niumatalolo recalled. To that point it had mostly been Niumatalolo initiating the conversations, usually pointedly asking about getting playing time. "I was more the disgruntled player thinking I should be getting more time, so I wasn't sure what he wanted to talk about."

What Johnson, who had noted Niumatalolo's grasp of the offense, suggested was that he consider becoming a graduate assistant on head coach Bob Wagner's staff. The 26-year-old Niumatalolo, who had seen other GA's labor for years without landing a full-time job, was hesitant, especially with a growing family.

But after his wife, Barbara, agreed to be the breadwinner, they settled on a plan: They would give it two years and if there was no job, Niumatalolo said he'd, "go into the real world and look for a job."

In the meantime, he vowed to do whatever there was to be done and do it as if it was the most important task on campus. In addition to coaching, he carted around the head coach's exercise bike, brought box lunches to the video crew and dropped off coaches' kids at school. And he got snickered at by friends who questioned where it would ever get him.

But his hard-earned dues eventually won him an assistant position at UH followed by stops at Navy and Nevada-Las Vegas. When Johnson left Navy for Georgia Tech two seasons ago, Niumatalolo was the clear pick as his successor.

For someone who grew up in Hälawa, crossed the overpass to Aloha Stadium to sell newspapers, watch Hula Bowl and Pro Bowl practices, win a Prep Bowl with Radford High and play for UH, Saturday's step onto the sidelines figures to be a chicken-skin moment.

"I'm sure there's going to be some tears," Niumatalolo said. "I know it is going to be pretty emotional."