The football roster has been updated to include the incoming freshman class. Also of note is the profile of new coach Justin Davis, who will help with the outside linebackers.
Category: navy football
Speaking of Independence…
Remember in the second Austin Powers movie, when Austin goes back in time and lands in the middle of a party at his apartment? There’s a woman there who was sent by Dr. Evil to kill him. She ends up getting stabbed. And shot. And hit with a bazooka. And dropped out of a window. Each time something happens to her, though, she keeps talking. “You can’t win, Powers!” Irritated, Austin Powers finally exclaims, “Why won’t you die?!”
That line pretty much sums up my feelings whenever I see a story about Navy joining a conference for football. I guess people don’t like seeing independents out there; everyone seems to have their own favorite pie-in-the-sky conference realignment master plan. Over the last four or five years I think I’ve read speculation of Navy joining the MAC, Conference USA, Big East, ACC (lol), and, after a mystery meeting at BWI, forming its own conference of “academic” football schools. The talk never seems to go away; it really is the never-ending story. It’s popped up again this week, courtesy of Mitch Vingle and the Charleston Gazette.
Of all the conference rumors, the ones involving the Big East are the most persistent. I wrote two years ago why I think that joining a conference is a bad idea for Navy. My opinion hasn’t changed, so I won’t rehash all that. But the Big East is a special case. The Big East only has 8 football schools, meaning that their conference schedules are unbalanced. A ninth football-playing member would allow each Big East school to play four home and four away games each year. That means that those athletic directors would only need to find three out-of-conference home games to fill each year to get to seven, which everyone wants in a 12-game season. So while other conference rumors come and go, Big East talk sticks around.
I don’t know if this latest chatter is something that the Big East is seriously considering or just the ramblings of a local sportswriter, but it isn’t a new idea. Basically, Army and Navy would split a “membership,” with each team playing four Big East games. This would solve the conference’s scheduling problem. As a fringe benefit, they’d get to slap a Big East logo on the field at the Army-Navy game and add a couple of teams in the Big East’s geographic footprint who at least have name recognition, even if they aren’t powerhouses. That’s all nice, but these rumors always talk about how great it would be for the Big East. Nobody seems to want to talk about it from Army or Navy’s point of view.
While I’m against conference membership in general, I wouldn’t discount this possibility too quickly. It’s important to know what exactly constitutes “membership.” Is it really a membership, or just a scheduling agreement? There’s a huge difference if you’re talking about what good this arrangement would do Army and Navy. There are a couple of things that both schools would have to get out of this deal if it’s going to be taken seriously. As with anything, money is the top priority. If Army and Navy were to have a split Big East membership, does that mean that they’d split a share of the conference’s BCS money, too? People say that Army is in no rush to join another conference after their Conference USA disaster, but if the rumors of their athletic department’s debt are true then BCS money might be enough to change their tune. Bowl game access is also important. Would Army and Navy be eligible for consideration by Big East-affiliated bowl games? Without those two concessions (at the very least), this alignment wouldn’t be worth it to the two service academies.
And there’s the problem; with those two concessions, it wouldn’t be worth it to the Big East. The whole reason that schools want seven home games is for the money. Right now, Big East schools split their BCS take 8 ways. Does the ease of scheduling 7 home games make it worth splitting BCS money 9 ways? I doubt it. As for bowl game access, with the arrangement that they already have with Notre Dame I doubt that Big East ADs are in any rush to add another chance for one of their bowl games to pick someone else.
Navy isn’t in the financial dire straits that Army allegedly is, but it’s still prudent to listen when money-making opportunities present themselves. If this “membership” is just a scheduling arrangement, though, then forget it. There’s no reason to obligate ourselves to Big East scheduling whims when we could just go out and get home & home series individually. Even a bona fide split “membership” probably isn’t worth it. Navy showed last year that it was plenty capable of grabbing Big East bowl bids on its own, and the Big East won’t offer enough money to make it worth being relegated to “half-member” status. Money is valuable, but not as much as self-determination. It isn’t like it’s some great privilege just to have any association with the Big East.
One last thing to remember is that it’s important to consider the long-term effects. Navy right now could probably be competitive in the Big East. There is one reason for that: Paul Johnson. Once Coach Johnson is gone, then what? Playing in the Big East might sound appealing to some people now, but it isn’t something that we want to be stuck with in the long term.
I actually have a soft spot for the Big East. Schools like Pittsburgh and Syracuse were on Navy schedules for generations, and there would be a nostalgic appeal to seeing those schools as regulars on Navy schedules once again. Nostalgia isn’t enough, though. Nobody has presented a convincing argument for why Navy should sign up for any kind of Big East “membership.” Until someone does, it’s best to let the idea fade away in a Charleston newspaper. Having four fewer games to schedule isn’t reason enough.
What Makes a Rivalry?
The folks over at Rivals are killing time during the summer by talking about college football rivalries. Army-Navy gets a mention, predictably, in their poll of what rivalry has “fallen” the farthest. The correct answer is Pitt-Penn State, which isn’t even listed on the poll. I mean, they don’t play anymore. Pretty hard to fall any farther than that.
Now, I understand what the poll is asking and why Army-Navy would be on there. Everyone knows that the game isn’t the epicenter of the national championship picture anymore, so I have no problem with that. I get annoyed, though, when I hear people talking about how not having BCS implications somehow diminishes the rivalry. Nothing could be further from the truth. While media talking heads and college football fans pay lip service to the history and tradition of Army-Navy, fewer and fewer of them rank the game among their “best” rivalries. Is a rivalry only as good as the teams who play in it? Or is there more to it?
When people talk Army-Navy, the same themes are repeated every year. Plenty of military pagentry and patriotic fervor to go around, pretty much to the point of cliché. At the risk of sounding ungrateful, I actually get sick of hearing about that stuff. Yes, we know that there will be marching and fly-bys and cannons blasting. Yes, we know that these players will go on to serve in the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps. The problem is that these things are played up so much that the rivalry’s other merits are almost forgotten. There’s a whole lot more that makes Army-Navy stand out.
To begin with, Army-Navy isn’t just about football. There are a lot of “trendy” rivalries out there, where two teams happen to be good at the same time. Miami-Florida State fits this mold. There really isn’t much history between them, and they might not even be considered rivals in any other sport. But in football, both teams have been in the national championship picture for most of the recent past. Sprinkle in a few exciting games, and apparently that’s enough for most fans to make it a rivalry for the ages. I don’t buy that.
I don’t mean to harp on Florida State and Miami, because I really don’t have anything against that game or its fans. The point I’m trying to make is that it isn’t the rivalry that makes it good. It’s just a game with two powerhouse teams that people want to watch. Other than the fact that it’s an annual contest, is it any different than the Ohio State-Texas series that we had the last couple of years? Not really, from the perspective of the average fan. And that’s the problem. When blogs and message board motormouths and media types make these lists, they aren’t looking at the nature of the rivalry. They’re simply listing games that they’d like to watch because of their national impact. That’s fine, but that doesn’t have anything to do with the rivalry, the relationship between the schools. The best rivalries are games where the passion of the teams and their fans are the same whether they are undefeated or winless. When rivalry bragging rights are more important than a national championship, that’s what makes for a good rivalry.
There aren’t that many games out there that fit the bill. There are several games where it seems like schools are rivals simply because their campuses are close to each other, or because X vs. X State is “supposed” to be a rivalry. That’s all fun, but there are games where the rivalry means a little more. Games like Williams-Amherst, Wabash-DePauw, and Harvard-Yale, where it’s more than just football. The very nature of the schools themselves are what make them rivals. Winning the football game isn’t just a stepping stone on the way to a conference championship. It’s almost proof that your school’s way of life is superior. That, to me, is what makes for a rivalry.
Army-Navy is one of those games. From the indoctrination of incoming freshmen to the yell after the alma mater sung by the oldest grad, the importance of beating your rival is part of the fabric of academy life. Yet there’s something about Army-Navy that sets it apart from even those other storied contests– a national following. The most common misconception from fans and the media about the Army-Navy game is that it lacks national appeal. That’s hogwash. I think that some college football fans forget that there is a world outside of their own blog and ESPN-fueled consciousness. Maybe the hype-lovers looking for the next big matchup overlook Army-Navy, but the TV-watching public hasn’t. Army-Navy has been televised on national network TV every year for more than half a century. Think about that for a second. Both Army and Navy put some lousy football teams on the field for more than a few of those years, yet people still watched. If Michigan and Ohio State were both 2-9 going into their finale, do you think ABC would still be broadcasting it all over the country? If Alabama and Auburn had two wins between them, would anyone care about that game? Hell no. But Army and Navy have both had far too many seasons like those, and the game is still on the air. That doesn’t happen without national appeal. Fourteen cities from Seattle to Miami don’t place a bid to host a game without national appeal. Most people have a rooting interest whether or not they have anything individually to do with the schools themselves. Everyone has an uncle or grandfather that served in some branch of the military represented on the Army-Navy field. That makes people care about who wins, even if they aren’t really college football fans.
Army-Navy is the nation’s rivalry, not just the schools’. That makes the game unique in the world of college football.
eBay Scavenger Hunt, Vol. 2
If you’re like me and love collecting old Navy football footage, this item will catch your eye. This auction is for highlights from the 1954 Army-Navy game, captured on 16mm film. The 27-20 Navy win is widely considered one of the best games in series history. Navy entered the game with the nation’s top-ranked defense. Army entered the game having won 7 in a row and featuring the country’s top offense. Red Blaik vs. Eddie Erdelatz. Don Holleder vs. George Welsh & Ron Beagle. Navy’s “Team Named Desire” went on to shut out Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl, 21-0. Truly a classic game with some great teams.
There are services that will convert 16mm film to DVD, in case you were wondering.
My I-Day Manifesto
The two best pieces of advice you can give to someone who’s about to head off to Plebe Summer are to keep a sense of humor, and to remain anonymous as long as possible. Don’t do anything that will make a detailer remember you. For my plebe summer roommate, that second part was a bit of a problem.
It wasn’t any fault of his own, really. He is the best athlete I’ve ever known, recruited to play both soccer and lacrosse. When you are that high-profile of a recruit, the detailers already know who you are. Everyone ends up getting some time in the “spotlight” eventually during Plebe Summer, but my roommate had the honor of being first. When the detailers wanted to drop the platoon for pushups, it wasn’t unusual to hear the process begin with one of them yelling, “You’re just here to play lacrosse!”
Fast forward a few years to 2003. In his book, Recruiting Confidential, David Claerbaut chronicles the college recruiting process experienced by his stepson, Chicago running back James Velissaris. James committed to the Naval Academy, and his family made the trip with him to Annapolis to see him sworn in on I-Day. When it came time to take the oath, though, James didn’t do it. Reading over the commitment papers, he felt that he was only there to play football; to him, that wasn’t reason enough to sign. Velissaris would end up playing for Harvard.
Two different stories, but with similar themes: sports as the primary motivation in choosing to attend the Naval Academy. As I was reading James Velissaris’ story, the same thought occurred to me as when I would hear my Plebe Summer detailers barking at my roommate: is there really anything wrong with that?
June has arrived. It is the time when a select group of high school seniors across the country are about to trade the cap and gown of the graduate for the dixie cup and whiteworks assigned to the Naval Academy’s lowest of the low. Included in this group preparing for the challenge of Plebe Summer are the athletes recruited to fill out the rosters of Navy’s several varsity sports. On I-Day, these athletes are going to face decisions of their own. Like James Velissaris, they might find themselves questioning their own motives. They shouldn’t. It is perfectly acceptable that being recruited to play a varsity sport would be someone’s main attraction to the Naval Academy. It should be expected, and in a lot of ways, encouraged.
Plenty of Academy alums would bristle at that thought. Some of these graduates seem to think that every midshipman-to-be that passes through the gates of USNA does so because each one of them is driven to have a career as a Navy or Marine Corps officer. Some of them are. Or at least they think they are. Let’s be real, now; how many 18 year-olds coming straight out of high school really have any idea what it means to be an officer in the Naval Service? I am a third-generation Academy graduate and spent my entire childhood surrounded by all things Navy. I thought I had a pretty good idea going into I-Day. It took all of 15 minutes of Plebe Summer for me to realize that I didn’t know squat. If most grads would take an honest look at their own experience, they’d probably admit the same thing. If a person doesn’t truly understand what being a Naval officer entails, then he can’t truly be dedicated to a Naval career from day one. It’s unfair to expect otherwise.
In fact, the Navy itself doesn’t expect it. Have you seen Navy advertising on television? A recent Navy ad shows three Navy officers who turned their Navy experience into successful civilian careers. All branches of the military use college money and other benefits to bring people to the recruiting office. The Marine Corps sells itself as an exclusive club. It’s true, obviously; but it’s also secondary to to what being a Marine really means.
There is a bit of a double standard at work here, too. Many of the same graduates and onlookers who cringe when a recruit says that he came to play football have no problem with other reasons that a midshipman might give. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone complain when a mid says that he came to USNA for the quality of the education. When someone comes to Annapolis because his father or brother or sister did, it’s generally regarded as a heartwarming nod to family tradition. How are these reasons any different? The Naval Academy does a lot to make itself attractive to applicants as a school. Athletics are a part of that, as are academic programs, extracurriculars, traditions, etc. Coming for any of these reasons is no different than coming to play a sport. None of them are the same thing as saying, “I want to be a Navy or Marine Corps officer.”
Those who question the mindset of these soon-to-be midshipmen need to remember the mission of the institution. It is not the job of the high school senior to be dedicated to a career of naval service; it is the job of the Naval Academy to motivate him to do so. As long as coaches are upfront with kids on the recruiting trail about the challenge that lies ahead, there really is no bad reason to come to USNA. That’s why the Navy is comfortable advertising about how it can help jumpstart a civilian career. Those who want to use their Navy experience to do so, can. But some of those people brought in by that ad might find that a Navy career is more rewarding than they realized, and they’ll stick around for a while. There’s a cliche at the Academy about how the guys who’d swear they would be in for life end up getting out as soon as their commitment is up, and the guys who’d swear they would get out as soon as possible end up becoming admirals. There’s some truth to that; no matter what you think going in, it isn’t until you’ve actually experienced the life of a Naval officer that you’d know if it is for you. Very few of these young men and women about to take the oath really know what’s waiting for them on the other side, but they’re willing to give it a try. The country needs people who are willing to give it a try, even if it doesn’t always work out in the end.
We should be thankful for each and every one of those who will raise their right hand on June 27th, regardless of why they’re doing it.
Poinsettia Bowl Update
Some news today out of San Diego… The Poinsettia Bowl is looking to alter its format so that it no longer offers an at-large berth. According to the article in the U-T, game executives would like Navy to play there once every three years with the Pac-10 providing its #6 choice in the other two years. While in my heart I love having at-large berths in bowl games, in the current bowl climate this makes sense. After a healthy start in 2005 with Navy bringing 20,000 fans to its game against Colorado State, the Poinsettia Bowl struggled to attract fans for its TCU-Northern Illinois matchup last year. Bringing a Pac-10 team onboard to play someone from the Mountain West would provide two regional opponents whose fans wouldn’t have much difficulty travelling to a pre-Christmas bowl game. In the long run, anything this game can do to stay afloat is good for Navy. Having a spot guaranteed for us every three years is a tremendous help when you’re an independent with no other bowl tie-ins of your own.
The article mentions that the Hawaii Bowl is also interested in hooking up with the Pac-10’s 6th choice. If I’m Chet Gladchuk, I’m placing calls to Honolulu to see if those folks wouldn’t mind Navy once in a while, too.
It’s Good To Be Loved
Bowl game talk is in the news again. The Baltimore Business Journal is reporting that the Camden Yards Sports and Entertainment Commission is considering submitting a bid to bring a bowl game to M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. Like the proposed game in Washington, the Commission is interested in possibly establishing an affiliation with the Naval Academy. Unlike the Washington game, this would not be a new bowl game but rather a transplanted game that is struggling in its current host city. It’s still early in the process, and the game wouldn’t happen earlier than December 2008; but the more bowl talk that’s surrounding Navy, the better.
eBay Scavenger Hunt, Vol. 1
There are dozens of old Navy game programs on eBay at any given time. This one, however, is a bit different. First, it’s supposedly signed by the enitre Navy team, including Roger Staubach. Second, whoever is selling it has the date wrong. The seller says it’s from the ’67 game, but that’s actually the program from 1964. Obviously, since Roger had already been to Vietnam and back by the ’67 Army-Navy game.
Chronological faux pas aside, signed memorabilia is something I get nervous about buying anywhere, let alone on eBay. But if you aren’t paranoid like me, it’s worth a look.
Army-Navy 1989
It’s a long offseason. YouTube makes it so much easier to take. Someone was kind enough to load Frank Schenk’s magnum opus, the end of the 1989 Army-Navy game. Glorious.
Paul Johnson Visits Jacksonville
Head football coach Paul Johnson made a swing through Jacksonville to talk to the local alumni association chapter on the wine and cheese circuit. The Birddog was there, along with more than 100 alumni and fans at UNF’s University Center.
The Times-Union was there too, although they didn’t provide any detail on the speech. Hopefully that’s where I can step in. Fullbacks coach Chris Culton made the trip too. If you’ve heard Coach Johnson talk to USNA alumni groups before, you know that he makes basically the same speech each time. It’s nothing most hardcore Navy fans don’t already know, but it’s still good stuff; especially for those who may have forgotten just how far Navy football has come in 5 short years. Some highlights:
– Coach Johnson said he was “astounded” that Navy’s facilities hadn’t improved between the time he was offensive coordinator (1995-1996) and 2002 when he took over as head coach. Facilities had slipped behind both Air Force and Army over that time. That was one of the first things he set about correcting when he came back.
– Player attitudes were another thing that needed correcting. Coach talked about how, in his first year, the team would lose a game but the players didn’t act like they cared. After the game they’d be on their cell phones looking to see where the party was. Accountability and a winning attitude were things that didn’t really exist. One of the things that he did to correct this attitude was ramp up the intensity at practice. The more you invest, PJ says, the harder it is to lay down. Of course, the harder you work, the fewer people there are who’ll want to do it. A side effect of this new philosophy was that a lot of guys “didn’t think football was fun anymore,” as PJ put it, and ended up quitting. That helped to keep the team at a more manageable size (about 150 or so).
– Mentioned that the first goals that he set for the program was to win the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy and to make Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium a tough place to play again.
– Coach Johnson had a 3-pronged strategy for improvement. First was making the players that he inherited better. To do that, PJ brought strength and conditioning coach Mike Brass with him from Georgia Southern. With summer training taking up a lot of the time that other schools would be using for offseason workouts, Coach Johnson wanted to find a way to make more time for players to use for conditioning. The end result is “0” block cruise. Football players have a chance to start their summer professional training as soon as classes end rather than waiting until after Commissioning Week festivities are over.
The second part of the improvement strategy was to recruit better players. The previous staff cast a wide net, bringing in hundreds of players in the hopes that through sheer luck, a few of them will turn out to be legitimate I-A prospects. Rather than do that, PJ and his staff target kids that they know can play.
The third leg of the rebirth of Navy football was to change the schedule. Playing top 25 programs week in and week out doesn’t give us a chance to win. Coach restated the 4-4-4 scheduling philosophy: 4 teams you should be favored against, 4 teams where it should be pretty even, and 4 teams that you need to “play up” to beat.
– Coach Johnson wrapped up the prepared portion of his talk by talking about spring practice and looking ahead to this season. He said that he felt that the team made good progress this spring. He said that all three quarterbacks played very well and that he’d be comfortable with any of them. He also said that the defense made great strides. At the beginning of the spring, the offense pretty much had their way with the defense. The opposite was true at the end. That’s important because, according to PJ, the defense was always ahead of the offense on the best teams he’s coached.
– The offensive line might be the best he’s had at Navy. Definitely the most athletic. The whole team, in fact, is more athletic than ever. There are a lot of young players on defense; 10 new starters. Coach Johnson says that he thinks they can play, but you never know until you play a game.
– After his speech, Coach opened the floor to questions. Lots of good stories in the Q&A. For example, PJ talked about the 2002 Air Force game, when Fisher DeBerry told newspaper reporters after the game that he wanted to “send a message.” PJ clipped that newspaper article, framed it, and kept it on his desk for motivation until the next year.
The most interesting thing that Coach talked about in the Q&A was the need to play a game in Florida for recruiting purposes. He talked about maybe getting games with USF or UCF. If something couldn’t be put together with either of those schools, then PJ said that the answer might be to schedule the Notre Dame game in Florida again. But one way or another, PJ was very clear that we needed a game in Florida.
That was about it. Tom Heilmann once again did a terrific job putting the event together. Football season can’t get here soon enough.
The Birddog 