Longtime University of Hawai‘i assistant head coach George Lumpkin has been a fixture on the UH-Manoa campus. Lumpkin, UH’s director of player personnel, enters his 35th year on the coaching staff and ranks among the department’s longest-tenured employees—along with women’s volleyball head coach Dave Shoji.
Overall, Lumpkin has been affiliated with the UH football program for 38 years, including two as a player and two as a graduate assistant. Prior to current head coach Greg McMackin, Lumpkin worked under former head coaches June Jones, Bob Wagner, Dick Tomey, Larry Price and Dave Holmes since 1974.
Lumpkin was the associate head coach under Jones for nine seasons, while also serving as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach during various years.
Lumpkin has been a part of almost every memorable event in modern UH football history: the school’s first year of Division I status in 1974, its first game at Aloha Stadium in 1975; its entry into the Western Athletic Conference in 1979; its first postseason bowl appearance in the 1989 Aloha Bowl; its first conference championship and subsequent Holiday Bowl win in 1992; its record-breaking turnaround season of 1999; its undefeated regular season of 2007 and trip to the Allstate Sugar Bowl, and most recently, last year’s WAC co-championship.
Lumpkin was on the coaching staff of all 10 modern-day bowl appearances and all four WAC championship teams. After becoming a full-time assistant in 1974, his teams have won 229 games.
Lumpkin has coached or recruited his share of players who went on to NFL glory, including Jeris White, Jesse Sapolu, Rich Miano, current San Francisco 49er Jeff Ulbrich and 2003 NFL second-round draft pick Pisa Tinoisamoa, currently of the Chicago Bears.
Lumpkin first came to Hawai‘i in 1970 after transferring from Los Angeles Harbor Junior College where he was a standout running back and defensive back. He played two seasons at defensive back for UH and made an immediate impact, setting school records for most interceptions in a season (6) and career (8).
Following his playing career, Lumpkin jumped right into coaching, serving as a graduate assistant under Holmes in 1972. For the next 23 years, he worked with four more head coaches at UH and became involved with every aspect of the defense, coaching the defensive line, linebackers and secondary. He served as defensive coordinator for one season and was the assistant head coach to Bob Wagner for four seasons.
After a three-year absence from UH in which he served as defensive coordinator and secondary coach at Kamehameha Schools, Lumpkin returned to his alma mater in 1999 with the arrival of Jones.
Lumpkin and his wife, Valorie, have three children: Monique, Shawn and Shalei.
