South Dakota School of Mines Athletics welcomes new Hardrocker football defensive coordinator Levi Suiaunoa, all the way from Federal Way, Washington with his wife Alosina and two children – five-year-old Levi and three-year-old Sinaumea.
Suiaunoa was the Head Football Coach at Decatur High School beginning in 2014 and has brought the team to a performance that was special enough for Coach Tinker to reach out and offer him the position with the Hardrockers.
Suiaunoa was the head football coach at Decatur High School in 2014 and brought the team to a performance that was special enough for Hardrocker football head coach Zach Tinker to reach out and offer him the position with the ‘Rockers.
“His enthusiasm for football is contagious,” Tinker said. “The reason I hired him is because I know and trust him. He’s been through it as a coach before which is really important to me. He’s got that coordinator experience so he’s had good and bad days, but he also has a lunch-pail mentality which is vital for a role such as his.”
While working at Decatur, Suiaunoa was responsible for supervising, evaluating and the training and mentoring of 70 student athletes while also doing the same with his eight assistant football coaches.
This will not be Suiaunoa’s first time at the collegiate level as he worked for Eastern Oregon University, alongside Coach Tinker, as the Defensive Coordinator and Assistant Head Coach from 2009 – 2014. This is where he developed and organized defensive practice programs, schemes and strategies.
Along with working with the players, Suiaunoa also trained coaches in the defensive position and opened the recruiting pipeline into Nevada, Hawaii and the American Samoa while also developing two NAIA All-Americans, CoSida ESPN All-American and several All-Frontier Conference players.
“I am excited to be a part of the Hardrocker family and I look forward to working with the staff and the student athletes,” Suiaunoa said.
