Anae's Way: Meet the Man Tasked with Rebuilding Cal Football's Offensive Line
Famika Anae's road to Cal has been difficult and now he's been given one of his biggest challenges
It’s no secret that Cal’s offensive line has earned immense scrutiny over the last several seasons. From ineffective stints under Angus McClure and Mike Bloesch, offensive drives effectively ended before they started as quarterbacks and running backs alike were put under consistent duress.
Famika Anae was tabbed by Justin Wilcox to lead another rebuild shortly into the 2024 offseason after his group surrendered the least amount of sacks in the country at New Mexico. The task would not be easy.
Returners Braden Miller and Bastian Swinney have both referenced a mentality change and a “belief” that the Bears can actually be a physical offensive line has been the biggest difference from year to year. To this point in the season, Anae’s offensive line unit has had games that have been equal parts encouraging and disappointing. It’s a moderate but noticeable change from prior years where up front play suffered every single week of the season.
In attempting to understand the equal parts ferociously passionate yet stoic Cal offensive line coach, it requires understanding the lengths and experiencing that brought him to Berkeley.
A third generation BYU legacy, Anae was surrounded by football from day one. His grandfather Famika played for the Cougars in the 1950's while his father Robert, recently known for stints as offensive coordinator at Virginia and NC State, also donned a BYU uniform as apart of the 1984 National Championship team.
It wouldn’t always be sunshine and roses for Famika as embarked on his own journey at BYU in the early 2010’s. After his sophomore season, Anae would be forced to medically retire, upending a career where he had earned all-independent honors. Forced to give up what he loved, his attention turned towards finishing his degree as he along with those in his circle determined the next steps. The inward thoughts were loud but the despair never became a dominant force.
“For me, its about how you respond. There is a fork in the road and you can say its really hard and you say woe is me and I’m done, I’m out,” Anae stated softly. “Or there is, yes this is hard, there’s an acknowledgement of the dire circumstances and you continue to push forward. Everything that I’m asking these kids I have lived, gone through and experienced. Through the crappy times are when I’ve grown the most.”
The next chapter involved immersing himself in a world that would shape his life as we know it today, coaching. With Robert back in the fold as BYU’s offensive coordinator along with a new offensive line coach hire that kept Famika feeling right at home alongside family, the decision was more of a formality than anything.
“I had an unfair advantage knowing his family, having seen him since he was a little kid,” said former BYU and current NC State OL Coach Garett Tujague. “He’s always been a tough, hardworking, no nonsense guy. Despite all of us telling him not to go into this profession, he’s decided to jump in with both feet. He never turned down an opportunity to improve.”
Tujague’s history with the Anae’s, dating back to Robert being a GA for Pleasanton native Tujague at BYU, gave him a unique look at how Famika internalized, harnessed and eventually refocused himself as the now assistant OL coach at his alma mater heading into the 2013 season.
“You get to see him as a player and sometimes coaches struggle from playing to that coaching role but he was a coach on the field so it was that much smoother,” Tujague told Write For California. “It wasn’t even so much as we asked him, we told him we need you to do it. He’s held on to the rope with two hands and hasn’t let go.”
After a few seasons at BYU, it was time for Famika to pack his bags. He departed Provo alongside Bronco Mendenhall, his father and Tujague as the staff was hired by the University of Virginia on a staff that eventually included current Cal Co-DC Vic So’oto. It would be the first stretch where he was in unfamiliar territory in quite some time.
By 2018, Famika was on the move again. But this time, he was going to be the head man of his room. Anae was named the Tight Ends coach at Utah Tech and would start a string of stops were he made a name for himself in quieter environments. The very next year, Anae was in the charge of the offensive line at Texas A&M Commerce, where he would spend the next three years before stints at Campbell and New Mexico. Consistent success, accountability and production that included top level conference statistics gave him the power four break he was looking for as Mendenhall left his post in Albuquerque for Utah State this offseason.
Once in Berkeley, you could sense the reverberating noise immediately. On what are therapeutic days with drills taking place throughout California Memorial Stadium during spring ball and fall camp, a few voices boomed in the distance but one echoed above all.
Famika Anae rides his guys. He demands a lot from them but isn’t demeaning to them. There’s no mistaking what he’s asking for on the football field. For some, that’s exactly the type of disciplined backed coaching they are looking for. For others, there may be scoffing at that day in day out approach.
“There is a way to build a relationship, to know what I expect from you comes from a place of love,” Anae described. “I coach hard but pay attention to the right to coach them hard. It’s really through relationships and family dynamics, in dealing with conflict resolution and for me there is a threshold with that. If they don’t believe in what I say, me yelling is pointless.”
The contrast of Coach Anae and Famika becomes apparent quickly. Soft spoken, poignantly articulate but not resting on his laurels, you can sense the football academia the more he has time to formulate his thoughts. Beyond the gridiron, Anae is all about culture and family. He’s self described his Polynesian background as part of his identity, referencing that he wants to be a good representative of people close to him. Football is far from the sole thing that defines him in a world where people know his family legacy coupled with household of five children that were recently in Hawaii until a move last week to the mainland.
That family feel developed from his years in Provo. One of his good friends and current Ravens LB Kyle Van Noy excitedly pointed out as much. The NFL veteran and Anae were in the Cougars 2010 recruiting class that ultimately saw them going to battle on a day-to-day basis. An offensive lineman and linebacker becoming close friends, including an undefeated streak in video games that Van Noy maintains is accurate to this day, you couldn’t really script that dynamic.
The two bridge together a relationship that’s been maintained through periodic check ins and definitely not without a lack of jokes. Van Noy described a time last year when he ribbed Anae about Arizona WR Tetairoa McMillan going for 304 receiving yards against the Lobos and then not even a few weeks later there was a text waiting for him about Bengals WR Ja’Marr Chase giving the Ravens all sorts of trouble.
“The best thing about him now is that he’s a really good dad and husband,” Van Noy exclaimed. “He has all those different skillsets that he’s learned throughout his life to teach these young men that are coming in at 18 and 19, that they can take on what he’s said when they have kids, and therefore know how to play the game of football and game of life. Money can’t buy that.”
Those lessons have woven into this current offensive line crop. They believe and that’s a start. But that’s not the goal, not for anyone. Not the players, coaches or fans.
Cal has had games where the offensive line has showcased itself as a group that’s improving, with no sacks given up in great efforts at Oregon State and Boston College mixed with a spirited output against Minnesota. Conversely, there are games that have signaled that this journey is far from over in affairs against San Diego State, Duke and in parts against Texas Southern.
Notably, Cal has had two games where Kendrick Raphael ran for over 100 yards, on pace for an improvement over the 2024 season where the Bears produced only two games with a 100 yard+ rusher (San Diego State, UNLV). It’s another step in the right direction for a group that’s still coming together and realizing its potential while also noting they are not where the standard needs to be.
”I’ve had coaches like Famika my whole life so for me and my character it helps me develop better,” said Cal OL LaJuan Owens. “Right now we are trying to get this group to be more than they can be.
For the Bears, that mark of consistency up front will be a standard that hasn’t been reached in arguably over a decade. Four of the five current starters can elect to return to Berkeley next year, a type of continuity that can be hard to come by in this age of college athletics.
Late on Thursdays, you can expect Anae and company to be breaking down blitz pickups against future opponents inside the quiet confines of California Memorial Stadium. There has been notable improvement but the finish line is far from in sight. Famika Anae knows it. Justin Wilcox has made notes about that. There’s alignment from the head coach and position coach alike about the necessity to get better in a situation where there’s no time to simply hope for results.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do there. There’s some talented men in that group but it’s more than being 6’5 and 320 lbs,” Wilcox declared. “That group has the ability to improve significantly, there’s enough talent in there. A lot of urgency to get better.”
Anae relishes that challenge, and it only takes a few minutes to notice that amidst cerebral silence. Coming off a season where you had the second best rushing attack in yards per game along with the fewest sacks given up in the country, that doesn’t just spawn in his hand. The work was difficult but rewarding.
He now faces one of his bigger coaching challenges in his young career as he looks to help bring Cal back to the promised land.
”This group has shown capacity. They’ve shown they can do it at a high level and right now we are building the specificity to do it more consistently,” Anae noted. “Now it becomes how specific, how deliberate are you every day to make that your baseline. Right now we are not that but I do think they are willing to keep searching for that specificity. Encouraged by the capacity but a lot of work to do.”
IMHO this is the most critical task Cal faces in getting to a championship level, as games are decided by offensive and defensive line play. He sounds like a really good coach to get the line play to that level -- I hope he is given enough time to accomplish his mission.
This was a good read, I enjoyed it, thank you. I do hope Coach Anae succeeds here with obtaining consistent high level offensive line play. Friday night playing North Carolina would be a great time to reach that goal.