Chet Gladchuk Doing A Disservice to Navy Football
Is the Naval Academy only teaching one style of naval tactics? No, so why is Chet Gladchuk committed to one style of offense?
Naval Academy Athletic Director Chet Gladchuk fired longtime head coach Ken Niumatalolo on Sunday. That was a surprise, at least for the Naval Academy. Niumatalolo had been the coach for 15 years and the Midshipmen were on a bit of a downward slide the last few years.
He also lost to Army three of the last five years, which really matters more than the won-loss record.
What was more surprising is this:
Navy athletic director Chet Gladchuk made it clear on a video call with reporters Monday, a day after firing longtime coach Ken Niumatalolo, that the football team will continue to employ some version of triple-option offense going forward.
The Midshipmen have employed the unique run-heavy system since 2002 when Paul Johnson was hired as head coach….
….“I think the triple-option is really the fiber of who we are,” Gladchuk said. “Understanding the basic principles of the triple-option and hiring a staff that can implement the triple-option are important.”
Now I understand a bit of the logic behind that. Navy (and Army and Air Force as well) are at a recruiting disadvantage compared to the other 120-some Division I college football programs. The other schools do not come with a military service requirement attached. Nor do the other schools have impediments to immediately beginning a professional sports career immediately after college.
Even David Robinson had to serve two years before starting his NBA career.
This of course creates disincentives for high-level recruits to consider Navy. Few five-star prospects are going to consider a school with such a strict environment and service requirement are in place.
So to that end, I understand the commitment to the triple option; it is a gimmick offense that can even out sometimes overcome a talent imbalance.
The problem is that at the highest levels of football, nobody other than the service academies run the Triple Option anymore. The Triple Option still has more than a few proponents. But this isn’t the 1980’s any more and most schools and offensive coordinators have moved on.
It is odd that a service academy would so steadfastly hold to a particular scheme when it comes to hiring a head coach and a staff. If Naval Academy staff were only teaching the Midshipmen about fighting the last war and focused on instilling outdated tactics and schemes they would be doing a disservice to the Midshipmen and to the people of this country.
This is football so it isn’t quite as life or death1, but Chet Gladchuk is doing a disservice to the Academy and his football players by being so hellbent on hiring a coach who runs a certain scheme. It artificially limits the possible pool of coaches to choose from in an already limited pool of candidates.
There are a ton of people who would be happy to be the head football coach at Navy. And a lot of them would be happy to run an exotic offense that plays to Navy’s strengths and helps even the playing field. And yes, maybe the best coach for Navy in the future does run the Triple Option. But by limiting the search to specifically Triple Option coaches, Chet Gladchuk will never know if a better option was out there.
It’s not the SEC, after all.