Former Navy football players Ricky Dobbs, Keenan Reynolds and Diego Fagot joined Glenn Clark Radio recently to discuss the firing of Ken Niumatalolo, the impact their former coach had on their lives and what’s next for the Mids with Brian Newberry being elevated to the head coaching position.
Niumatalolo took over for Paul Johnson as the full-time head coach ahead of the 2008 season, piling up 109 wins, 10 bowl appearances and 10 victories against Army. Newberry was the defensive coordinator for the Mids from 2019-2022. This past season, Navy had the fourth-best scoring defense (24.2 points per game) and second-best total defense (339.1 yards per game) in the AAC. The Mids also finished among the FBS leaders in rushing defense (88.9 yards per game).
Dobbs saw action at quarterback in three seasons at Navy (2008-2010), racking up 2,770 passing yards, 2,665 rushing yards and 69 total touchdowns. Reynolds played quarterback at Navy from 2012-2015, posting 4,001 passing yards, 4,559 rushing yards and 119 total touchdowns. Fagot played linebacker for the Mids from 2018-2021, recording 282 tackles, 35.5 tackles for loss, 9.5 sacks, six forced fumbles and two interceptions.
What did Reynolds think when he first heard the news that Niumatalolo had been dismissed following the Mids’ 20-17 loss to Army Dec. 10?
Reynolds: I woke up from a nap and I had several messages on my phone, a missed call kind of laying out the news. I was a bit shocked. I think that it [was] just a sad weekend for the entire Navy football brotherhood, just obviously with the way the game went and how we lost. And to follow up the next day with Coach Niumat being let go, I think anybody that’s been on social media has seen the outpouring of support from other coaches, former players, current players. It’s just been incredible to see. I think it just shows the type of man that a lot of people felt Coach Niumat was and who he was. … The men he’s mentored, obviously the things that he taught went beyond football. It wasn’t just how to play better on the field. It was how to be a better officer, man, husband, father. He exemplified all of those things, so a very sad day, but I think everybody also understands that college football is a business and sometimes it’s a vicious business. I definitely have some not-so-pleasant experience with the business of football, so I understand what it’s like.
Niumatalolo was the assistant head coach and offensive line coach for the Mids in 2007, Dobbs’ first year with the program, prior to becoming the head coach. Dobbs remembers Niumatalolo as a fiery but respectful coach.
Dobbs: He was known to have a quick temper, but he’d never cuss at you. But at the same time, with the way his temper was, when he gets on to you, it feels like he just cursed you out. But all of us loved him. … One of the things that he stood on was never cutting corners and making sure that everybody just did the right thing because if you do the right things then everything kind of falls in place. He was like a perfect fit in what you would want in a head coach for Navy. You have some coaches that could come to a service academy that probably don’t care and they just worry about football and that’s it. But Coach Niumat, he cared about us within Bancroft Hall, all the kids within our studies and our military training and all that stuff. He kind of grew on us and helped groom us to be better men on the football field and in the military.
Fagot: He just cares so much about each and every one of us, and that’s from the starters all the way down to the fifth-string holder, whoever it is. He really does take the time to learn each and every one of us. He takes the time to learn our names, takes the time to learn our background, our families. He does a really good job at remembering that stuff and checking in whenever he can. I remember even as a freshman he would come ask me questions that he didn’t have to, just being a no-name freshman. We’re not dumb. These past three years have not been great for Navy football in general, but to see him go out the way that he did I feel like was a very big disservice to him with how loyal he was, the way that he fought through so much adversity. It really hurt me and all my brothers and the alumni beyond that it was done the way it was.
Though the Mids went just 11-23 in the past three seasons, there may not have been an FBS program that was more challenged by the circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic than Navy. The Mids can’t redshirt players because players must move on from the Naval Academy in four years. Navy’s direct competitors in the American Athletic Conference, meanwhile, could benefit from fifth-, sixth- and even seventh-year players due to extra eligibility related to the pandemic and redshirt years. Niumatalolo pushed for some leniency on the no-redshirt policy in the wake of COVID-19 but got nowhere. Do observers really understand the challenges Niumatalolo faced in leading the program the past three years?
Dobbs: That’s one of those things that a lot of people fail to realize. During the pandemic years, we also weren’t able to get the recruits that we would want because during the pandemic they’d come up here to see Navy, they don’t really get the full experience and then you throw in that extra factor that no matter what these kids that are seniors [went through in football], they still have to graduate and move on. That is a critical, critical factor that plays a part that nobody really talks about and they don’t give him the benefit of the doubt [on]. Despite that going against him, we still put together some good wins, just not enough of them obviously. But we put together some good wins.
Reynolds: We’ve had really tough schedules the last couple of years, the toughest in the country, and … our senior class was gutted by the pandemic and we only had four [senior] starters on both sides of the ball total. A lot of things contributed to some of the results from the last couple of years. Coming next year you have an easier conference schedule [with Cincinnati, Houston and UCF leaving]. You’re going to get more experienced guys. … There’s a lot of guys that started that are underclassmen, haven’t even signed a 2 for 7 yet. I think that this team over the next couple of years is going to take off. I think they have a great foundation in place.
Fagot: You look at Air Force and Army, their starting quarterbacks were fifth-years. The fullbacks for Air Force and Army, fifth-years. There are so many core players where if my class, that class of ’22, had a fifth-year option and the top five or 10 players came back, I personally think that would be one of the best teams that we would ever have. It’s one of those things where it is what it is. You wish circumstances were different, but God has a reason for everything.
Players and coaches who have crossed paths with Niumatalolo are universal in their praise for the kind of human being the former Navy coach is. Why does he resonate so much with … everybody?
Reynolds: Everything he preached, he practiced. Everything that he harped on, he lived himself. You can’t do anything but respect that. You can’t do anything but want to be a part of that. No matter how much he might have jumped you for not having the ball high and tight, every time you saw a football in his hand, it was high and tight. You’d see guys throughout the years who’d follow that ethos have success and you’re like, “OK, the coach is preaching it, he’s doing it and he’s not even a player, and then everybody that came before me that did it was successful. Let me jump on board.” Those types of things I think are what make leaders. You truly care about the people that you’re leading and then you practice what you preach.
Niumatalolo is also known as a man of faith. Dobbs learned firsthand what Niumatalolo’s faith meant to him.
Dobbs: I’m the type of person that I love to explore, learn new things, so when it comes to his religion — because he’s Mormon — and while I was at the Academy I was doing a paper and just trying to learn a lot about different religions and studying and stuff. He invited and opened his religion up to me, and before I would have class on some days his wife would run a bible study at their house for the local Mormon students and stuff. I would go there and attend those bible study sessions with some of his kids and the kids in the neighborhood just to kind of learn and broaden my horizons spiritually, mentally and every facet of my life. That just kind of speaks to the type of person that he is. When you are not the majority as far as a belief system, you tend to kind of close off and stick to yourself. But as big of a heart as he has, he just decided to open up to me and provide me the opportunity to learn some of those things to kind of help me be a better man spiritually and physically as well. I definitely love Coach Niumat and his wife. The Navy brotherhood is behind him because of so many of the lives that he’s impacted.
Navy announced on Dec. 19 that it promoted defensive coordinator Brian Newberry to the head coaching role. Fagot played under Newberry for three years and developed into a two-time first-team All-AAC linebacker.
Fagot: I didn’t really agree with the head coaching deal and how it was handled, but with that being said, Coach Newberry goes to work every day, too. He’s one of the hardest-working individuals I know. [He] stays up late in the office [but] is one of those guys who takes the time to still be with his family even when he has a lot of things that he probably could be doing with the football team and stuff like that. He deserves it. His track record has proven that he can coach at a very high level. I’m super, super excited for him to get this opportunity. And also my position coach and one of my best friends, coach P.J. Volker, he got elevated to the defensive coordinator position. I’m just really, really excited for both of them. … Me and [Newberry] really, really clicked very well. Even against those academy teams, he gave me the ability to call the game. Just having that ability to understand what he wants me to do and understand what my role as a player is, I can’t wait to be able to see what he’s going to do as a head coach and bringing in some offensive minds and things like that. I’m really excited for him and our team.
Fagot understands that the Niumatalolo firing was jarring, but he urges everyone from players to fans to the administration to give Newberry a chance to establish himself as a head coach.
Fagot: I would say first and foremost, he’s not Ken Niumatalolo. People have to understand and people have to get past the fact that he is not the same guy, and so he’s going to have a learning curve in some things. It’s growth. He’s never been a head coach of a D-I football team. It’s just one of those things where there are going to be some pains. But at the end of the day, he’s the man for the job. I think that nothing’s going to change culture-wise with just the way that he approaches the football team and being built off of that love piece and just how things are run behind the scenes — with honor and with integrity. I don’t think any of those things will change, but again, it’s more how will the players, how will the fans, how will the administration adapt to the fact that it’s not Ken anymore. It’s not the guy that it’s been for the past 15 years. Coach Newberry’s track record is proven. It’s really just, “Are we going to let him run with it?”
For more from Dobbs, listen to the full interview here:
For more from Reynolds, listen to the full interview here:
For more from Fagot, listen to the full interview here:
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