I think Malepeai is great hire for the Aggies. His bio reads like a perfect fit for the Ags and his recruiting experience will be invaluable as well.

From the official announcement:

"When we look to add to our staff it always starts with who they are as people," said Plough. "Vae is a tremendous example of this and that's why we're thrilled to add him. We're excited about his experience as a player at the running back position and his reputation as an elite recruiter. Our goal will continue to be focusing on creating an environment where our staff and players can achieve their best work. We are thankful to have Vae and his wife join the Aggie family."

Malepeai comes to Davis after spending the past three seasons on The Farm as an Offensive Quality Control Analyst working with the offensive line and running backs. Before getting to Stanford, Malepeai was the running backs coach at Mililani High School in Mililani, Hawai'i and he brings extensive recruiting experience that stretches from Hawai'i to New Jersey.

"My wife and I are so blessed to join the Davis family," said Malepeai. "It's an absolute privilege to be able to be part of a culture that I've heard so many great things about. I'm fired up to get rolling with coach Plough, the staff, and the student athletes here. GO AGS!"

As a player, Malepeai put together one of the better running back careers in USC program history. He finished up a five-year career with the USC Trojans from 2017-21 scoring 24 total touchdowns while rushing for 2,005 yards, placing him 21st all-time in USC history. He appeared in 50 games for the Trojans, making 15 starts. He earned the team's most inspirational player award as a senior and was a co-captain of the Trojans that season and during the 2020 season, Malepeai was named to the Pac-12 Academic Honor Roll.

Malepeai takes over an experienced and battle tested room that features returning 1,000-yard rusher Jordan Fisher, along with Kai Acia, Mason Walsh and Weber State transfer Chauncey Sylvester. Last season the Aggies finished 27th in the nation in rushing offense and Fisher came in ranked 15th in total rushing yards after racking up 1,121 yards on the ground.

https://ucdavisaggies.com/news/2026/3/10/football-hires-vavae-malepeai-as-running-backs-coach.aspx

Gotta say, their non-conference schedule is much more exciting than ours but the Big Sky is much more exciting than the MAC in my opinion.

We've beaten Santa Barbara 6 straight times. That's a crazy streak and 7 straight won't be easy.

BIG WEST TOURNAMENT SEEDING

#l - UC Irvine
#2 - Hawai'i
#3 - Cal State Fullerton
#4 - CSUN
35 - UC San Diego
#6 - UC Davis
#7 - UC Santa Barbara
#8 - Cal Poly

Great effort by the Ags. Rebounds and FT's by Irvine did us in though.

We'll likely be playing short-handed without several starters which is a shame given that this is a nationally televised game. I hope we come up with a Herculean effort and keep the game within reach so we don't end up playing catch up from 10-15 down most of the game.

It's gonna be very tough especially if Sevilla, Cooper and Stokes are still out.

Shine graduated from Davis and played this year for Riverside as a 5th year grad student.

From the Big West Men's Basketball Board:

UC Davis (11-8)

4 seed with win + Northridge win + Santa Barbara win
5 seed with win + Fullerton win + Santa Barbara win (* 4 or 5 seed *) OR with win + Northridge win + San Diego win OR with loss + Northridge win + San Diego win
6 seed with win + Fullerton win + San Diego win OR with loss + Fullerton win + Santa Barbara win
7 seed with loss + Santa Barbara win

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/bigwest/big-west-tournament-scenarios-t30863.html#p282176

Saturday, March 7 games:

Bakersfield @ Poly - 4 pm
Aggies @ Irvine - 5 pm on ESPNU
Fullerton @ CSUN - 5 pm
San Diego @ Santa Barbara - 6 pm
Long Beach @ Hawai'i - 9 pm

Current standings with one game to go:

I listened to Les in the radio post-game interview. He was really proud of the team grinding out a win without Sevilla, Cooper and Stokes. Wilson had 30 and he should be in the running for Big West Freshman of the Year. Les said they nominated him but the BW said he isn't eligible because he played in 4 games at Washington State last year. Les said that's ridiculous since a freshman is a freshman. Rocak had 4 blocks and I believe that made him the all-time leader in blocks in Aggie history.

I posted about this scandal sometime last year. You gotta feel for Coach Barnes. It seems like he was not aware of the sex trafficking that Mays is accused of and Barne's "resignation" was just part of the collateral damage.

I always thought that Barnes was a good fit for Bakersfield. Many of his players came from tough backgrounds and Barnes, who is a bit "old school," worked hard to teach them discipline and life skills through basketball.

Please give us a summary of the meeting.

The Aggies have announced Cody vonAppen as the new Special Teams Coordinator. He comes to Davis from Cal Poly where he was the Defensive Coordinator since 2022. Taylor Chapatte will return to his primary role of Tight Ends Coach. Chapatte held both positions last year.

https://ucdavisaggies.com/news/2026/2/26/football-welcomes-cody-vonappen-as-special-teams-coordinator.aspx

:rofl:

2/28 final scores:

Hawai'i 87 Fullerton 85
Riverside 95 CSUN 79
Long Beach 88 Bakersfield 87
Irvine 64 Santa Barbara 60

Current Standings:

Saturday 2/28 games:

Hawai'i @ Fullerton - 4 pm
CSUN @ Riverside - 5 pm
Long Beach @ Bakersfield - 6:30 pm
Cal Poly @ San Diego - 7 pm
Santa Barbara @ Irvine 7:30 pm

Hawai'i simply manhandled, or should I say "womanhandled," the Ags last night. They were the more physical and aggressive team with superior height also. It didn't help that the Ags were ice cold shooting for most of the first half either. The Ags only scored 9 points in the first quarter and all 9 points were scored by Nya Epps...that was a bad omen from the get go...

The Big West is always very competitive and this year it is especially so. Yes, were are currently in 7th place but look at that log jam in the middle of the standings. A lot can still happen in this free-for-all.

We were within 2 points of 1st place Hawai'i last night with 24 seconds left in the game so we have shown that we can play with any team in the conference. Great effort by the Ags playing without Jalen Stokes and Nils Cooper. Omer Suljanovic, a true freshman that is improving with every game. went out with an injury last night also. We've got a week to, hopefully, heal up before our final 2 road games.