Kennedy Polamalu (born November 22, 1963) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

coach and former player who currently is the running backs coach for the

Las Vegas Raiders The Las Vegas Raiders are a professional American football team based in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Raiders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West div ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He most recently served as the running backs coach for the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansi ...

. He was the offensive coordinator for the

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) ...

. Prior to that he was the offensive coordinator for the

USC Trojans The USC Trojans are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC), located in Los Angeles, California. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ''Trojans'', the women's athletic teams are referred ...

College career

Polamalu was a fullback at USC from 1982 to 1985. His contributions helped the

defeat the

Ohio State Buckeyes The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tre ...

, 20–17, in the 1985 Rose Bowl.

Coaching career

Early coaching career

Polamalu coached running backs and

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

for the USC Trojans from 2000 to 2003. He coached

Justin Fargas Justin Alejandro Fargas (born January 25, 1980) is a former American football running back. He played college football at Michigan and Southern California and was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the third round of the 2003 NFL Draft. Colleg ...

, Hershel Dennis and Tom Malone. Prior to that he coached at the high school level and for

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...

(UCLA),

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

and the

University of Colorado at Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado sy ...

. He coached the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (A ...

in 2004 and the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team pla ...

from 2005 to 2009. On July 24, 2010, Polamalu accepted a position with USC to become the offensive coordinator. The hiring led

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their hom ...

coach

Jeff Fisher Jeffrey Michael Fisher (born February 25, 1958) is an American football coach who is the head coach and general manager for the Michigan Panthers of the United States Football League (USFL). He is a former cornerback and return specialist. He ...

to publicly criticize USC head coach,

Lane Kiffin Lane Monte Kiffin (born May 9, 1975) is an American football coach who is currently the head coach of the Ole Miss Rebels. Kiffin formerly was the offensive coordinator for the USC Trojans football team from 2005 to 2006, head coach of the Nati ...

, for not following generally accepted

(NFL) protocol: that the head coach or athletic department of the interested team should call the other head coach and let him know that he will be contacting an assistant on their staff. Fisher was upset that Kiffin called and left a voicemail after Polamalu had already accepted the job. Kiffin then explained that he called Polamalu on Friday, July 23, to gauge his interest; after getting Polamalu's positive answer on Saturday, Kiffin called Fisher and left a message.Kiffin's approach 'disappoints' Fisher
ESPN.com, July 24, 2010, Accessed July 25, 2010. On July 26, 2010, the Titans filed a lawsuit against Kiffin and USC for "maliciously luring" Polamalu away, asking for damages. On December 4, 2013, it was announced that Polamalu was hired to be the running backs coach at UCLA. In July 2013, Polamalu decided to coach his son at Loyola High School in Los Angeles. He coached the running backs and was the Specials Team Coordinator. He only coached there for a year until he got an offer to coach at UCLA.

UCLA

On January 13, 2016, UCLA announced that it has promoted Polamalu to offensive coordinator. Following the loss to California on November 26, 2016, Polamalu's contract at UCLA was not renewed.

Vikings

In January 2017, the

officially announced the hiring of Polamalu as the team's running back coach. He was let go after the 2021 season.

Raiders

In 2022 he became the running backs coach for the Raiders.

Personal life

Polamalu is married to Diane Griffin and has three children K.C., Matthew, and Tre. He also has a daughter-in-law Theresa Pola and a grandson, Tre. He was born the day President Kennedy was assassinated, and was named in his honor. He graduated from Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, California in 1982 where he also played football and was Student Class President his senior year. Polamalu's brother, Aoatoa, played

nose tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that will typically line up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the offensive guards, however he may also line up opposite one of the tackles. Defensive tackles are typically the l ...

at Penn State from 1984 to 1988. Upon moving to

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

from

American Samoa American Samoa ( sm, Amerika Sāmoa, ; also ' or ') is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the island country of Samoa. Its location is centered on . It is east of the Internationa ...

in the mid-1970s, Kennedy's family shortened their last name to Pola. In 2011, he began the process of legally changing it back to Polamalu while preparing for a return to Samoa. In June,"Football: Kennedy Pola goes home, changes his name"
Pedro Moura,

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

, June 30, 2011 he was part of a contingent that included former USC players Rey Maualuga, Deuce Lutui, Malaefou MacKenzie and others who returned to Samoa for a football camp sponsored by his nephew, former

All-American and Pittsburgh Steelers safety

Troy Polamalu Troy Aumua Polamalu (; born Troy Benjamin Aumua; April 19, 1981) is an American former football strong safety who played his entire 12-year career for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football ...

. His name change became official in August 2011.

References

External links

UCLA profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Polamalu, Kennedy 1963 births Living people American football fullbacks American Samoan Roman Catholics American sportspeople of Samoan descent Cleveland Browns coaches Colorado Buffaloes football coaches High school football coaches in California Jacksonville Jaguars coaches San Diego State Aztecs football coaches UCLA Bruins football coaches USC Trojans football coaches USC Trojans football players People from Pago Pago Players of American football from American Samoa Players of American football from California Las Vegas Raiders coaches