For the first time in 15 years, the U.S. Naval Academy will have a search for a new football coach. On Sunday, just a day after losing to rival Army in heartbreaking fashion in double-overtime, Navy athletic director Chet Gladchuk fired longtime coach Ken Niumatalolo.
It would be easy to argue that Niumatalolo is the greatest football coach to ever lead the Midshipmen. He is, after all, the winningest coach in program history with a record of 109-83.
Under his direction, Navy enjoyed 10 winning seasons and went 6-5 in bowl games. The Mids finished seasons ranked in the AP Top 25 poll twice, and were ranked in parts of two other seasons. Niumatalolo’s Navy teams won – or tied for a share of – the AAC West Division three times. He went 10-4 against Army, 7-8 against Air Force, beat Notre Dame three times, and got six wins against opponents ranked in the AP Top 25 poll. And he did it with the triple-option offense, genuineness, integrity, and – largely – players that teams in the SEC and Big Ten never noticed.
But, this is college football. And – apparently – even in places like Annapolis, it’s a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately business. Lately, Navy hasn’t been so good. This was the third straight losing season for the Mids under Niumatalolo’s watch. Before 2019, he had only had two sub-.500 seasons ever as a head coach.
— Mitchell Northam (@primetimeMitch) December 12, 2022
The list of reasons why Navy’s consistency of success slipped is a lengthy one, and most of them were out of Niumatalolo’s control. In 2020 and 2021, the Mids had to deal with the pandemic in a strict way, which led to no live tackling in the 2020 preseason and months of isolation in 2021.
And while the rest of the college football landscape can benefit from NIL and the transfer portal, the Service Academies can’t. The portal is a one-way street in Annapolis – players can leave before the end of their sophomore season, but the academy generally doesn’t accept transfers. Historically, the best Navy teams have been veteran laden. This past season, Navy only had five seniors starting – 32 of the 57 players in the 2019 recruiting class left through the portal amidst the pandemic. Two of those players start for Power 5 defenses: TCU’s Johnny Hodges and Wake Forest’s Chelen Garnes.
I feel compelled to express my admiration and respect for @NAVYCoachKen. Today is a sad day for college football. I loved competing against you Coach – but above all else you are the one man I would want my kids to play for above all others.
— Matt Rhule (@CoachMattRhule) December 11, 2022
Oh, and NIL? Forget about it. The Department of Defense considers Service Academy students as employees of the federal government and doesn’t allow them to seek outside employment.
And while Army and Air Force allows its players with eligibility remaining to play a fifth fall of football, Navy does not. Air Force even exploited a loophole, designating a chunk of players as “turnbacks” – which essentially meant sending them home from the academy for a semester to preserve their eligibility – which gave the Falcons fifth-year seniors in each of the last three seasons.
When all that piled up, the odds were stacked against Niumatalolo. Navy is 11-23 over the last three seasons and a combined 4-10 against Army and Air Force over the last seven seasons.
Decision to fire Kenny Niumatalolo is a major mistake..in fact he did his best coaching job this year!!!!!..AD has no idea on how Navy wins games..I don’t care who they hire they will not recover for many years!!!….Kenny is perfect for Navy!!…better human being than coach!!!
— June Jones (@CoachJuneJones) December 12, 2022
So, Niumatalolo is out. Here’s what we know about what Navy AD Chet Gladchuk wants out of his next coach.
The triple-option will remain
The triple-option offense has been a signature of Navy, and the other two Service Academies, for more than two decades now. It’s a unique throwback run scheme that relies on deception, reads, traps, fakes, a smart and athletic quarterback, a bruising fullback, and timely cut-blocking from the boys upfront. It has allowed the three Service Academies to level the playing field a bit when playing against teams armed with athletes that are simply bigger, faster and stronger.
And while Niumatalolo – one of the best option play-callers in all of college football – is gone, the triple-option will remain part of Navy’s identity going forward.
“The triple-option is really the fiber of who we are. It’s the competitive edge of who we are. We got a little bit away from it this year,” Gladchuk said during a press conference Monday. “So, in looking at a coach – I’m not saying the coach has got to be pure triple-option. I think we’re going to open the aperture and look at it with an open mind, but the philosophies behind it are really important. And if you go back and look at the history, we’ve never had a good run at Navy when we’ve gone away from the triple… It’s been our staple and something we can’t lose sight of.”
Gladchuk added that he would consider a head coach who doesn’t come from a triple-option background but plans to bring along a coordinator and play-caller who is well-versed in it.
A little NAVY Flexbone Triple Option from an unbalanced line. #SMUvsNAVY pic.twitter.com/E6sOgzErxv
— David Walker (@DavidWalkerQB) October 15, 2022
The new coach doesn’t need previous Service Academy experience
The last two coaches Navy has hired – Paul Johnson in 2002 and Niumatalolo in 2008 – both coached at Navy as assistants before getting the head job. When he was hired at Army in 2014, Jeff Monken brought with him six years of experience of being an assistant at Navy. And Troy Calhoun played and coached at Air Force before being hired there in 2007.
At Service Academies, things work a little bit differently than they do at other institutions that play FBS football. Having an experience working in that environment seemed to be an advantage for those coaches when they were candidates.
But Gladchuk said Monday that Service Academy experience won’t be a requirement of the next coach at Navy.
“Most of the coaches that we hire don’t, and we’ve had great success with many of our programs,” Gladchuk said. “The academy is a magnificent place with many demands, many expectations. It’s clearly an environment that is a deviation from the civilian norm. But anyone that is smart enough to work here can figure the place out… I think you need the diversity of thought, you need the diversity of the experience, at a Division I institution, need to take the business of what happens in the civilian sector and bring it to the academy. And you need to be able to adapt to the academy to make the formula successful.”
Interim coach Brian Newberry is a candidate
That said, there is one candidate on Gladchuk’s radar who has plenty of experience working at Navy, and that’s defensive coordinator Brian Newberry, who Gladchuk named interim coach after dismissing Niumatalolo.
“I know that Coach Newberry is very interested in that position,” Gladchuk said. “We’re going to give a little bit of time now for the dust to settle. But I’m pretty confident that Coach Newberry will be a viable candidate.”
Niumatalolo hired Newberry away from Kennesaw State – an FCS team outside of Atlanta that runs the triple-option on offense – ahead of the 2019 season to be the Mids’ defensive coordinator. Navy went 11-2 in 2019, in part thanks to a defense that ranked in the top 20 nationally in total defense, rush defense and third down defense. Newberry was a finalist for the Broyles Award that season, and in the following offseason, he turned down offers to join Mike Leach’s staff at Mississippi State, and overtures from UCLA, Washington State and Syracuse to stay at Navy.
This season, despite its youth, Navy finished sixth in the nation in rush defense, allowing just 88.9 yards per game. Navy was also 30th in total defense, 10th in first downs allowed per game, 21st in forced fumbles. Simply put: defense was not the issue for Navy this past season.
“I like Brian. I like his style. He gets the most out of his players. Our defenses was one of the top defenses in the country, in terms of the run game,” Gladchuk said. “The athletes respect him. He’s highly organized. The coaching staff respects him. When you add all that up – and what I need right now is some stability – he fits the bill to manage the environment during the period of time that we’re trying to create some direction.”
It’s unclear if Navy will use a search firm. Gladchuk said that “quite a few” search firms have approached him about the hire, but he hasn’t had serious discussions with any of them.
