In Quick Pitch, Navy Promotes Assistant
Niumatalolo Takes Reins of Football Team

By Christian Swezey
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, December 9, 2007

Navy wasted no time filling the vacancy created by Friday's departure of football coach Paul Johnson for Georgia Tech. Yesterday, the academy announced the promotion of Ken Niumatalolo, Johnson's longtime assistant.

Niumatalolo and Athletic Director Chet Gladchuk met for five hours Friday night, and Gladchuk said the quick decision came in part to assuage uncertainty from Navy's assistant coaches, players, fans, recruits and those at the Naval Academy Prep School.

Gladchuk also said "a majority" of the current assistant coaches will stay; the staff is expected to be completed in the next few days.

"Every year we were going through the 'Is Paul staying?' [questions], and obviously as an athletic director, it's incumbent on me to stay ahead of the curve," Gladchuk said. "There's never been any doubt in my mind in the last couple years that if the opportunity presented itself, I knew what I wanted to do."

Niumatalolo, 42, spent the past six seasons as assistant head coach and offensive line coach at Navy; in all, he has spent 10 years as an assistant at the academy and either worked with or played for Johnson for 17 seasons.

Niumatalolo's first stint at Navy was from 1995 to '98. He replaced Johnson as offensive coordinator after Johnson left following the 1996 season to become the head coach at division I-AA Georgia Southern. Niumatalolo played college football at Hawaii and began his coaching career there while Johnson served as the Warriors' offensive coordinator.

Niumatalolo is believed to be the first Polynesian head coach in NCAA division I-A history. His first game as a head coach will be when the Midshipmen (8-4) face Utah (8-4) in the Poinsettia Bowl on Dec. 20 in San Diego.

"I believe in what this place is about," Niumatalolo said. "I believe in the patriotism of the country. I know this place is about leadership, I understand that and embrace it. . . . We want to continue to dominate the other academies, and I look forward to keeping the machine going."

Niumatalolo said he plans on continuing to run the option-based offense that Johnson used to great effect, though he will not call the plays. (Johnson had been the team's offensive coordinator.) Niumatalolo's stint as offensive coordinator in 1997 and '98 included a 39-7 victory over Army in 1997 and a 32-31, comeback victory over Boston College in 1998. Navy was third in the nation in rushing in 1997 and fourth in '98.

"It's fundamental to me that we've won with the triple option, we've lost with the triple option, but at Navy it's going to be the triple option and that's all there is to it," Gladchuk said. "It's something I feel strongly about."

Players said Niumatalolo is reserved, though he has no problem getting his point across.

"When he starts to get excited his voice starts really low but then it gets higher and higher," junior fullback Eric Kettani said. "By the time he's done, he's pretty much in your face. That's only happened to me once, thank goodness."

Said senior slotback Zerbin Singleton: "He's a great guy, he's a compassionate guy, he's very dedicated. We just traded one great coach for another."

The announcement ended a dizzying week for Navy. The assistant coaches were recruiting out of town all week. Meantime, the Midshipmen have been in exams -- on Friday, players estimated that a majority of the brigade still had not heard about Johnson's departure.

Niumatalolo also has not met with the team; that meeting is expected today or Monday.

"We're going to have a meeting, have lunch, lift weights, meet again, then practice," Kettani said. "It'll be pretty much the same drill as always."

Navy fans can take solace in the predicament faced by Air Force after then-coach Ken Hatfield left for Arkansas following the 1983 season.

The Falcons promoted his offensive coordinator, Fisher DeBerry, to be head coach. DeBerry went 169-109-1 in 23 seasons and helped keep the Falcons as the dominant service academy program until Johnson's teams won the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy the past five years.

The day DeBerry was hired, then-Air Force athletic director John Clune sounded very much as Gladchuk did yesterday. "I'm looking forward to working with [DeBerry] to maintain the momentum in our program which has been established over the last five years," Clune said on Dec. 27, 1983.

Said Gladchuk yesterday, "This team has enjoyed success; we need to maintain it and keep it going."

In the end, Gladchuk recalled a moment in the locker room following the team's 38-3 victory over Army on Dec. 1. There, during the celebrations, he quietly approached Niumatalolo.

"I tapped him on the shoulder," Gladchuk said. "And I said, 'If anything happens [with Johnson], I want to talk to you.' "