HONOLULU - Longtime University of Hawai`i assistant head coach George Lumpkin will retain his title under new head coach Greg McMackin. Lumpkin enters his 32nd year on the coaching staff and will now work for his sixth different head coach.

Overall, Lumpkin has been affiliated with the UH football program for 36 years, including two as a player and two as a graduate assistant. Prior to McMackin, Lumpkin has worked under former head coaches June Jones, Bob Wagner, Dick Tomey, Larry Price, and Dave Holmes.

For the past nine years, he was the assistant head coach under Jones while also serving as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach during various years. Last season, he helped coach the defensive ends and this year will serve as a defensive assistant, helping in all areas of the defense.

Lumpkin, 58, 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 return to his alma mater in 1999 with the arrival of Jones.

Lumpkin has been a part of almost every memorable event in modern UH football history: the team's first game at Aloha Stadium in 1975; its entry into the Western Athletic Conference in 1979; its first postseason appearance in the 1989 Aloha Bowl; its first conference championship and subsequent Holiday Bowl win in 1992; its record-breaking turnaround season of 1999, and its undefeated regular season of 2007 and trip to the Allstate Sugar Bowl. 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.

Lumpkin and his wife, Valorie, have three children: Monique, Shawn and Shalei.

-UH-