2017 Navy Football 2017 Navy Football
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2017 NAVY FOOTBALL Ken Niumatalolo, Head Coach .................................................................54 Ivin Jasper, Offensive Coordinator / Quarterbacks ................................55 Dale Pehrson, Defensive Coordinator .....................................................56 Assistant Coaches ...............................................................................57-64 Justin Davis, Outside Linebackers .....................................................57 Robert B. Green, Cornerbacks ............................................................57 Ashley Ingram, Running Game Coordinator / Offensive Line ..........58 Steve Johns, Inside Linebackers ........................................................59 Mike Judge, Fullbacks .........................................................................60 Bryce McDonald, Offensive Line .........................................................61 Shaun Nua, Defensive Line..................................................................61 Dan O’Brien, Secondary.......................................................................62 Danny O’Rourke, Special Teams Coordinator / Slot Backs ..............62 Napoleon Sykes, Outside Linebackers...............................................63 Mick Yokitis, Wide Receivers ...............................................................64 Football Staff .........................................................................................65-66 Support Staff ..............................................................................................67 THE BROTHERHOOD H 53 2017 NAVY FOOTBALL COACHING STAFF Service Academy coach to win the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy in his first year. Niumatalolo led the KEN NIUMATALOLO Midshipmen to an 8-5 record, the most wins for a first-year coach at Navy since 1934. Included in those HEAD COACH eight wins was a 24-17 victory over 16th-ranked Wake Forest, which was Navy’s first win over a team ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 since 1985. Navy also beat teams currently in the BCS in back- In his nine seasons at the helm of the Navy football program, to-back weeks (Rutgers and Wake Forest) for the first time since 1981 and defeated a program-record and in his 19 years overall at the Naval Academy, head coach Ken four bowl teams. Niumatalolo has engineered a program that has hit on all cylinders Niumatalolo was promoted to head football coach at the Naval Academy on Dec. 8, 2007, by Naval since he took over the reigns at the end of the 2007 campaign. Academy Director of Athletics Chet Gladchuk. Niumatalolo has repeatedly guided the Midshipmen to success He is the second Polynesian head coach in Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) history and the first both on and off the gridiron. Included in his accomplishments are a Samoan collegiate head coach on any level. number of milestones never before achieved by a coach or team in Prior to being named head coach, Niumatalolo had two coaching stints at the Naval Academy for a the program’s 133-year history. combined 10 seasons, including the last six where he served as assistant head coach and offensive line Niumatalolo (77-42, .647) is the all-time winningest coach at coach. Navy and is the only coach in the history of the Army-Navy game to Niumatalolo and the majority of his coaching staff have been part of a staff that has brought the start his coaching career 8-0 against the other Academy. Midshipmen back into the national spotlight over the last 12 seasons, compiling an 100-54 record He led Navy to a school-record 11 wins in 2015, which included (.649). sharing the West Division title with Houston in Navy’s first year in During that time, Navy made a school-record eight-consecutive bowl game appearances, won the American Athletic Conference, as well as winning the Lambert seven-consecutive Commander-In-Chief’s Trophies, earned 15-consecutive wins over the other two Trophy, awarded to the best team in the East, for the first time since 1963. Service Academies and claimed an NCAA-record four-consecutive NCAA rushing titles. He led Navy to its first outright division title last fall as the Mids went 7-1 in the AAC and won the In 2007, with Niumatalolo as the Assistant Head Coach, he saw the Mids post an 8-5 record, win West division. the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy, appear in a fifth-straight bowl game (Poinsettia Bowl, which was He is the first coach in school history to win three consecutive bowl games and his four overall bowl Niumatalolo’s first game as a head coach), set a school record for rushing (348.8 yards per contest) and wins are the most in school history. defeat Notre Dame for the first time since 1963. He has led Navy to five Commander-In-Chief’s Trophies, which is tied with George Welsh and Paul In 2006, Navy averaged a then school-record 327.0 yards per contest, won the Commander-In- Johnson for the most in school history. Chief’s Trophy and participated in the Meineke Car Care Bowl. He was one of just four coaches to be named a finalist for the Dodd Trophy and the Paul “Bear” In 2005, Niumatalolo helped develop an offensive line that, despite having just one returning starter, Bryant National Coach Of The Year Award in 2015. He was a Dodd Trophy finalist again in 2016 and paved the way for the nation’s best rushing offense (318.7 yards per contest), went to a bowl game for a was also the AFCA Region 1 Coach of the Year. He has been named the AAC Coach of the Year in third-straight year, won a second-straight bowl game and won the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy. each of his first two seasons. In 2004, Niumatalolo’s efforts helped an offensive line that was hampered by injuries all year to In 2013, Niumatalolo was selected to the inaugural class of the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame perform well enough for the Midshipmen to finish third in the country in rushing (289.5), win a school- and was inducted on January 23 in Honolulu. record tying 10 games (the most wins since 1905), go to back-to-back bowl games for the second time He is just the second coach since World War II to lead Navy to a winning record in each of his first in school history, win the Emerald Bowl and win the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy. three seasons at the helm and joins Eddie Erdelatz and Wayne Hardin as the only Navy coaches to Despite a lack of experience up front, the Mids led the nation in rushing (323.2 yards per contest) beat Notre Dame in consecutive seasons. He beat Notre Dame for a third time in 2016 to tie Hardin as in 2003 and set seven school records as Navy went 8-5, won the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy and the only Navy coaches to beat Notre Dame three times. earned a berth in the Houston Bowl. Niumatalolo is the dean of American Athletic Conference coaches. His nine years at Navy are more In 2002, the Navy offensive line helped the Mids to the third-best rushing average in the country than the rest of the league’s coaches (11 coaches total) have been at their current schools combined. (270.75). Navy finished the 2016 campaign with a 9-5 mark and a 7-1 record in the American Athletic Niumatalolo was also an assistant at Navy from 1995-98, serving as the offensive coordinator in Conference despite a season that saw the Mids have 102 missed games by starters or key contributors. 1997 and 1998. As the offensive coordinator, Niumatalolo tutored Chris McCoy, who set the then- The Mids played Temple in the AAC Championship Game and played in a bowl game (Armed Forces) NCAA record for most rushing touchdowns by a quarterback in a season with 20 in 1997 and became for the 13th time in the last 14 years. The nine wins tied for the fifth most in school history and the team just the 10th player in NCAA history to rush for more than 1,000 yards and pass for more than 1,000 set school records for points (531), touchdowns (73), touchdowns per game (5.2), rushing touchdowns yards in the same season. In addition, Navy finished among the nation’s top five in rushing his last-two (61), total offense (6,136 yards) and yards per play (6.8) despite playing four different quarterbacks. years and broke 38 school offensive records during his tenure. In 2015, Navy won a school-record 11 wins against just two losses, qualified for a bowl game for Niumatalolo coached at UNLV for three seasons (1999-01) and called the plays his final year (2001) the 12th time in the last 13 years, won a bowl game for the 10th time in school history (beat Pittsburgh, in Vegas. He also worked with the kickoff return unit and, under his guidance, UNLV ranked sixth in the 44-28, in the Military Bowl), won a bowl game for a third straight year for the first time in school history, nation in kickoff returns in 2001 and finished second in 1999. defeated Army for a series-record 14th consecutive year, won the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy for the A 1989 graduate of Hawai’i, Niumatalolo lettered three years as a quarterback and was a part of third time in the last four years, won the Lambert Trophy as the best team in the East for the first time Hawaii’s first bowl team in 1989. He was hired as a fulltime assistant by his alma mater in 1992 and since 1963, finished 18th in the country in both the Associated Press and Coaches polls and shared the spent three seasons coaching on the offensive side of the ball. West Division title of the American Athletic Conference with Houston in Navy’s first year of being in a A native of La’ie, Hawai’i, Niumatalolo and his wife, Barbara, have three children, Alexcia, Va’a and conference after being an Independent for 134 years. Ali’i. In 2014, Navy finished with an 8-5 record, qualified for a bowl game for the 11th time in the last 12 years, won a bowl game for just the ninth time in school history (beat San Diego State, 17-16, in the Poinsettia Bowl), won a bowl game in back-to-back years for the second time in school history and defeated Army for a series-record 13th consecutive year.