How Bill Belichick helped revive Navy football
Niumatalolo says Pats coach laid groundwork with advice
Two years ago, Ken Niumatalolo sat amid ruins of his ownmaking.
Under his watch as head coach, one of the nation’s oldest and proudest college football programs had been two possessions and one FCS opponent away from going winless. For the third straight year, it had won fewer games than the season before. His assistants scrambled, his players left and recruits wavered.
Meanwhile, Niumatalolo sat in his office, suddenly an epicenter of failure, tied downby a hard truth. Navy football had been sunk. Over their three-win season, the Midshipmen had displayed an atypical passivity and
“The things that happen on a good team are pretty universal. It’s when you have a team that comes together and has great leadership. And we had that, with players and coaches. We had guys that wanted to be different.” — Brian Norwood, former Navy defensive coordinator
predictability. The chief driver of Niumatalolo’s trouble was his defense: The oncefierce outfithadsurrendered 33.5 points per game and ranked among the worst in the country. And then therewas Army. Days earlier, Army had edged Navy to extend its winning streak in their storied, 130-year rivalry that packs more pride than any other in American sports. The Cadets had been celebrating for three straight seasons now, after a decade-and-a-half of Navy dominance, the longest run in the series’ history.
To right his ship, Niumatalolo turned to the sharpest commander he knew. Bill Belichick. A young Belichick learned at the knee of the Naval Academy in the 1950s and ’60s as the son of a programlegendwhogrewup in Annapolis. His late father, Steve Belichick, was a World War II veteran and longtime Navy coach and scout, now recognized as the godfather of football scouting. The outline of Belichick’s football philosophy is a framework first established by Steve throughNavy.
So asking Belichick for help should have felt logical. Instead, Niumatalolo felt reluctant— scared even.
“Don’t do it, don’t do it,” he told himself. “Don’t bother him.”
Niumatalolo hated the idea of possibly bothering Belichick — always has. He treasures their friendship and treats it with care. Plus, the timing of his request would be excruciating.
In December 2018, the Patriots were tending to their ownwounds after the most stunning loss of Belichick’s tenure, the Miami Miracle, a game remembered for the Dolphins’ game-winning hook-and-lateral play that temporarily snatched a division title away from the Pats as time expired.
Calling him days after that? Was Niumatololo insane? For a moment, yes. Niumatalolo surrendered to his desperation. He called Belichick. No answer. Then Niumatalolo did another insane thing in this day and age: He left a voicemail.
Hours passed, his hope of a call back vanished.
Near midnight, still in his office, Niumatalolo’s phone rang. A weary Belichick was on the line, driving home from Gillette Stadium asking howhe could help. Niumatalolo explained his dilemma and mentioned staff changes.
Belichick knew he would. Of course he did.
Thenhelaunched into potential fixes. He barely stopped to breathe while Niumatalolo scribbled notes furiously at his desk, trying to document everyword.
“There were a couple of times I wanted to ask him a question, but I didn’t want to sound like an idiot,” Niumatalolo remembered. “And I try not to make him repeat himself, so I just let him roll.”
Once Belichick got home, the two hung up. Niumatalolo exhaled, allowed the past 20 minutes towash over him and smiled.
“I realized after talking to him that I thought I knew football,” he said. “But I don’t knowcrap.”
One year later, a reborn Navy reclaimed its rivalry with Army, vanquishing the Cadets 31-7 and making Niumatalolo the winningest coach in the series’ history. The Midshipmen then capped their 11-win season with a Liberty Bowl victory over Kansas State, whichmanaged a meager 170 yards despite having more than a month to prepare for Niumatalolo’s newly vaunted defense. The11wins tied a program record.
Another year later, Niumatalolo is on the phone again, describing the power of Belichick’swords, awed by their impact and how they changed his program and life forever.
“His advice was the genesis for everything.,” Niumatalolo said.
Back to their roots
Two fun facts aboutNavy football. One: The program, more disciplined than any in the country, was born from an act of disobedience.
Two: Its foundation is the greatest defensive stand in history.
In 1879, first-classman William Maxwell assembled Navy’s first football team and challenged the neighboring Baltimore Athletic Club to a game. To prepare, Maxwell organized practices with the support of select school faculty, even at the expense of his drills and education. However, the practiceswere not sanctionedby the school, and the team was not recognized because the superintendent had banned football on campus.
The sport was prehistoric then, an untamed and unruly game without equipment or a limited team size. Nonetheless, Baltimore Athletic Club, fielding experienced players from Ivy League schools, traveled to Annapolis for kickoff. Therewas only one natural place to play: the superintendent’s cowpasture.
ABaltimore newspaper reported it lasted roughly an hour before the referee blew a merciful final whistle. It had been brutal. Unending human punishment ensued, from grabbing, kicking, tackling and basic pig-piling. Navy never once gained possession, according to the paper.
But it didn’t falter. The final score read 0-0.
As college football grew over the coming century, so did Navy, which added a rival, fight song, mascot, one national championship and two Heisman Trophy winners. The program is now defined by its bygone glory and triple-option offense, an age-old scheme that helps offset the Midshipmen’s talent deficit.
But recently, their static 3-4 defense began to exacerbate that gap. Opponents gashed an undersizedNavy frontwhenthey ran, sliced through its predictable secondary when they passed. Offenses were allowed to set terms of engagement and won most Saturday battles, leading to the retirement of defensive coordinator Dale Pehrson in 2018.
That winter, prompted by the worst season of his coaching career, Niumatalolo overhauled his defensive staff. Scouring the country for a new coordinator, he followed Belichick’swords as hisNorth Star.
“[Belichick] didn’t tellmeexactly what to do, but he kind of gave me parameters, things I should be thinking about,” Niumatalolo said. “Like, don’t think about this, think about that. Know if you do this, you should knowthat.
“His answers really made me contemplate more about what people could fit the scenarios hewas talking about.”
Niumatalolo eventually landed on Kennesaw State’s Brian Newberry, who commanded the second-best FCS defense by yards allowed in 2018. He also hired lifelong friend Brian Norwood as codefensive coordinator. Together, along with several new assistants, they began installing amore aggressive 4-2-5 system.
“Our defensewas trying to dictate a little more by moving the front and through coverage and disguise,” saidNorwood, who previously coached at Navy from 1995-99. “Things that give you opportunities to maybe create a little edge here or there. But its foundation was fundamental football: running to the ball, tackling and making sure everybody’s on the same page communication-wise.”
The results were instantaneous. In spring practices, Navy’s burgeoning defense disrupted its seasoned triple-option attack that had also embraced system changes. Niumatalolo boldly declared the Midshipmen could be headed for a special season, weeks away fromtheir opener. Hewas right. Navy allowed a combined 17 points over its first two games, then avenged a blowout loss to high-powered Air Force from the year before, held South Florida to a field goal in October and lost once the rest of the way. Their triumphs over Army and Kansas State hoisted the Midshipmen into the top 20 of the Associated Press’ final Top-25 rankings for just the second time in 56 years.
“The things that happen on a good team are pretty universal,” Norwood said. “It’s when you have a team that comes together and has great leadership. And we had that, with players and coaches. We had guys that wanted to be different.”
Niumatalolo celebrated with his players and his staff, praised and thanked them all for their work that lifted Navy back to its former glory.
Therewas just one coach missing.
Restoration and repayment
So what did Belichick say? What magic words fell from his tired lips to revitalize Navy?
Neither head coach would go into detail. Belichick is famously tight-lipped, and he makes a private mandate of coaching friends not to take their private conversations public. They abide.
Niumatalolo spoke generically about Belichick’s advice, saying he primarily exploredX’s and O’swhile also addressing a big-picture defensive philosophy and program-building.
Though indirectly, Niumatalolo may have already spilled the beans 15 months ago. And inference might be able to empty the rest of the jar.
“There was a philosophy I knew that I wanted,” he told reporters in September 2019. “I wanted to attack. I wanted to come after people. Iwanted to be chaotic.
“But I also wanted to be somewhat safe and sound, give the illusion of coming after people. There’s chaos, but there’s organization and simplicity to your system.”
In football-speak, chaos is synonymous with pressure and disguise, anddisguise has been a staple of Belichick’s defenses since the dawn of his coaching career. Newberry is on the record several times about chaos, which he applies through clever blitzes and four-man “simulated pressures;” designs that have grown popular at all levels of football— including inNewEngland.
“[Newberry] said the things that I was looking for,” Niumatalolo said of their interview. “Things that Coach Belichick told me to look for.”
UnderneathNewberry’s exotic pressures is a bedrock of fundamentals that can combat both modern spread offenses and triple-option football. Experience defending the option was non-negotiable for Niumatalolo, a triple-option coach whose twochief rivals— AirForce andArmy— run the same offense.
At Kennesaw State, Newberry practiced against a triple-option offense every day. At Navy, he blitzed a lot more than the Midshipmen had been accustomed to doing. Niumatalolo admitted he wanted to pressure more.
Navy was also more versatile with its personnel, a growing hallmark of Patriots defenses under Belichick. The Pats have devoted more cap space to the safety position than any other NFL team since 2016 and deployed them at every level of their defense. Safeties such as Patrick Chung, Adrian Phillips and rookie Kyle Dugger have basically served as de facto linebackers, while defensive backs Jonathan Jones and Jason McCourty regularly flip between cornerback and safety.
InNavy’snewbasedefense, the Midshipmen deploy a third safety where a strongside linebacker would normally align in a traditional 4-3 front. Their other primary personnel grouping features six defensive backs, who all might cover in man or zone or blitz on a given snap. That combination of versatility and unpredictability allows Navy to neutralize spread offenses designed to create mismatches in space.
But nowadays the Midshipmen are struggling. They are not immune to the adversities created by the COVID-19 pandemic or roster turnover or the natural cycle of competition. At 3-6, Navy has its sights again set on Army, with Saturday’s kickoff scheduled one day after the 141-year anniversary of Maxwell leading the Midshipmen into a mutual shutout against Baltimore Athletic Club.
Still, Niumatalolo is happy, ever grateful for the phone call that set into motion the restoration of his program, the ultimate repayment by Belichick to the place that set into motion his path to becoming the greatest coach of all time.
“It was kind of like if you’re a musician, being able to talk with Beethoven, or an artist with Picasso — it was a once-in-alifetime experience,” Niumatalolo said. “I mean, whowould call on theirway home?
“People have this perception of him that he’s a cold, callous man. But he’s really a good person.”