Navy promotes DC Brian Newberry to head coaching role

ANNAPOLIS, MD - OCTOBER 19:  Navy Midshipmen defensive coordinator Brian Newberry watches the team warm up prior to the game against the South Florida Bulls on October 19, 2019, at Navy - Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, MD. (Photo by Mark Goldman/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
By Chris Vannini and The Athletic Staff
Dec 19, 2022

Navy has named Brian Newberry as its head football coach, the school announced Monday. Here’s what you need to know:

  • Newberry has been Navy’s defensive coordinator since 2019, making dramatic improvements to the unit since his arrival from Kennesaw State.
  • Following Navy’s loss to Army earlier this month, the program announced longtime coach Ken Niumatalolo would not return for the 2023 season and named Newberry as interim head coach.
  • The program has gone 11-23 over the last three seasons and has had one winning season over the last five years.

Backstory

Niumatalolo, who took over the head coaching role at Navy in 2008, was the winningest coach in the school’s history, departing with a record of 109-83.

In the Naval Academy’s first two seasons in the American Athletic Conference, Niumatalolo led the team to a share of the AAC West Division title in 2015 and the outright AAC West title in 2016. The program split the West Division title again in 2019.

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Newberry joined the Midshipmen that year and contributed to one of the best seasons in the program’s history, winning a school-record tying 11 games with two losses. Navy also improved in every major defensive category that year, including finishing ranked 20th in third-down defense (ranked 121st in 2018), 10th in rushing defense (ranked 90th in 2018) and 16th in total defense (ranked 86th in 2018).

Prior to joining the program, Newberry served as defensive coordinator and secondary coach at Kennesaw State from 2015 to 2018. He was previously the defensive coordinator at Northern Michigan (2012) and the University of the South (2011), as well as the defensive backs coach at Elon from 2007 to 2010. Newberry also served as defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach at Washington and Lee for five years.

What does this mean for Navy?

Firing the head coach only to promote from within can be a strange look, but it has had good and bad results throughout history. Most notably, LSU won a national championship after promoting Ed Orgeron. Newberry dramatically improved Navy’s defense after arriving in 2019 from Kennesaw State, and he was a Broyles Award semifinalist that year. The defense did particularly well in service academy games this season, holding Air Force to 13 points and Army to 10 points in regulation, though the Midshipmen lost both games.

Athletic director Chet Gladchuk said last week that Navy would remain a triple-option team, no matter who became the next coach. Asked if that could be a coach without a specific triple option offensive background who could hire an offensive staff that runs it, he said that could work as well. Time will tell if Newberry makes major changes on the offensive side of the ball.

Navy is one of the toughest jobs in the country and has gotten tougher with modern changes to college football. Name, image and likeness deals are not allowed, and the transfer portal is essentially a one-way path, and the service academies can lose players, and it’s very hard and unlikely to add any transfers, given the military requirements. The success of Air Force and Army has also limited Navy in recent years, as the teams generally work from the same pool of recruits. — Vannini

Required reading

(Photo: Mark Goldman / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

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