Do you guys scan the links once in a while? If you don’t, you’ll miss things like Pete Medhurst’s return to blogging, Patrick Stevens counting down all 120 teams, and BGS talking about plays that didn’t work last year. Of course, we have regular commenters here that are bloggers themselves. You’ll also miss this excellent post on The Sports Arsenal.

TSA is an extremely well-written blog that focuses on The Citadel, but also wanders off into the sporting world in general from time to time. Maybe The Citadel isn’t the first thing you feel like reading about when you fire up the computer, but it isn’t unusual to see parallels between what’s written on TSA and what we talk about here. For example:

I want to start, though, by pointing out something that is obvious, but gets forgotten about sometimes when alums talk about attendance.  For a school of The Citadel’s size, its historical football attendance is great.  Not good, great.  Even in a disappointing year (last season the average attendance per home game was just 12,261), The Citadel had an attendance-to-undergrad ratio of 6 to 1.  Do you know how many schools out there (especially FCS schools) would kill for even a 2 to 1 ratio?  Schools with just 2,000 students and a small alumni base really shouldn’t be doing that well.  It says a lot for the school’s loyal alums and fans that the attendance is as good as it is.

We’ve talked about this a few times. With the number of midshipmen usually hovering just above 4,000, the Naval Academy is one of the smallest schools in all of I-A. Upon graduation, almost all of those newly commissioned ensigns and second lieutenants are sent out to all corners of the country (and the world). It isn’t exactly the best way to create a robust local fan base. Most other schools’ graduates remain within a reasonable distance of campus; reasonable enough to drive a few hours on a Saturday morning, anyway.

Here’s the 2008 top ten in I-A average attendance:

Not surprisingly, every school on this list is a giant state school with at least 20,000 in undergraduate enrollment. But you get a much different list when you take that attendance and divide by enrollment:

I don’t think anyone is surprised to see Notre Dame sitting on top of this list. Clemson and Southern California certainly aren’t a shock, either. The other seven schools on the list, though, aren’t exactly schools you think about when it comes to attendance superlatives. So what does it mean? In Navy’s case, I think it shows just how much community support there is for the football program. Air Force has a higher ratio, but the Falcons are pretty much the only game in town in Colorado Springs. Denver is 70 miles away, and the closest I-A program, Colorado, is 100 miles away. Within 30 miles of the Naval Academy are two NFL franchises, two Major League Baseball franchises, a BCS state school, plus NBA and NHL teams. There is tremendous competition for the area sports fan’s dollar. For small school like Navy to draw nearly 35K per game in this environment is borderline miraculous. Keep in mind that this number does not include Army-Navy attendance, nor Navy-Notre Dame in Baltimore. This is strictly people passing through the turnstiles at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

For another measure of how well Navy is doing, take a look at the company Navy keeps when it comes to attendance relative to stadium capacity:

You aren’t going to find too many lists with Navy sandwiched in between Ohio State, Florida, and Michigan. There is a lot of demand for Navy tickets, all things considered. Why? I think there are a few factors. One thing that NAAA has done pretty well over the years is that they haven’t marketed only to sports fans. They’ve put a lot of effort into making Navy games events that appeal to entertainment seekers in general, with the march-on, flyovers, tailgating, etc. Annapolis itself is a fun place for just about anybody, which also plays into that theme. The team being good only adds to the appeal. There are also a lot of USNA graduates that end up settling around Norfolk, Oceana, Washington, and Annapolis, which helps offset the the lack more recent grads in the immediate area. But only a little. For the most part, NMCMS is packed with locals.

Anne Arundel County deserves a lot of credit for its support of Navy football.

With the success of the football program from 2003-2007, Navy fans might have become just a wee bit spoiled. Taking their cue from the “Expect to Win” mantra used by NAAA as their football marketing slogan, supporters of the Blue & Gold had set their sights higher and higher before the start of each new football season. Preseason optimism– that force which makes diehards look at the upcoming schedule and figure that every game is winnable– was running rampant, as was the daydreaming about “what if” scenarios should the team do the impossible by running the table. Ah, the offseason. For all the complaining that we do once it arrives, it never fails to recharge the batteries of imagination for the hopelessly partisan. The Mids were never quite able to reach those lofty dreams of going undefeated and unleashing their fury in BCS bowls, except on my Xbox. Yet they were remarkably consistent: five straight years of 8+ wins, 5 straight bowl games, and 5 straight Commander-in-Chief’s Trophies.  This standard for success was the fuel-air mixture in the internal combustion engine of fan expectations.

If the program’s prosperity was the fuel for high expectations, then Paul Johnson was the piston that drove the machine. (Smartass comments from former RX-7 owners are not necessary. You know who you are.) Johnson was a master motivator, knowing just how and when to apply pressure so that his team would respond. He was a master playcaller, knowing just the right way to wield his offense for maximum effect. He was a master recruiter, reversing two decades of losing recruiting battles to Air Force. And in the end, he was a heartbreaker, leaving Annapolis for Atlanta– and taking those daydreams of some Navy fans with him.

Enter Ken Niumatalolo, Johnson’s successor. As Johnson’s right-hand man with the offense, Niumat was the no-brainer pick to replace Johnson by just about everyone who followed the program closely. He was received well by the Navy faithful; Athletic Director Chet Gladchuck earned praise from fans and from the press (and from this blogger) for acting quickly to name Niumat as head coach rather than carry out an extended coaching search. If Johnson was ever going to leave Navy– and just about everyone expected it to happen sooner or later– then Niumat was the guy we wanted to replace him. Yet despite the almost universal agreement that the right man was hired for the job, the confidence and optimism that accompanied the Johnson years wasn’t really there to start 2008. For the most part, I don’t think it was a slight to Niumatalolo as much as it was recognition for just how hard it is to win at Navy. At least that’s what I hope it was. After all, the last winning coach to leave Annapolis was George Welsh in 1982, and that started what would become the darkest period in Navy football history. It was the only experience most Navy fans had in this situation. Adding to the uncertainty was the national media’s persistent love affair with Troy Calhoun, and their almost universal expectation for Air Force to return to the top of the service academy heap.

Well, that didn’t happen. And if you had any doubts before, you can cast them aside. The job that Ken Niumatalolo and his staff did in 2008 was as impressive as anything we saw in the Johnson years.

Continue reading “THE STATE OF SERVICE ACADEMY FOOTBALL: NAVY” →

Part of the fun & excitement that comes with playing Notre Dame at the new Meadowlands stadium in 2010. And you thought you never wanted to play another game in East Rutherford again.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the opening of Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, and NAAA intends to celebrate. According to the release  just sent from the desk of Scott Strasemeier, the celebration includes honoring the 1959 team that beat William & Mary in the stadium’s first game, a 1959-themed NavyFest tailgate, and this snazzy uniform patch. Most importantly, the All-Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium Team will be revealed.

Fans will be allowed to nominate players who have played at least one season at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Once nominations are taken, fans will be able to vote for the final candidates.

A committee will then take the nominations and pair them down to a select number of players at each position. Starting April 13 fans will have the opportunity to vote for the all-time team at http://www.navysports.com. Fan voting will be worth 50 percent towards the final selection of the team with a committee of Navy football historians determining the other 50 percent of the vote. The all-time team will be revealed at halftime throughout the 2009 season.

I don’t know what Navy football historians will form this committee; maybe Jack Clary will be like Eddie Murphy in The Nutty Professor and just play the role of everyone at the table. But wouldn’t you like to be a fly on the wall for THAT meeting?

We will, of course, be submitting official Birddog nominations. So head over to the message board to throw in your two cents.

As we close out the football season, here’s a little something to honor the 2008 team as they take their places among the friends, classmates, childhood heroes, personalities, and legends that are legacy of Navy football.

Beat Army!

The 60th edition of the Senior Bowl was held on Saturday. A few intrepid Birddogs made the trip to Mobile, Alabama to see Eric Kettani wrap up his college career in the only college all-star game sponsored by the NFL.

Continue reading “SENIOR BOWL RECAP” →

When I asked who everyone thought was the team’s best receiver over the last seven years, I figured Tyree Barnes would come out on top for a few reasons. One, he’s fresh in our memories. Two, he was really, really good. Physically he’s everything you want a wide receiver to be, and he could get up to catch a ball with the best of them. It was no surprise to see Jason Tomlinson and Reggie Campbell bringing in a few votes themselves. What absolutely stuns me, though, is seeing Eric Roberts so far behind. Really?? Roberts probably made more circus catches than anyone in Navy history. He leads the group with 1,213 career receiving yards and 10 touchdowns, and his 23.3 yards per reception for his career is the school record. I can live with Tyree getting the most votes, but Eric Roberts should have at least been second. How soon we forget.

Anyway, on to this week’s poll. This week we look to the spring. In nature, spring is the time of birth and emergence. The same can be said for college football, as new players step up to replace those who have moved on. This year’s spring practice looks like it’ll be the most interesting of the last few years, with several positions up for grabs without an obvious front-runner. Well, at least not from where we’re sitting, anyway. So the question is: which position battle are you looking forward to the most this spring?