Next year's Army-Navy game will have a distinctly island feel.

The hiring of Rich Ellerson, a former Hawaii player and assistant coach, as Army's new head coach was announced yesterday.

He'll face another UH product in Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo when the academies meet in the annual renewal of one of college football's storied rivalries.

Ellerson left his coaching job at Cal Poly to replace Stan Brock, who was fired Dec. 12 after a pair of 3-9 seasons. This season ended with a 34-0 loss to Navy.

“;I will never receive, nor have I ever received a finer compliment professionally or personally than to be entrusted with the Army football program at this point in its history,”; said Ellerson, who turns 55 on Thursday.

Cal Poly made it to the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs twice under Ellerson and was ranked as high as No. 3 this season. He was 56-34 in his eight years at Cal Poly.

Ellerson played center and linebacker for Hawaii before graduating in 1977. He began his coaching career in 1977 as a graduate assistant under Dick Tomey and returned to coach defensive line, outside linebackers and special teams from 1981 to '83.

After a stint in the Canadian Football League, Ellerson returned as Hawaii's associate head coach and defensive coordinator from 1987 to 1991. Niumatalolo was a UH quarterback during the first three years of that stretch. Paul Johnson, who preceded Niumatalolo as Navy's coach before moving on to Georgia Tech, was the Rainbow Warriors' offensive coordinator during that period.