In my
previous column I added a remark about my family
which brought a few messages to my inbox. Specifically, my recent mention about
my newborn son’s gastrointestinal issues caught the eye of a few “Off the Yard”
readers or “Off the Yarders” as I like to call them. A few such column subscribers thought my
comments about the study group were “pretty good” and even “dead on,” but when
coupled with my family insights, in their opinions, it lost some of the effect
on the intended audience (West Point). On the other hand, a “Yarder” emailed me with a
recommendation to my infant’s problem – a solution in which my wife and I had
not thought of. Yet another loyal
reader suggested that a blog may be a better place for me to chat about which
baby wipe works the best. All in
all, I appreciate the feedback and I try to answer each comment as quickly as
possible. I will definitely discuss
all of the suggestions with my editor and see what we come up with. In the meantime let me get back to some
unfinished business.
Charlie Weatherbie
I was
absolutely shocked to see his name come up in this GoMids.com article as one of the four worst service academy coaches of
all-time. Navy football was dead on
arrival in 1994 and Charlie Weatherbie brought it back to life. The 1996 season alone should have been
enough to keep him off this list.
According to my research, Weatherbie was at the helm during six of
the biggest Navy wins in the last decade.
Furthermore, before Weatherbie, the last time Navy had a winning season
was in 1982. That’s 14 years of
frustration that he ended. For some
perspective, Army currently has had ‘only’ 10 consecutive losing seasons. Imagine how thrilled Army fans would be
if you told them that in four years a coach will end their losing ways and lead
the team to nine victories including a bowl win over a PAC-10 power. That coach would get naming rights to
any building at West Point. Navy fans
felt the same way about Weatherbie in 1996, and for good reason. He showed Navy fans that you could win
at a service academy not named Air Force, and of equal importance, he surrounded
himself with people like…well, you know who. True, Weatherbie left on a sour note,
but I think it is important to look at the entire picture with each coach. I am definitely not qualified to put
such a best and worst list together but you would have to think that based on
wins and losses alone, Weatherbie (30-45) should have been spared being included
in such a compilation. Former Navy
coaches Elliot Uzelac (8-25), Rick Forzano (10-33), and George Sauer
(3-13-2)…would probably agree…
Why Play Notre
Dame?
Keith in
Davidsonville, Maryland wrote to tell me that he wants Navy to stop playing
Notre Dame every year, and really, can you blame him? The reasons we keep losing…err…playing
the Irish each year are well documented.
From Navy’s perspective, the series continues because of the money, the
exposure, the opportunity/thrill for the players, and for the money. From Wikipedia’s
perspective, Notre Dame continues the
series because, like many colleges, the
South
Bend campus faced severe financial
difficulties during World War II and the US Navy made Notre Dame a training
center and paid enough for usage of the facilities, with federal tax money, to
keep the University afloat. Notre Dame has since extended an open invitation for
Navy to play the Irish in football and considers the game annual repayment on a
debt of honor.
Having personally attended all four
contests against Notre Dame while at the Academy, including the contest in
Dublin, Ireland, I have to say that I thought each year we had a chance to
win. Sure I was an over-the-top
optimist and rabid fan, but I thought that the win could have come on my watch and
if it did then I would have been a member of a very exclusive club. Heck, less than 100,000 people will
eventually be able to say that they were there to witness a truly historic
moment...and that includes only a few thousand mids. Unlike me, Keith in Davidsonville
believes the streak will never end and he would rather us string it out a bit
and play a Michigan or Penn State instead of Notre Dame once in awhile. Let a team other than the Irish deal
with the triple option on a week’s worth of practice is Keith’s argument. Perhaps a team without any players on
their respective rosters who have played against Navy’s scheme for one, two, or
three years in a row may be a more beatable big-time opponent.
Keith makes a lot of sense. Maybe he should be writing this
column. I honestly like his idea,
but unfortunately I don’t think it is going to happen. As a fan, I wouldn’t mind seeing us play
Notre Dame every other year, but I doubt current or former players would
agree. I think as much as every
Notre Dame player doesn’t want to be a part of the team that loses to Navy, the
same can be said about the Mids.
From the recruiting trail to gameday, each Navy football player probably
believes (as I did as a fan) that they have a legitimate shot to end the
streak. I imagine this opportunity
invigorates them each and every season.
I’d love to hear what former players think - drop me a line at (Ausiellodp@yahoo.com ).
I’d bet they would rather lose four times to Notre Dame than be a part of
the class that discontinued the series.
I’m not insinuating that the players are the decision-makers, but if I
was the AD, I’d respect their opinions on the subject. Thanks to Keith for the question. I’ll be happy to share the opinions of
other fans and/or players in an upcoming column.
Waving Money at Paul Johnson
Gary from Parts Unknown USA doesn’t want me to even suggest
the possibility of Army luring away Paul Johnson from
Annapolis like I did here. I presume he is basing his concerns on
the “If you build it, they will come” principal. The fact of the matter is there is only
one place in the college football universe where Johnson could possibly be more
beloved than in Annapolis, and that’s West Point. Navy fans
don’t want to hear it or even think about it. It is the nightmare scenario. Unlike Gary, it is my hope that by continuing to mention the
possibility of Johnson going to Army down the road, maybe he will come out and
say, “It will never happen.”
However, a scenario could play out that has Johnson coaching a BCS team
(Duke for example) in five years.
And if that experiment does not work for some unfathomable reason, it is
rational to think that Johnson would return to service academy football at some
point. I realize I’m getting deep
into crazy speculation here, so I’ll stop while I still have some
credibility.
Study Group
Feedback
I have to
admit that it’s tempting to enter the back and forth on the message boards
about my story on the Army study
group. But I won’t. However, if someone sends me an email at Ausiellodp@yahoo.com and provides some
feedback or has a question, I will use this column to address
it.
John from
El
Paso, Texas wondered if I can really have any credibility as a Navy
grad talking about Army sports.
While Andrew in Houston,
Texas believes that “most Navy fans want to see Army do
better.” Andrew also said that “unless
(Army) is ashamed about their program (and shame is never a trait the military
should exhibit), there is nothing but good that can come from openness and
honesty. After all, this is a game and not only do people want to see
their program do well, but they also want to hear the ‘feel good’ stories of
their program and its players as they improve. It’s just silly what they
are doing and it is detracting not only from their program, but from the
military in general.” Thank you,
John and Andrew for your comments.
My take is
simple. If I called either the Navy
or Air Force athletic departments to ask them about a study group that they
formed to look at a program, I would get answers. By giving me access, this allows them to
control their message. I would have
no choice but to make these answers the basis of my story. Not to do so would be
unprofessional. Army has answers to
my questions. But for some reason,
they are not giving them to me, to CNN, to anyone.
As far as a
Navy grad not being able to write objectively about Army, I would expect such an
opinion from someone who has not graduated from either institution. However, any Naval Academy graduate,
(not sure if John from El Paso is one) who does not respect and even openly root
for West Point when their team is not playing them, in my opinion, has lost
sight of the big picture.
In the coming
months, I will write feature stories about both Navy and Air Force student-
athletes, but none about Army student-athletes. I will get their opinions about sports,
their futures, their goals and their dreams. I will share these stories with fans,
alumni and perhaps most importantly with perspective applicants who visit the
Scout.com network of web sites. I’d love to do the same about Army
athletes.