Brian Newberry Envisions Navy Football Being 'Nightmare To Prepare For In All Three Phases'

New Navy football coach Brian Newberry says he envisions building a team that is a “nightmare to prepare for in all three phases” and a little different offensively than recent Mids teams, but he is confident that the core values former coach Ken Niumatalolo instilled in the program are going to remain in place.

Niumatalolo was the head coach at Navy for 15 seasons, compiling a 109-83 overall mark and leaving a lasting impression on the men he coached. He also left an impression on assistants like Newberry, whom Niumatalolo hired away from FCS Kennesaw State following the 2018 season to be his defensive coordinator.

Newberry, 48, called Niumatalolo one of the best human beings he has ever been around, pointing to the way Niumatalolo treated staff and players, how he handled adversity and how he took ownership of all aspects of the program. Niumatalolo’s fingerprints will remain on the program as long as Newberry is around.

“Talking to our players and recruits, the culture piece around here is not going to change. The things that Coach valued and believed in, those principles that he hung his hat on, I believe in those wholeheartedly,” Newberry said on Glenn Clark Radio Jan. 6. “It’s one of the reasons why I stayed here [as defensive coordinator] when I had some opportunities to do some other things, because I believed in that on top of the fact that we get to go to work with these players every day. I think we’ve got the best locker room in the country. I can’t imagine a better group of young players and young men with this kind of character, all the things that you get here that are a little bit built-in at the Academy.”

Newberry says the program is in need of a “reboot,” not a rebuild. The Mids went 11-23 during the past three seasons, a stretch that was capped by a 20-17 double-overtime loss to Army on Dec. 10. Navy’s offense bottomed out in 2022, with the Mids averaging 21.9 points per game, tied for the lowest mark in the American Athletic Conference.

As such, Newberry has gotten to work integrating some new blood into the offensive staff. He hired Grant Chesnut, the offensive coordinator at Kennesaw State since 2014, for the same role at Navy. He also brought in Tommy Laurendine, the offensive coordinator at Division II Mississippi College since 2018, as the tight ends coach. Quarterbacks coach Ivin Jasper, offensive line coach Ashley Ingram and wide receivers coach Mick Yokitis are returning.

Newberry says the option football will remain the foundation of Navy’s attack, but he wants the Mids evolve as well. Chesnut will be tasked with leading that charge.

“We’re definitely not going Air Raid. I believe that you have to be able to run the football here, and we’re going to be under center. I believe in that. That’s an equalizer. We have to be able to do that. That’s going to be our base,” Newberry said. “But we’re going to be multiple. We’re going to have the ability to get in the gun. We’re going to incorporate a tight end into a lot of the things that we’re doing. We’re going to have the ability to get the ball on the perimeter and not just with a pitch, to be able to throw it out there and get the ball out in space and take what people give us, to be able to have the ability to loosen people up so we can run the football.”

Tai Lavatai, who began the 2022 season as the starting quarterback, suffered a torn ACL during Navy’s 27-20 win against Temple on Oct. 29. Xavier Arline took over from there, starting the final four games. Arline ran for 239 yards during the Mids’ final five games of the season, including 102 against Army.

Arline figures to get bulk of the reps with the first-team offense in spring ball while Lavatai recovers from his knee injury. Newberry was impressed with Arline down the stretch.

“I think we’re just scratching the surface on what he can do and who he can be. You really kind of saw him come into his own and start to play with more and more confidence as the year went on,” Newberry said of the rising senior. “I think he’s got some tremendous leadership abilities. To his credit, when I was named the interim he was in my office the next morning. Really excited about where he’s at, how much he’s grown. Everything’s going to be open as far as the competition goes, but I am really excited about Xavier and can’t say enough good things about just him as a person and what I’ve seen from him from a leadership perspective.”

Though Navy struggled on offense throughout the 2022 season, the Newberry-led defense still gave the team opportunities to win ballgames. The Mids had fourth-best scoring defense in the AAC (24.3 points per game) and second-best total defense (339.1 yards). They also had one of the top rushing defenses (88.9 yards) among FBS teams. Newberry elevated P.J. Volker from linebackers coach to defensive coordinator in December.

Striker John Marshall (96 tackles, 19.5 for loss, 11.5 sacks) graduates, but Newberry is set to return most of the defense otherwise. If Newberry can kick the offense into higher gear and keep the defense playing at a high level, it may very well be a quick reboot.

“We have to have a niche on offense. We have to be difficult to prepare for. It’s the same thing on defense and special teams,” Newberry said. “My vision for us is to be a nightmare to prepare for in all three phases, and we’re going to double down on that. The offense will look slightly different. Some of the foundation fundamentals of option football are not going to change. We have to have the ability to do that, in my opinion, so we’re going to stick to that. But we’ll adapt and evolve in order to be successful here.”

Newberry addressed several other topics, including …

On how he figured out he wanted to coach after he graduated from Baylor, where he was a defensive back:

“When I got to college, I really didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do. I didn’t declare a major until really late, had a lot of really great high school coaches that really had a big influence on me. And so I went in the direction of getting a degree in education, thought I might coach and teach in high school. After I did my student-teaching, I realized maybe that wasn’t for me, to be in the classroom all day. And then at that point still didn’t know if I wanted to coach, wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. A lot of people don’t know this, but I took a year off after I graduated from Baylor. I went out to Montana and was a tour guide in a national park out there trying to get away and trying to figure out what I wanted to do. That was a great time of reflection for me, and at that point I kind of made up my mind that I was going to try to get into coaching and kind of come up the hard way. I started off as a graduate assistant at Southern Arkansas University, which is a Division II program there in Arkansas. Bounced around over the place. I’ve coached Division II, Division III, FCS. I’ve painted grass fields. I’ve cut grass. I’ve cleaned out locker rooms and toilets. I’ve done a little bit of everything.”

On replacing John Marshall at striker:

“John developed into a really, really good football player. We’ve got some depth at that position. I’m excited about the guys we’ve got coming back and excited about the guy that’s coaching them as well. He did a great job with John [and] continuing to do a good job developing the guys at that position. In this defense, this structure, this system, that position’s got to be one of your best players. When that guy’s playing well and is really productive, [it helps]. … It’s a guy we bring off the edge a lot. He’s out to the field, in space, and has to make a lot of plays out there. We ask that guy to do a lot. He’s got to be a smart player. He’s got to be a savvy player. It’s going to be hard to replace John. We’ll do the best we can.”

On the high expectations at the Naval Academy:

“Our kids know that we’re really close. We did that with a really young football team, 17 starters coming back. I think there’s a lot of confidence on this football team right now. We’ve got to continue to get better obviously on both sides of the football, and we will. But the nucleus is there. It’s really strong. So I couldn’t be more excited about this football team right now and just the potential moving forward, excited to get going here in the offseason, excited to get into spring ball. I think our players should have a good amount of confidence right now. That was a disappointing loss [against Army]. It could’ve easily gone the other way, but proud of this group. Proud of the way they ended the year. Proud of the way they kept fighting, I think that speaks a lot to the character of our football team and the resilience. We’ve got a great group, like I keep saying. I really, really couldn’t be more excited. But our expectation is really high here and it’ll continue to be that way.”

For more from Newberry, listen to the full interview here: