The Navy Midshipmen have won 13 straight games against Army West Point. They’ve won eight straight games against all foes dating back to last season, most recently defeating Air Force. And their head coach is winning at the pay window. Navy’s Ken Niumatalolo claimed top honors among academy rivals in USA Today’s recently released annual college coach salary survey, set to take home $1,637,803 in 2015. That puts him in 58th among top-tier NCAA football coaches, ahead of Air Force’s Troy Calhoun (73rd, $919,000) and Army’s Jeff Monken (75th, $883,000). The numbers come with the usual caveats: The Naval Academy…
Browsing: Ken Niumatalolo
Navy head football coach Ken Niumatalolo stands one win away from a third-straight postseason bowl appearance, remains unbeaten against Army and is poised to lead the Midshipmen into football conference play for the first time in school history. Can you put a price on that? Yes: $1,574,810. That’s Niumatalolo’s 2014 salary, according to USA Today’s annual college football pay roundup, ranking him 60th out of the 121 Football Bowl Subdivision coaches listed. He easily outpaces Air Force’s Troy Calhoun ($892,750 in total compensation, 74th) and Army first-year coach Jeff Monken ($834,667, 77th). Niumatalolo’s pay would rank fourth among coaches in the American Athletic Conference,…
USA Today has updated its massive college football salary database and recently published a piece on the exploding cost of employing a major-college football coach, which has nearly doubled since 2006. The payouts for service-academy coaches haven’t seen that big of a surge, at least in recent years. Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo still leads the pack, earning a bit more than $1.5 million in 2013. That’s down from $1.6 million last year, but those figures likely all fall under the contract extension signed by the coach, terms undisclosed, in 2011. It’s good enough for 63rd on the overall list.…
The Naval Academy will host an all-day SportsCenter extravaganza Friday in honor of the show’s annual Veterans Day tribute, ahead of Saturday’s home game against Hawaii. Starting at 9 a.m. Eastern, tune in to ESPN for interviews with Commandant of Midshipmen Capt. Bill Byrne, Superintendent Vice Adm. Mike Miller, Navy football head coach Ken Niumatalolo and assorted midshipmen throughout the day, live from the T-Court on campus. Cameras will also catch mids at noon meal formation, and later on, ESPN will air pre-taped interviews from mids in a segment called “Why I’m Here.” According to the Navy football website, ESPN might…
Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo’s resume already glows: Five bowl appearances, first service academy head coach to win the Commander in Chief’s Trophy in his first two seasons, on pace to shatter Navy’s all-time win record, and the caretaker of the longest win streak over Army in the program’s history. Still, he’ll need to find room to add a line or two: The Hawaii-born Niumatalolo will join six other standouts as members of the first class of the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame. The class was announced Wednesday — about a month after finalists for the class were announced and…
Navy freshman Keenan Reynolds entered the fourth quarter of Saturday’s Army-Navy game in Philadephia with 13 rushing yards on 12 carries. He’d completed six of 10 passes for a little more than 60 yards. With seven minutes to play, down 13-10, Reynolds’ day went from underwhelming to the verge of unbelievable. “Before the drive started, I told the guys, ‘This is the one,'” Reynolds told reporters at Lincoln Financial Field after he’d completed a seven play, 80-yard drive that earned him the game’s most valuable player award and a place in Army-Navy history. How he and the Mids did it:…
Another half-dozen Army-Navy tidbits, starting with a strategy discussion. No PowerPoints, we promise. 1. Cut it out. With the NFL considering banning blocks below the waist in 2013, Dan Wolken at USA Today takes a hard look at what such a move in college football could do the future of option offenses such as those used by all three service academies. It’s great timing for a great thought piece — cut blocks are a key weapon in the academy arsenal, allowing undersized linemen to compete in the trenches and giving defenders one more thing to think about while they try…
A half-dozen quick hits for early in Army-Navy week: 1. The basics. A nice recap of the path both teams have taken to Saturday’s showdown from Philly.com’s Joe Juliano, with some good big-picture comments from Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo and Army head man Rich Ellerson (Ellerson on a 2-9 season: “It really is frustrating. We know how hard we’re working and how much progress we’ve made.”). 2. The big guns. Both schools have released their game-week media notes. It’s an early win for Navy, with 73 pages of stats/recaps/bios/etc., edging out Army’s 69 pages. Check back later in the…
What you need to know as the bowl-bound Mids try to extend their winning streak. Who, where, when: Navy (6-3) at Troy (4-5, 3-3 Sun Belt Conference), Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Central (3:30 p.m. Eastern). TV: ESPN3 (Dave Weekley and Forrest Conoly have the call; direct link to the game here) Gambling is illegal in most states: Navy’s a 1-point favorite, but Troy was favored early in the week. This Navy cornerback was recently featured on “Jeopardy!”: Who is Wave Ryder? Different directions: Troy hosts Navy after suffering a heartbreaking loss at Tennessee last week; the Vols scored 21 fourth-quarter points…
What Navy fans need to know about the Mids’ appearance under the Friday-night lights: Who, where, when: Navy (2-3) at Central Michigan (2-3, 0-2 Mid-American Conference), Friday, 8 p.m. TV: ESPN2 (Carter Blackburn and Rod Gilmore have the call). Gambling is illegal in most states: Central Michigan is a two-point favorite. Meet your starter: Freshman Keenan Reynolds takes over quarterbacking duties from junior Trey Miller. Miller was unable to practice Wednesday due to a nagging ankle injury, according to The Washington Post, making head coach Ken Niumatalolo’s decision easier. The Washington Times reports Reynolds will be the first freshman to…
