Lawrence Suiaunoa Position: Defensive Line

Legi Suiaunoa (pronounced: Lang-ee... SOW-uh-No-uh) is in his second season on Montana's football coaching staff. He coaches the defensive line.

Last season Griz senior defensive tackle Bryan Waldhauser was a first team All-Big Sky Conference selection, while ends Bobby Alt and Ryan Fetherston were honorable mention picks.

Suiaunoa is now in his 11th season of coaching college and junior college football. He came to Montana from fellow Big Sky Conference school Portland State, where we worked with the defensive line during the 2010 season.

Prior to his recent stint at PSU, he spent the 2009 season at Eastern Oregon as the defensive coordinator. Before that he was at Western Washington for four seasons, from 2005-08, serving as the defensive line coach. He was a graduate assistant at the University of Nevada in 2004.

Suiaunoa began his coaching career at Palomar (Calif.) Junior College in 2002 and 2003, working with the linebackers. The Comets were 8-3 in 2003, reaching the first round of Southern California JC playoffs and were 10-1 in 2002, winning the Mission Conference championship and finishing fourth nationally in the final JC Grid-Wire Poll.

He was a starting linebacker for the Nevada Wolfpack, playing there from 1998-2001.

A native of Oceanside, Calif., he won a junior college national championship in 1997 as a player at Palomar JC, and he was named all-conference that season.

He attended El Camino High School in Oceanside, where he was a three-time letterman in three sports. He was chosen second-team all-state, first-team all-county and first-team all-league as a senior in football. He helped the Wildcats to state football playoffs three times, reaching the semifinals as a senior. In basketball, he helped ECHS to three straight league undefeated seasons. He also lettered in track.

He earned a degree in general studies administration from Nevada in 2002.

Legi and his wife, Rose, have a son, Lawrence, 3.