New Hawaii head coach Timmy Chang has another key piece to his inaugural defensive staff.
Eti Ena has joined the Warriors’ staff to work with Hawaii’s defensive line.
Most recently, Ena played a key role at Football Championship Subdivision power Eastern Washington. Ena’s alma mater, EWU hired him in 2016 to work with the Eagles’ defensive line and then three years ago promoted him to the role of defensive coordinator.
Additionally, Ena served as EWU’s associate head coach for the past five seasons.
During his time working with the Eagles’ defense, Ena helped mentor double-digit all-conference selections and has tutored some of the most opportunistic defenses in FCS. His 2018 squad led the division in defensive touchdowns scored and also ranked inside the top 20 in scoring defense.
Ena has previous coaching stops at Idaho, Cal-Poly and Eastern Oregon, as well as early coaching experience at the prep level.
Chang was hired in late-January to take over the Hawaii program after is fractured under previous coach Todd Graham, with stadium issues, finances and mass player exodus among the Warriors’ problems.
Chang since that time has systematically worked to build a Hawaii staff cognizant of the program’s desired culture and understanding the family dynamic Chang wants to bring back to the Hawaii football team.
The Warriors open their 2022 season with back-to-back home games against Vanderbilt (Aug. 27) and Western Kentucky (Sept. 3) before traveling 9,000 miles roundtrip for a game against Michigan at the Big House in Ann Arbor, Michigan.