Abraham "Abe" Elimimian (born March 2, 1982) is an American football coach and former player who was most recently the cornerbacks coach at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Abe Elimimian
No. 37, 23
Position:Cornerback
Personal information
Born: (1982-03-02) March 2, 1982 (age 42)
Calabar, Nigeria
Height:5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight:190 lb (86 kg)
Career information
High school:Crenshaw (CA)
College:Hawaii
Undrafted:2005
Career history
As a player:
 * Offseason and/or practice squad member only
As a coach:
  • Crenshaw High School (2007–2009)
    Defensive coordinator
  • SMU (2010–2011)
    Graduate assistant
  • Washington State (2012)
    Graduate assistant
  • Simon Fraser (2014)
    Defensive coordinator & linebackers coach
  • Hawaii (2015)
    Secondary coach
  • Hawaii (2015)
    Interim defensive coordinator & secondary coach
  • Hawaii (2016–2017)
    Secondary coach
  • Hawaii (2018–2019)
    Cornerbacks coach
  • Hawaii (2020)
    Cornerbacks coach & recruiting coordinator
  • Hawaii (2021)
    Running backs coach
  • Hawaii (2022–2023)
    Cornerbacks coach
Career highlights and awards
  • First-team All-WAC (2004)

Playing career edit

Elimimian played cornerback at Hawaii from 2000 to 2004. He received offers from bigger schools such as Oregon State and Washington State but suffered a severe knee injury his senior year of high school, and the two schools withdrew. He received the final scholarship Hawaii had in 2000 highly due to the fact that his high school football coach was a former Hawaii standout and had contacted then-associate head coach George Lumpkin.[1] In his senior season, Elimimian earned first-team all-WAC honors, one of eight Hawaii players to do so.[2]

Professional career edit

After college, Elimimian went undrafted in the 2005 NFL Draft and signed with the San Diego Chargers in 2005.[3] He also spent one offseason with the Chicago Bears in 2006 before spending the regular season with the Amsterdam Admirals in 2006. He was then selected by Admirals again in the 13th round of the draft in 2007 and spent the season with them.[4]

Coaching career edit

After his playing career ended, Elimimian worked as the defensive coordinator at his alma mater Crenshaw High School from 2007 to 2009. Elimimian got his first college coaching job in 2010 when he was hired as a graduate assistant on his old college coach June Jones' staff. He then moved over to accept a graduate assistant position at Washington State in 2012, working specifically with the defensive backs.[5]

Elimimian was named the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Simon Fraser in 2014, working under Jacques Chapdelaine.[6] He also interviewed for the vacant head coaching job in 2014 after Chapdelaine resigned after one season to pursue other opportunities.

Hawaii edit

Elimimian was hired as the secondary coach at his alma mater Hawaii in 2015.[7] He served as the defensive play-caller for the team's match-up against Louisiana–Monroe after defensive coordinator Tom Mason was reassigned to an administrative role.[8] He was retained by newly hired head coach and former Warrior teammate Nick Rolovich in 2016, and changed from secondary coach to coaching exclusively cornerbacks in 2018 following the hire of Corey Batoon. Following Rolovich's departure from Hawaii in 2020, Elimimian was retained by new head coach Todd Graham and was also given the title of recruiting coordinator.[9][10]

Elimimian and Hawaii parted ways prior to the start of the 2023 season.[11]

Personal life edit

Born in Calabar, Nigeria and raised in Los Angeles, Elimimian is the son of a retired professor. His brother Solomon was a linebacker who also played at Hawaii and was the first pure defensive player to win the CFL's Most Outstanding Player Award and the first player to win three different CFL awards.[12]

References edit

  1. ^ Tsai, Stephen. "UH cornerback making name for himself". Honolulu Advertiser. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  2. ^ "Eight Players Earn All-WAC Honors". Hawaii Athletics. 30 November 2004. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  3. ^ Tsai, Stephen. "Elimimian hopes to eliminate doubters". Honolulu Advertiser. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  4. ^ "UH's Sheppard wins at WAC track". Honolulu Advertiser. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  5. ^ "Saturday March 24, 2012". Footballscoop. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  6. ^ "SFU football name defensive coordinator". Burnaby Now. 27 March 2014. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  7. ^ Tsai, Stephen (3 March 2015). "Elimimian returns to UH as assistant coach". The Star Advertiser. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  8. ^ Tsai, Stephen (25 November 2015). "UH defensive coordinator reassigned to administrative role". The Star Advertiser. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  9. ^ "Hawaii football: Abe Elimimian becomes second coach retained by Todd Graham". Hawaii Warrior World. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  10. ^ "Graham Announces Football Staff Titles". Hawaii Athletics. 19 February 2020. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  11. ^ McInnis, Brian. "Veteran assistant Abraham Elimimian leaving Hawaii football coaching staff". Spectrum News Hawaii. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
  12. ^ Beamish, Mike. "For Lions' Solomon Elimimian, football's more than brawn (with video)". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 7 August 2020.

External links edit