Tony Tuioti begins his sixth season on the Rainbow Warriors coaching staff and second as the team’s linebackers coach.
The only holdover from former coach Greg McMackin’s staff, Tuioti spent the previous two seasons as the defensive tackles coach while also serving as the director of player personnel from 2008-09.
In his first season coaching the linebackers, Tuioti oversaw a unit that featured three juniors, one sophomore and three freshmen who started at least one game last season. Among that group, all but one returns in 2013, giving the linebackers’ corps the most experience among all the units on the team.
A former defensive tackle for the Rainbow Warriors, Tuioti mentored all-WAC tackles Kaniela Tuipulotu and Vaughn Meatoga, and Zach Masch in 2011. All three played in postseason all-star games while Meatoga and Masch earned NFL free-agent deals. The defense improved its sack total from 16 in 2009, to 30 in 2010 and to 35 in 2011, the latter of which ranked in the Top 15 nationally.
In 2010, the defensive line did not allow a 100-yard rusher in WAC play and the defense led the nation in turnovers forced with 38. Over the past decade, the 2010 defense ranked second among all UH teams in total defense, allowing 357.6 yards per game and rushing defense at 135.9 yards per game. Of the team’s 30 sacks, 22.5 were produced by defensive linemen.
An honorable mention all-WAC lineman as a junior at UH, Tuioti spent his first two seasons on the coaching staff as the director of player personnel. In that role, he assisted with the recruiting program and monitored the academic achievements of the student-athletes.
Tuioti was a four-year letterman for the Warriors from 1996-99. During his senior year, he was a member of the NCAA’s all-time turnaround team after UH finished with a 9-4 record and was co-WAC champions and winners of the Jeep O‘ahu Bowl over Oregon State. Following that season, he was one of four Warriors selected to participate in the annual Hula Bowl.
He is one of two former Rainbow Warriors to win a WAC championship both as a player and coach in school history.
After receiving his bachelor’s degree in sociology from UH in 2000, Tuioti served as the team’s graduate assistant coach in 2000 and ’01 and later earned his master’s in educational administration in 2002. Tuioti also received a second master’s degree in special education from UNLV in 2007.
Prior to UH, Tuioti served as defensive coordinator at Silverado High School in Las Vegas, Nev., where he helped the team to the Southeast Division championship with a 10-1 record. He coached the division’s Defensive Player of the Year, four all-region selections and three all-state defensive players in 2007, his only season at Silverado.
Prior to moving to Las Vegas, Tuioti was the head coach at Kalaheo High School on O‘ahu from 2003-05. He led the Mustangs to the OIA playoffs for the first time in 10 years and was the youngest varsity head coach in the state.
Tuioti is a 1995 graduate of Foothill High School in Tustin, Calif. He and his wife, former UH volleyball player Keala Nihipali, have seven children: Teisa, Teivis, Teilor, Teitum, Teimana, Teiyana and Teinia. Nihipali lettered for Dave Shoji’s Rainbow Wahine program in 1997.
The Tuioti File
Hometown: Tustin, Calif.
Family: Wife Keala, Children, Teisa, Teivis, Teilor, Teitum, Teimana, Teiyana, and Teinia.
Education
Hawai‘i, 1999, Bachelor’s in Sociology
Hawai‘i, 2002, Master’s in Educational Administration
UNLV, 2007, Master’s in Special Education
Playing Experience
1996-99, Hawai‘i, Defensive Line
Coaching Experience
2012-: Hawai‘i, Assistant Linebackers
2010-2011: Hawai‘i, Defensive Tackles
2008-09: Hawai‘i, Director of Player Personnel
2007: Silverado High School, Defensive Coordinator
2003-05: Kalaheo High School, Head Coach
