Tuioti vs. Tuioti. Oregon, Boise State set stage for family battle

The last time Oregon defensive line coach Tony Tuioti coached against a family member, it didn't start the best.

Serving as the defensive coordinator at Silverado High in Las Vegas, Tuioti went head to head with his father-in-law, Paul Nihipali, the offensive coordinator for Chaparral, in the playoffs.

Tuioti said they didn't talk throughout the week. But his defense, which held teams in single-digit scoring throughout most of the regular season, gave up several scores in the first half, alone.

Silverado and Tuioti ended up winning the game, but he found out later that his wife gave his father-in-law his playbook.

See photos from Oregon football's past run ins with Boise State

Fast forward to 2026 and Tuioti, with over two decades of coaching experience, will coach his son, Teitum, who plays edge for the Ducks , this weekend alongside his oldest, Teivis, who is also on the Ducks ' coaching staff. On the other sideline will be his youngest son, Teimana, or Mana, for short, a sophomore linebacker for Boise State .

Don't expect Mana to get Oregon's playbook headed into this weekend, though.

Boise State coach Spencer Danielson joked at the beginning of the week that he instructed Mana to not speak with his dad, but the two have been chatting.

"Yeah, we definitely been talking," Tony Tuioti said. "You know, just really, dad-son conversation, how things are going. But you know, at the end of the day, I already know he's going to come out and he's going to do the best he can with what he's been asked to do on his team and vice versa at the same time."

The Tuiotis moved to Eugene when Tony accepted head coach Dan Lanning's offer to be on his inaugural staff ahead of the 2022 season. Going into Teitum's senior year of high school, Tony asked his son whether he wanted to stay in Nebraska to finish high school or move with the family to Eugene and compete at Sheldon High for one year.

Teitum ultimately chose to move out with his family and finish out a standout prep career in Oregon alongside his younger brother, Mana, who was heading into his sophomore season.

The Tuioti family quickly became a fixture in the Eugene sporting community, and Teitum was one of the best players to ever put on a Sheldon uniform in just one season before enrolling at Oregon a year later.

"Teitum's the best player I've coached," said Sheldon head coach Tyler Martell, then the defensive coordinator. "You have to obviously be physically gifted to do what he's done. But what separates him from other really good players is how hard he practices. That showed up right away."

Led by Teitum and now-Oregon backup QB Brock Thomas, the Irish finished runner-up in the state before Teitum handed the reigns of the Sheldon program to Mana.

Martell said the Tuioti boys he coached brought the same level of preparation and hard work every day, but their temperaments were different. Martell recalls a referee in 2022 striding over to the Sheldon sideline to ask the coaching staff to "do something" about No. 3 (Teitum), who was screaming throughout the game.

The typically playful edge rusher flips a switch when the game starts. The Sheldon coaching staff just shrugged and told the officials he wasn't doing anything illegal, so to just leave him alone.

Mana, meanwhile, while equally as intense, is incredibly cerebral and versatile. Both Teitum and Tony described Mana as smart and a true defensive captain.

Teitum said Mana flipped his own switch in the 2022 state title game against West Linn as a sophomore, in the pair's final game playing together at Sheldon.

"Early on, most of the time he would just listen to me," Teitum said of Mana. "In that state championship, I remember him just flipping a switch. I think he had like 17 tackles, he was very vocal that game. He was telling me where the flow was going and telling me my job. I knew that he would carry on from there big time."

Martell said the Tuiotis quickly became ingrained at the school despite only living here for just under five years.

"They came in and made the Sheldon community part of theirs, with the daughters playing volleyball and the boys playing football for us," Martell said. "And as busy as a guy like Tony is, he always found a way to be in the gym watching his daughters play volleyball, which I think is cool and rare.

"It's really neat to see how they've embraced Eugene and become a part of this community."

The younger Tuioti went on to enjoy his own stellar career at Sheldon before enrolling at Boise State as a linebacker in 2025.

All the while, Mana grew up in high school with Oregon players stopping by the Tuioti house. It'll feel like playing against several of his brothers when Mana steps on the field at Autzen Stadium for the Broncos. Teitum said that there are many Oregon players that consider Mana a brother and are excited to play against him this weekend.

"Matayo (Uiagalelei) would come and see Mana's high school games when he was playing here at Sheldon," Tony said. "Kam Araghi has known Teitum since he was a freshman in high school and Mana was a seventh-grader in middle school. There's a lot of ties that go way back, to see him grow to this point and see him being able to play and contribute to his team makes me really proud as a dad."

Tony said the Tuiotis will be split pretty evenly in terms of blue and green jerseys, and that mom is handling any pre- and postgame connections while Tony, Teitum, Teivis and Mana prepare for the game.

For now, each's entire focus is on winning Saturday afternoon.

"It's one of those things where you want to put pause on life and just enjoy it for a while," Tony said. "But I'm just blessed and grateful that we have this moment, this opportunity, and we're going to enjoy it. This is one of those once-in-a-lifetime situations, and I'm just glad that we get a chance to share it together."

Alec Dietz covers University of Oregon football and women's basketball for The Register-Guard. You may reach him at adietz@registerguard.com .