Army to Unveil New Offense Before Temple Game

Army AD Kevin Anderson and Army head coach Stan Brock have both confirmed to GoMids.com that the Black Knights new offense will be unveiled to the public prior to the team's opening game on Friday, August 29 against Temple. Anderson also spoke about West Point’s plans to cater to its fans during this upcoming football season. Three changes in particular may even be welcome ideas in Annapolis.

Much to the dismay of Army fans wishing to see the team’s new offense, West Point decided to close spring football practice to the public.  The decision to do, according to both athletic director Kevin Anderson and head coach Stan Brock was based more on “safety” issues surrounding the cozy confines of its indoor practice facility. 

Brock said it was his call to “close practice down” and that the move “probably got blown a bit out of proportion” because “not a lot of people were coming anyway.”

Well, Army fans, you won’t have to wait for the first game of the season to see the team’s new offensive scheme because Anderson and Brock have both said there are no plans to hide fall practices, which begin on August 1, from the public.

“Right now…I do know that we will be outside and we don’t have any area where we are going to put big fences up, that would screen out people.  I will assume that if people want to come out and watch practice that they will see exactly what we are doing [on offense] because we have no intention of staying inside in the fall - leading up to the Temple game,” said Anderson.

Brock agreed that closing practices this fall would be “difficult.”

“I just think that at West Point, unless we can go inside [to practice] there’s no place that you can go and close practice down.  There’s nothing you can do.  It’s a pretty wide open campus,” said Brock.

When asked directly if the new offensive scheme would be open to the public during fall practice, Anderson responded, “We are planning to go outside and practice.  How much of a secret can we keep it unless we start blocking off roads?  And I doubt it we are going to that.”

And although it seems as though the offense will be unveiled prior to Army’s first game, Anderson admits it would be nice if there was a way to keep it a state secret.

“I wish we could keep it under hats and that I had enough people who were curious to see what [offense] we were running, and [that would lead them to] buy a ticket for the Temple game.  I might make some money that night.”

So pending good weather, on Friday, August 1, Army will unveil its secret offense to whoever can get access to the West Point campus.  Of course before eager fans make the trek up the Hudson to see the new offense, they may want to find out if the Cadets plan on only doing stretching exercises and light conditioning at their first practice. But since there are only four weeks before Army plays Temple, chances are Brock and his staff will take advantage of every opportunity to fine tune their new scheme.

Anderson agreed that there is an opportunity to market Army’s new offense to its passionate and loyal fans, but for this season West Point is going after another target audience to create excitement about its football program.

“We really want to cater to the fan and the family experience.   We want people to come up here to experience a football game, but we also want them to come to West Point to experience more than a football game,” said Anderson.

According to Anderson, plans call for a significant upgrade in the pre and post-game festivities at Army home football games.

“We are going to create a festive atmosphere [with] inflatable [toy structures], face painting, clowns, autograph [sessions], balloons…We are going to bring in military sponsors and military displays.  So it will invite football fans, but families as well.”

Army also announced in April, that it is installing a new high definition video board in the North end zone of Michie Stadium for the upcoming football season.  The 20 x 50 video board will be part of a new and improved scoreboard that Anderson hopes will also add to the game-day experience.

As for festivities after the game, fans will be able to stay in Michie Stadium and view Coach Brock’s post-game press conference and interviews with Army players on the new video board.

Anderson also said there are plans for Brock and his coaching staff to have a cookout in the coming weeks for season ticket holders as well as for fans looking to purchase season tickets.  More information on this event will be able on Army’s web site in the future.

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