Johnson gives Navy
options against Army

The former Hawaii coach has
the Mids going bowling

PHILADELPHIA » Navy head coach Paul Johnson appears to have taken a page from the Vince Lombardi play book.

Until people stop it, keep running the same thing.

Since the commencement of his coaching career, Johnson, now 47, has favored the option offense and relies on the quarterback to play a tremendously important role. With a high-octane offense dating back to his years as offensive coordinator at the University of Hawaii a decade ago, Johnson's great level of success has been predicated upon execution and implementation.

His track record borders on the rather remarkable, because his winning percentage as a head coach was .742 coming into this season. Add a current 8-2 mark with the Mids and Johnson's winning percentage climbs higher.

Not only is Navy winning under Johnson, the Midshipmen are piling up yardage and demonstrating the capability to strike nearly at any time and location on the football field. Designed to bolt 240-pound fullback Kyle Eckert up the middle, open the outside for slot backs Eric Roberts and Frank Divis, Johnson's placement of players in his option offense is no accident.

"For the option system to be successful, you have to put players in a position to excel," Johnson said during the recent Army-Navy media day.

"You also need to figure out what the defense is doing and have the athletes capable of making adjustments. You can't put a round peg in a square hole."

Johnson's intelligent use of players remains a key factor to his general success.

"In high school, the best athlete is usually the quarterback," he added.

"Yet, not every high school quarterback can be a productive college quarterback. When I recruit a high school quarterback, I'm thinking how he might fit into our offense. On one Hawaii team when I was there, we had five high school quarterbacks in our offensive lineup at one time, and for several plays."

Johnson is not terribly interested in the monster lineman who goes about 6-foot-6 and weighs well over 300 pounds. The option offense is mobile, he points out, and for that reason, speed is an important factor.

While the Navy interior is not as big as Army for the annual clash this Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field, speed, athleticism and mobility are clearly evident. One result was the way the Mids rewrote the school record book a year ago.

With quarterback Craig Candeto at the controls, Navy led the nation in rushing in 2003 with an average of 323.2 yards per game. In the process, the Mids set school records in rushing yards (4,202), yards per carry (5.5), rushing touchdowns (44), total offense (5,506 yards), total offense per game (431.4 yards), and yards per play (6.0)

Johnson has continued the offensive production. For 2004, Navy is averaging 290 yards on the ground and 386.8 yards of total offense per game. In its final tune-up before the Army game, Navy piled up 390 yards on the ground and 423 yards of total offense on its way to a 54-21 win over Rutgers.

"The coaches just do a great job of preparing us and running the option," said Aaron Polanco, Navy's quarterback.

"Plus, the players give it their all. We know the program has been pretty successful, and we have an obligation to keep it going."

Johnson's success as head coach at Georgia Southern, where he went 50-8 in four seasons and won two straight Division I-AA national championships (1999 and 2000), did not escape the eye of Chet Gladchuk, Navy's athletic director. Already known to academy officials as an assistant in Annapolis in 1995 and '96, Johnson's success immediately caught the attention of Gladchuk, who hired the Western Carolina graduate in time for the 2002 Navy season.

In quick order, Johnson took a program that had dropped 20 of its previous 21 games before he arrived and proceeded to bring the Mids to a bowl game in just his second year on the Navy sidelines.

Barely through his second season in Annapolis, Johnson was rewarded with a contract extension, and is now signed through 2009.

Last season, Navy dropped a 38-14 decision to Texas Tech in the Houston Bowl, and now, the Mids are off to San Francisco, Dec. 30, and a date in the Emerald Bowl against New Mexico of the Mountain West Conference.

Navy athletic officials could have waited until after the Army game for what would likely be several bowl invitations, but chose the West Coast trip.

"I would just as soon get the bowl thing out of the way," Johnson pointed out.

"Now, we can really concentrate on Army, because this is far and away our most important game of the season."