UH football: Dueling coaching brothers out to put a stop to the offenses
Oct. 6—No offense, but Pat Ena is rooting for the defense exclusively when Hawaii and San Diego State meet in a Mountain West football game Saturday at Snapdragon Stadium.
No offense, but Pat Ena is rooting for the defense exclusively when Hawaii and San Diego State meet in a Mountain West football game Saturday at Snapdragon Stadium.
Two of his sons—UH's Eti Ena and SDSU's Justin Ena—are defensive line coaches for their respective teams.
This will be the second head-to-head meeting between the brothers. In 2014, Eti was the defensive line coach of a Cal Poly team that defeated Weber State, of which Justin was the defensive coordinator.
"He's always been tough and diligent and motivated and, even, psychotic about competition, " Eti said of his younger brother. "He brings out the best in me because I have to keep up my level to compete with him—and he feels the same way. ... I think the competition brings out the best in us and, at times, not so much the best in us. But all good times."
Justin said : "We're all very competitive. It's hard because no one likes to lose, but it happens in a game. You have to keep pressing forward and be the best you can be."
Their eldest brother Patrick—affectionately nicknamed "Packy " after the elephant at the Oregon Zoo—played at Portland State before becoming a high school coach in Hawaii. Eti completed his playing career as a defensive lineman at Eastern Washington in 1994. Justin is a former BYU linebacker who played four NFL seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles and Tennessee Titans. The youngest brother Tali was a quarterback at Washington State and then New Mexico.
"My older brother said I didn't beat up on my younger brother enough so he became an offensive player, " Justin mused.
Because Eti and Justin are four years apart, they were never football teammates. "When he was a senior, I was in eighth grade, " Justin said. "I was the ball boy for his (high school ) football team."
The brothers eventually navigated their way through the coaching profession. After the 2020 season, Utah State dismissed its coaching staff, including Justin as inside linebackers coach. At the time, Eti was Eastern Washington's defensive coordinator. Because of the pandemic, most of the FCS schools delayed their 2020 season to the spring of 2021. "We needed a linebacker coach, so I hired him for that spring season, " Eti said.
Justin lived with Eti and his family during that seven-game season.
"Now that I look back on my career, going 20 years, that was one of the funnest opportunities to do one of the coolest things, " Eti said. "I'll always look back at being able to coach with my brother."
Justin said : "It was absolutely fun ... learning from him and seeing his insight. It was fun to reconnect with his family. It was a big blessing in my life and a blast to be with him."
The brothers have been supportive of each other.
"It's a tribute to my dad, " Eti said. "Family's first. Family is family. That's my younger brother, and I'm going to be his biggest fan."
Then Eti joked : "But if he steps out of line, I'll knock him in line."
Justin said their father preached the importance of hard work and family.
"My dad is all about making sure you take pride in your work in whatever you do, whether it's being a football coach or cleaning the toilet, " Justin said. "It doesn't matter. You do your very best in what you do. We've all taken that to heart."
Justin also found inspiration from his mother Susan, who suffered from multiple sclerosis until her death in 1999, "We were all really close because you never knew how much time you had with each other, " Justin said. "Family was everything to us—and it still is."
