Al Pupunu - Football Coach - University of Colorado Athletics

Wyoming

Sep 20 (Sat)

8:15 p.m.

Al Pupunu

Title:
Assistant Coach/Tight Ends
Email:
cufb@colorado.edu
Phone:
303-492-3214

Al Pupunu is in first year on the Colorado staff as the tight end coach, as he was hired by new CU head coach Mel Tucker, officially joining the Buffalo staff on Jan. 7, 2019.

Pupunu, 49, came to Colorado after spending the previous two seasons (2017-18) at Weber State, where he starred as a collegian. WSU was 10-3 and reached the FCS quarterfinals in 2018, winning one playoff game after earning a first round bye. During his first season there, he helped lead the Wildcats to a historic season: in addition to winning a school record 11 games, they captured the Big Sky title, won two games to reach the quarterfinals of the FCS Playoffs and finished the season ranked fifth in the nation, the highest in school history.

He was the tight ends coach at the University of Idaho for seven seasons (2010-16). In his last season in Moscow, Pupunu helped lead the Vandals to a 9-4 record in 2016, including a 61-50 win over Colorado State in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. The nine wins tied the most in school history and it was also the second-best ever for UI. In his seven seasons at Idaho working under head coaches Robb Akey and then Paul Petrillo, he coached several talented tight ends, including All-American and All-Big Sky Conference performer Andrew Vollert.

Pupunu played two seasons at Dixie State College before transferring to Weber State to play for Coach Dave Arslanian. As a senior in 1991, Pupunu had one of the best years in Big Sky Conference history. Playing alongside Walter Payton Trophy winner, quarterback Jamie Martin, Pupunu set a Division I-AA (now FCS) record with 93 receptions for 1,204 yards and 12 touchdowns, helping Weber State to an 8-4 record and a trip to the NCAA playoffs. The 93 catches still rank as the most receptions in a season in Weber State history, and the second most ever in a season by an FCS tight end.

For his efforts that season, Pupunu earned All-Big Sky Conference honors and was named an All-American by the Associated Press, the Sports Network and the Walter Camp Football Foundation.

He signed as a free agent with San Diego in the National Football League in 1992, the start of a nine-year professional career that he would spend with the Chargers (1992-97, 1999), Kansas City (1997), New York Giants (1998) and Detroit (2000).

Pupunu helped the Chargers reach Super Bowl XXIX (1994 season), as he caught a 43-yard touchdown pass from Stan Humphries in the AFC Championship game that narrowed the deficit against Pittsburgh to 13-10 in the third quarter; San Diego went on to win the game, 17-13, and he was named the offensive player of the game with four receptions for 76 yards and the score. San Diego faced San Francisco in the Super Bowl but lost 49-26 to the 49ers; Pupunu caught four passes for 48 yards. Two of his teammates on that Chargers’ team were former Buffaloes: running back Eric Bieniemy and right tackle Stan Brock.

Though Pupunu only scored five career touchdowns (three regular season, two postseason), he created a unique celebration that he performed after each: he mimicked twisting off the top of a coconut and drinking the juice, a very popular celebration among Charger fans. Pupunu he had 102 receptions for exactly 1,000 yards in 103 regular season games (42 starts), and added 13 catches for 163 yards in seven playoff games, four of which he started.

After his professional career, his first taste of coaching was at Alta High School in Sandy, Utah, where he spent four years (2002-05). He then became an intern at the University of Utah under Kyle Whittingham for two seasons (2006-07). Unable to earn his degree at Weber State because he went into the NFL, while interning at Utah he earned his bachelor’s in Sociology and Criminology in 2006.

He attained his first full-time coaching position in 2008, when he was named the running backs and tight ends coach at Southern Utah University. He was there for two seasons and coached in 22 games (SUU was 9-13) before moving on to Idaho ahead of the 2010 season.

Pupunu was inducted into the Utah Sports Hall of Fame in 2004 and the Weber State Athletic Hall of Fame in 2005. He has also been presented with the Distinguished Utahn Award by former Prime Minister of England, Margaret Thatcher.

Born Alfred Pupunu on Oct. 17, 1969 in Tonga, he graduated from South High School in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he lettered in football and basketball, soccer and track. He is married to the former Mindi Forbes, and the couple has five children, Miley, Kade, Brynnli, Kenna and Noah (Kade signed to play football at Weber State but went on his two-year Mormon Mission and will be a freshman this fall). He moved to the United States when he was a toddler and was raised in Utah. (Last name is pronounced puh-pooh-new.)

AT-A-GLANCE— He has coached in 81 Division I-A (FBS) games as a full-time position coach, including one bowl game (2016 Famous Idaho Potato), as well as in 22 FCS games for a total of 103 as a full-time collegiate coach.

COACHING EXPERIENCE
2005-07         Utah                                Volunteer Assistant
2008-09         Southern Utah               Running Backs/Tight Ends
2010-16         Idaho                              Tight Ends
2017-18         Weber State                   Tight Ends
2019-             Colorado                         Tight Ends