- Navy Coach Ken Niumatalolo is fired up to have his Mids on national television tonight at 7 p.m. (AP photo)
CBS Sports Network will roll the dice tonight with some interesting quirks to hopefully draw in more viewers to Navy’s Blue-Gold game broadcast at 7 p.m.
Players will wear microphones, coaches will do fourth-quarter interviews and cameras will be present in the locker room. We’re talking HBO Hard Knocks-level access, although I can imagine it won’t have the same production value.
Wide receiver Doug Furman and cornerback Kwesi Mitchell will wear microphones throughout the game giving viewers a sense of the on-field chatter. Head coach Ken Niumatalolo has also agreed to do a fourth quarter interview.
Navy’s head coach is tickled to have his spring game broadcast on national television. It can only help in recruiting to walk into a high school player’s living room and say the team’s spring games are even getting televised
“I think it’s great exposure for us,” Niumatalolo told the Washington Times. “For a non-BCS team to have your spring game on national television, that’s huge. To me, that says a lot about our program.”
CBS producer Dan Scheer got the idea to take some chances with Navy’s Spring Game after Niumatalolo agreed to wear a microphone during a 2008 game against Temple.
CBS is going to have to add some manufactured intrigue to a game in which Niumatalolo intends to hold out 20 starters, including co-captains Alexander Teich and Jabaree Tuani.
