Navy Athletics in Disarray

 

Coach Ken Niumatalolo is the winningest football coach in Navy history, compiling an impressive record of 109-83 and winning three American Athletic Conference Western Division crowns, during his fifteen seasons at the helm in Annapolis. Coach Ken spent nearly 25 years in Annapolis all told, as an assistant to Charlie Weatherbie and Paul Johnson, before replacing Johnson in 2007.  Yet he was fired in the locker room after the loss to Army on Saturday, December 10, by Athletic Director Chet Gladchuk. 

I believe that Coach Ken's firing represents a larger problem in the athletic department at Navy. It seems that our intercollegiate athletics is adrift. The current women's basketball team is winless. Men's basketball is competitive in the Patriot League, but hasn't won a league title in this century. Men's soccer last won the league in 2013, and women's soccer hasn't won the league since 2007. Baseball's last appearance in the NCAA tournament was in 2016. And just a few weeks ago, men's swimming and diving lost to Army for the first time in 31 years. Men's lacrosse had its last appearance in the NCAA tournament in 2016.

Many in the public argue that Navy football should not expect to compete for the college football playoffs. But there are 130 schools in the NCAA's Division 1 FBS, and in this century only eleven schools have won the national championship (either BCS or CFP format). So while it is true that Navy is not going to compete for a national championship, it's also reasonable to state that 100 other schools in FBS won't have a chance to compete against Ohio State, Michigan, Clemson, Alabama, Georgia, and the 25 or so other perennial powerhouse programs.

That said, Navy football should have its reasonable goals: winning the AAC, winning the Commander-in-Chief trophy, qualifying for a bowl, and beating Army. This year's Navy football team, despite its disappointing opening loss to Delaware, was showing improvement from the dismal 2020 pandemic season, and would be on track to achieve at least some of those goals in 2023. And similar goals apply to every Navy intercollegiate athletic team.

But I fear that Chet Gladchuk, in firing Coach Ken, has set the football program back another two or three years. I predict that some plebes and youngsters will leave the academy for other programs, and that some juniors may just decide to sit out football. We've seen that with promising talents like fullback Jamale Carothers and safety Alohi Gilman - Carothers to Western Kentucky and Gilman to Notre Dame.

I hope that Superintendent VADM Sean Buck and others in positions of authority will do a top-down review of Navy athletics in general and of Chet Gladchuk's performance in particular. Intercollegiate athletics is, IMHO, vital to the Naval Academy's mission. The Brigade, the alumni, the naval service, demand no less.