Mark Atuaia: Mormon Coach

Mark Atuaia is a college football coach and currently running backs coach at the University of Virginia. He is part of the team of coaches that Bronco Mendenhall took with him from Brigham Young University. Atuaia had been running backs coach since 2013.

Atuaia is from Laie, Hawaii, where he played football at Kahuku High School. He was a running back at BYU in 1991, and from 1994–1996, taking time off to serve as a missionary in Tucson, Arizona. He is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

He earned his bachelor’s degree from BYU-Hawaii and his master’s of public administration and his doctor of jurisprudence from BYU. Also at BYU, he worked as an assistant to the dean of student life from 2011 to 2012 and was an assistant to the athletics director for student services in 2012.

He and his wife, The Jets’ lead singer Elizabeth Atuaia, are the parents of seven children.