He played college football at Hawaii, where also began his coaching career.
He has also spent time as an assistant at University of Washington Bhonapha played college football at Hawaii from 1999 to 2002, where he was a defensive back who was credited with the ability to play both safety and cornerback.
[4] Bhonapha was hired as the director of football operations at Boise State in 2006.
He was reassigned to running backs coach in 2009 in a series of staff shuffling made by Boise State head coach Chris Petersen.
Bhonapha followed Petersen to Washington in 2014 to serve as his running backs coach and the program's recruiting coordinator.