Football
Oct 10 (Fri)
6:00 p.m. PT
- Title:
- Recruiting Coordinator/Running Backs Coach
- Email:
- football@uw.edu
- Phone:
- (206) 543-2223
When Chris Petersen was named Washington's new head coach in early December of 2013, the first man he brought with him to begin hitting the recruiting trail was his longtime assistant, Keith Bhonapha. In 2021, Bhonapha enters his eighth season on Montlake with a long track record of success with his running backs.
On Feb. 1, 2021, Bhonapha added the role of special teams coordinator to his title.
In 2019, he coached a group of backs who shared time and combined for nearly 2,000 rushing yards. They were led by junior Salvon Ahmed, who became the ninth Husky in the last 10 seasons to rush for 1,000 yards, finishing the year with 1,020, along with 11 touchdowns. Additionally, then-redshirt freshman Richard Newton ran for 498 yards and 10 TDs. All the while, the UW backs lost just one fumble in 13 games. In 2020, Ahmed began his NFL career with the Dolphins in 2020.
In the four-game, 2020 season, the UW spread the ball around four backs, who combined to rush for 560 yards and nine touchdowns over the four games.
Bhonapha came to Seattle after having spent eight years on his staff at Boise State. He spent the previous five years in Boise as running backs coach, the last three as recruiting coordinator and was also the team's director of operations from 2006 to 2008. In nine of his 10 overall seasons as a coach, he has seen one of his running backs rush for over 1,000 yards.
Bhonapha's success at the UW has been readily apparent, both in recruiting and with the running backs. In 2018, Husky tailback Myles Gaskin completed his career as the most prolific rusher and scorer in the school's history. Gaskin was just the 10th player in FBS history and first-ever in the Pac-12 to rush for 1,000 yards in four straight season. He was also just the second player ever to reach 1,200 rushing yards in four straight seasons, joining College Football Hall of Famer Ron Dayne.
Gaskin finished his career with 5,323 rushing yards and 60 career touchdowns, far outdistancing the previous UW records. His rushing yards are more than 1,100 more than the next-closest Husky while his TDs total is 22 more than second-best. And, Gaskin did all of that while fumbling just four times (only two of them lost) in 1,017 career touches. The 2018 Huskies set a school record with just 11 fumbles as a team, and only three of those 11 were by running backs.
Gaskin earned second-team All-Pac-12 in both 2017 and 2018, while earning freshman All-America in 2015. He now plays for the Miami Dolphins, leading them in rushing yards in 2020.
In his role as the UW's recruiting coordinator under Petersen, Bhonapha also had great success as the Huskies reeled in top-25 classes, earning rankings as high as ever before in school history.
In his first season at Washington in 2014, Bhonapha coached a large and diverse group of running backs, five of whom started at least one game during the season (in large part due to injury). The group gelled down the stretch and had a back go over 100 yards in each of the last five games of the regular season.
In 2013, he mentored sophomore All-Mountain West Conference running back Jay Ajayi, who finished the season with 1,425 yards and 18 touchdowns, the fourth- and third-highest totals in Boise State history, respectively.
At Boise State, Bhonapha also coached Doug Martin, who twice earned first-team all-conference and was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first round of the 2012 NFL Draft. Martin rushed for 1,299 yards as a senior after totalling 1,260 as a junior.
In 2012, D.J. Harper ran for 1,137 yards and 15 TDs while, in 2009, Bhonapha's first as running backs coach, Jeremy Avery compiled 1,151 rushing yards, meaning that Bhonapha coached a 1,000-yard back in each of his five seasons with the Broncos.
Prior to taking over as running backs coach, he spent three years as Petersen's director of football operations.
A four-year letterman at Hawai'i, he began his coaching career at his alma mater in 2003, working with the defensive backs and special teams.
Bhonapha earned a bachelor's degree in liberal studies (with a focus on criminology) in 2003. He also earned a master's in public administration from Hawai'i in 2005. Coach Bhonapha's wife is named Julia. They are the parents of four children, Isaiah, Emery, Odin, and Ellison.
• 2021 – Washington – Running Backs/Special Teams Coordinator
• 2020 – Washington – Running Backs
• 2014-2019 – Washington – Running Backs/Recruiting Coordinator
• 2011-2013 – Boise State – Running Backs/Recruiting Coordinator
• 2009-2011 – Boise State – Running Backs
• 2006-2008 – Boise State – Director of Football Operations
• 2003-2005 – Hawai’i – Graduate Assistant
