Back as a head coach following his unceremonious exit from the Naval Academy, Ken Niumatalolo emphasized as he transitioned atop the San Jose State program that his offense would not be a mirror-image of his option-centric sets at Navy.
Enter Craig Stutzmann.
San Jose State officials on Monday announced Stutzmann as the new offensive coordinator for the Spartans, who have quickly shifted into a new era with Niumatalolo atop the program after Brent Brennan was hired away by Arizona.
Kevin McGiven will remain on staff with the Spartans and serve as the offense's passing game coordinator/wide receivers coach.
But it's the move to Stutzmann that signals a new direction for Niumatalolo.
A former wideout at Hawaii, Stutzmann has been a co-offensive coordinator at NCAA Division II program Emory & Henry, as well as Hawaii, Washington State and Utah Tech.
Stutzmann's roles have ranged from fully running offenses to being in charge of the passing game, as well as coaching wideouts and quarterbacks.
He's coached at both the prep level and in the NFL, working briefly with the Green Bay Packers, in addition to his nearly 15 years at the collegiate level.
Per his bio, Stutzmann has been credited as the originator of the "Spread-N-Shred" offense that has been designed to use the entire width of the field, get defenses misaligned and work to create mismatches for the offense.
At Washington State in 2020-21, Stutzmann helped the Cougars average 27 and 28 points per game.