There probably weren’t a lot of people paying attention in the wee hours of Saturday morning when Navy quarterback Keenan Reynolds scored his seventh touchdown of the game to give Navy a wild, 58-52 triple-overtime victory over San Jose State. Those numbers — seven touchdowns and 58 points — sound more like an Xbox game than actual football, but they’re real. So are the Midshipmen, who are 7-4 and en route to a bowl game for the 10th time in 11 seasons. Those numbers — 10 bowls in 11 seasons — are among the most stunning and underappreciated in the country. Navy has made getting to the postseason look easy since 2003, which is the main reason it is difficult for most to comprehend the feat. Consider this: During the streak, Navy has never sneaked into a bowl with a 6-6 record. In fact, if the Mids beat Army for a 12th straight time Dec. 14 or win the Armed Forces Bowl, they will have won at least eight games in all 10 of their bowl seasons. In addition to the 11-game winning streak against Army, the Midshipmen are 9-2 against Air Force since 2003. Every time Navy Coach Ken Niumatalolo is asked about his team’s accomplishments he says the exact same thing: “It’s all about these kids. It’s about how hard they work and their belief in one another. I’m so proud of them. I can’t give them enough credit.” The one person Niumatalolo never credits is Niumatalolo. Whenever Navy loses, the first words out of his mouth are directed at himself and at the opponent. “I didn’t have us ready to play today.” Or, “We got outcoached, and that’s why we got outplayed.” But the truth is, as much as the players deserve credit for all of Navy’s accomplishments, there are two men who made this happen: Paul Johnson and Niumatalolo. Bringing Johnson back to Navy after the disastrous end to the Charlie Weatherbie era — the Mids were 0-10 in 2001 — was one of the two smartest decisions that Athletic Director Chet Gladchuk has made since he arrived in Annapolis that fall. And while it is generally thought that hiring Johnson was a no-brainer, it wasn’t as easy as it looked. (Nothing at Navy ever is.) Johnson had been Weatherbie’s offensive coordinator for two seasons and, in 1996, had played a key role in the Mids’ first winning season since 1982. That team went 9-3 and won the Aloha Bowl. Johnson then left to become the head coach at Georgia Southern, where he won two national championships in what was then known as Division I-AA while Navy was spiraling. Johnson knew how difficult the Navy job was and how far the program had fallen when Gladchuk and Vice Admiral John R. Ryan, the academy’s superintendent at the time, came to interview him for the opening. “What it’s going to take, Coach?” Ryan asked when negotiations stalled. “What do I have to pay you to get you to coach my football team.” Johnson told him. Ryan was stunned. “Young man,” he said. “I’m a three-star admiral in the United States Navy and I don’t make anywhere close to that kind of money.” “Well, Admiral,” Johnson replied, “I guess you got into the wrong business.”
Posted on: Tue, 26 Nov 2013 04:57:33 +0000
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