PHILADELPHIA — Navy’s football team had boarded the bus and headed for the exit of the Philadelphia Eagles’ practice facility when coach Ken Niumatalolo ordered it to stop.
Niumatalolo handed bottled water reserved for Navy players and staff members to the security guards at the gate to help them cool off on a warm day.
That’s not a surprise to the Midshipmen.
Niumatalolo is the type of coach who grabs travel bags after charter flights home. No task is too menial — not even for the leader of a program that hooked an anchor in The Associated Press top-25 rankings and kept the Midshipmen in command of the most patriotic rivalry in sports.
“All the players see it,” said Navy’s star QB, senior Keenan Reynolds.
Niumatalolo has put all of college football on notice with the terrific job he has done at the Naval Academy.
In what is billed as “America’s Game,” Navy (9-2) has defeated archrival Army (2-9) a series-best 13 consecutive times and in 15 of their last 16 meetings.
Lincoln Financial Field, home of the NFL’s Eagles and Temple football, will be stuffed with cadets and midshipmen standing, bouncing and cheering the entire game Saturday. Beating Army has become an annual tradition for Navy. None of the Mids wants to be associated with a team that ended the streak.
Already at 7-0 against Army, there’s a chance that Niumatalolo could walk away from the series with a perfect record.
Niumatalolo is set to meet Monday with officials at Brigham Young University to talk about coaching the Cougars. His agent told the Annapolis Capital-Gazette the meeting would take place and that Niumatalolo “feels strongly” about listening to BYU’s pitch.
Meanwhile, an extraordinary series stuffed with pageantry, ceremony and tradition — and Navy’s “May the 14th Be With You” Star Wars parody video — will now have an unnecessary distraction for Navy.
Niumatalolo could tie former Army coach Earl “Red” Blaik (8-8-2) for the most wins in this series.
All time, Navy leads the series 59-49-7.
“I can’t tell everybody our secrets,” Niumatalolo said. “Army might be listening.”
This game usually ends the season for Army. Navy will have one more game left, against Pittsburgh (8-4) at the Dec. 28 Military Bowl in Annapolis, Md.
