Inside The Huskies

Another Ex-Husky RB Coach Finds New Job

Keith Bhonapha reportedly is poised to join the Cal coaching staff headed up by Tosh Lupoi.
Dan Raley|
Keith Bhonapha, shown at Michigan State, is a former UW running-backs coach.
Keith Bhonapha, shown at Michigan State, is a former UW running-backs coach. | Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

Former University of Washington running-backs coaches don't die, they just keep coming back to show guys how to hit the hole and find the end zone.

On Thursday, Keith Bhonapha from the Lake coaching era was poised to take over the vacant job directing ball carriers at California, according to ESPN.

This comes just a few days after Lee Marks, the running-backs coach from the DeBoer era and Bhonapha's Montlake successor, reportedly was set to take a similar job at Oregon State.

For Bhonapha, 45, he'll be coming home to the Bay Area if he indeed joins the new Bears staff headed up Tosh Lupoi, another former Husky assistant coach.

He was born in Oakland, not far from the Cal campus, and was an all-conference defensive back for Skyline High School before playing his college ball for Hawaii.

Bhonapha came to the UW in 2014 with Chris Petersen from Boise State and transitioned to Jimmy Lake's staff, coaching in Montlake for eight years.

He and Lupoi just missed each other in Seattle, with Bhonapha arriving right after the departure of the Steve Sarkisian staff, which included Lupoi.

Bhonapha's coaching claim to fame is helping turn Myles Gaskin into the Huskies' all-time leading rusher with 5,232 yards and 60 overall touchdowns.

While at the UW, he also gained a reputation for being a fairly effective recruiter in Texas and Hawaii, creating a pipeline to Friday Night Lights running backs and maintaining another one in the islands by working hand in hand with fellow assistant Ikaika Malloe.

Since leaving the Huskies after Lake got fired during the 2021 season, Bhonapha has been on a meandering coaching journey.

He returned to Boise State for a season, coached for Jonathan Smith for a season at Oregon State and followed Smith to Michigan State for the past two seasons in East Lansing until everyone got let go when the season ended.

While with the Huskies, Bhonapha got fairly settled in with how everything worked, though he was continually amazed by the heightened level of the UW-Oregon football rivalry up until his departure.

“We actually got to the stadium and you couldn’t just . . . it was hard to . . . you couldn’t even . . . I guess, going into it . . . let me go back,” Bhonapha said, searching for the right words regarding a trip to Eugene. “You couldn’t imagine how just violent and passionate the rivalry was between the fans, as you’re coming onto the field, getting ready for warmups, as you’re riding on the bus.

“Over the course of time, you just sort of learn.” 

From Petersen to Lake and now Lupoi, Bhonapha brings a wealth of knowledge about rivalries and all things running back as he prepares to make Cal his next coaching stop.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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