Former all-state Emery running back and linebacker Jon Faimalo was announced Monday as the new coach of the Emery Spartan football team. Longtime coach Jim Jones is leaving the area after taking a job in Arizona.
Faimalo, a player on Jones’ teams from 90-92, will take over a team that returns six offensive starters and nine more on the defensive side of the ball.
“It’s going to be exciting but they need to put in the work,” Faimalo said about the team. “I have coached them since they were freshman.”
Faimalo has been an assistant under Jones for the past three years. He also played, and starred, at running back and linebacker for the Spartans in the early nineties, garnering all-state honors in 1991 and 1992. Faimalo will use similar offensive and defensive schemes as in year’s past, especially since he has a strong core of returning players.
“No reason to fix what’s not broke,” he said.
The new coach will use the familiar Wing-T offense, a scheme nearly perfected by Coach Jones at Emery High. Faimalo will also institute some more traditional sets, including the read-option.
For as long as Faimalo can remember, it’s been Coach Jones roaming the sidelines at Emery High.
“All I knew when I was a kid was Coach Jones,” he said. “He is probably one of the smartest coaches I know. He leaves a legacy.”
The new coach inherits a team that went 4-6 in 2015, which included a 2-3 mark in the 3A North division.
Faimalo is married to the former Lacey Gordon of Huntington. The two have five children and live in Huntington.