Travers Family Head Football Coach Tosh Lupoi has announced the hiring of longtime collegiate coach and Oakland native Keith Bhonapha as the program's running back coach on Monday.
 
Bhonapha has spent the past two seasons at Michigan State as the Spartan's assistant head coach/running backs coach. He also served as the program's co-special teams coordinator and held play-calling responsibilities for that unit.
 
Bhonapha has more than 20 years of collegiate experience stemming from stints at Michigan State, Oregon State, Boise State, Washington and Hawai'i.
 
This past season, Spartan punter Ryan Eckley earned First-Team All-Big Ten honors after leading the Big Ten with the highest average of yards per punt (48.5). The Spartan offense was statistically led by sophomore running back Makhi Frazier who rushed for 520 yards on 116 carries and two touchdowns while playing in nine games. In addition, he finished fourth on the team with 545 all-purpose yards.
 
In 2024, Michigan State's special teams featured two all-conference performers as placekicker Jonathan Kim and punter Ryan Eckley both earned Second-Team All-Big Ten accolades. In the backfield, Bhonapha mentored Kay'ron Lynch-Adams (649 yards, two TDs) and Nathan Carter (499 yards, five TDs) as the duo led the Spartans in rushing. Both Lynch-Adams (Panthers) and Carter (Falcons) signed as undrafted NFL free agents following their Spartan careers.
 
Bhonapha came to Michigan State after spending one season at Oregon State in 2023, helping the Beavers to an 8-4 record. During his lone season in Corvallis, Oregon, Bhonapha coached sophomore running back Damien Martinez, a Doak Walker Award semifinalist who ranked second in the Pac-12 and 20th in the FBS during the regular season in rushing (98.75 ypg). Martinez also ranked second in the conference in both rushing yards (1,185) and rushing attempts per game (16.2) in 2023. A two-time selection to the All-Pac-12 First Team, Martinez was ranked fifth in yards per carry (6.11) and tied for sixth in rushing TDs (9). Martinez finished the 2023 regular season with 1,185 rushing yards, ranking him at No. 13 in the Oregon State single-season record books; he went on to get selected in the seventh round of the 2025 NFL Draft by Seattle.
 
Before his stint with Oregon State, Bhonapha was associate head coach and running backs coach at Boise State in 2022, also overseeing BSU's special teams during his second stint in Boise, helping the Broncos to the 2022 Frisco Bowl.
 
In 2022, BSU was second in the Mountain West in both rushing (196.4 ypg) and rushing yards per carry (5.0), while ranking third in rushing TDs (27). Bhonapha helped coach running back George Holani to Second-Team All-Mountain West honors, after ranking third in the conference in rushing yards (1,157) and fourth in both rushing average (89.0 ypg) and rushing touchdowns (10). Under Bhonapha's mentoring, running back Ashton Jeanty and placekicker Jonah Dalmas also earned honorable mention All-MW accolades. Jeanty went on to have a record-setting career at Boise State, winning the Doak Walker Award and Maxwell Award in 2024 while finishing runner-up for the Heisman Trophy; he was selected in the first round (No. 6 overall) of the 2025 NFL Draft by the Las Vegas Raiders.
 
Bhonapha coached at Washington from 2014-2021 as the Huskies' running backs coach and also oversaw the Huskie's special teams in 2021. Bhonapha was also Washington's recruiting coordinator from 2014-19, helping the Huskies land three top 25 recruiting classes. 
 
While at Washington, Bhonapha mentored the likes of Salvon Ahmed, who became the ninth Husky in the previous 10 seasons to rush for 1,000 yards, finishing the year with 1,020, to go with 11 touchdowns and Myles Gaskin. Under Bhonapha, Gaskin became just the 10th player in FBS history to rush for four consecutive 1,000-yard seasons (2015-18). Gaskin was also just the second player in NCAA history to eclipse 1,200 yards for four straight years, joining Wisconsin's Ron Dayne to accomplish that feat. Gaskin completed his career at Washington with a school-record 62 touchdowns and 5,323 rushing yards. He also held school records for 100-yard rushing games (26), rushing attempts (945), rushing yards per game (102.4), rushing touchdowns (57), rushes of 50-plus yards (10) and all-purpose yards (5,878). A 2016 first-team All-Pac-12 honoree, Gaskin was selected in the seventh round of the 2019 NFL Draft by the Miami Dolphins.
 
Bhonapha's first stint at Boise State was from 2006-13, where he oversaw the Broncos' running backs from 2009-13 and was BSU's director of operations from 2006-08. He helped Boise State to the 2007 Fiesta Bowl and a thrilling victory over Oklahoma. Over the course of his eight seasons in Boise, he helped the Broncos reach the 2007 Hawai'i Bowl, 2008 Poinsettia Bowl, 2010 Fiesta Bowl, the 2010-12 Las Vegas Bowls, and 2013 Hawai'i Bowl.
 
During his first tenure with the Broncos, Bhonapha worked with running backs including Jeremy Avery, who rushed for 1,151 yards in 2009. Next in line was Doug Martin, who rushed for 1,260 yards in 2010 and 1,299 yards in 2011, before getting drafted in the first round of the 2012 NFL Draft by Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In 2012, D.J. Harper rushed for 1,137 yards, before two-time first-team All-Mountain West honoree Jay Ajayi amassed 1,425 yards in 2013.
 
Ajayi finished his collegiate career with 678 rushes for 3,796 yards and 50 rushing touchdowns, which all ranked in the top three spots on the Boise State career lists. Ajayi was later drafted by the Miami Dolphins in 2015 and was a member of the Super Bowl LII champion Philadelphia Eagles in 2017, before retiring at the end of the 2022 season.
 
Bhonapha's first coaching opportunity came at Hawai'i, his alma mater, from 2003-05, working with UH's defensive backs and special teams.
 
A four-year letterwinner at Hawai'i (1999-2002), Bhonapha was a defensive back for the Rainbow Warriors, playing 35 games in his career, posting 55 tackles and scoring a touchdown on a blocked punt. He helped UH to the 1999 Oahu Bowl vs. Oregon State and the 2002 Hawai'i Bowl vs. Tulane.
 
A native of Oakland, Bhonapha earned his bachelor's degree from Hawai'i in liberal studies with a focus in criminology in 2003, and his master's degree from Hawai'i in public administration in 2005.
 
Bhonapha and his wife, Julia, have four children, Isaiah, Emery, Odin and Ellison.