Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo to visit with BYU about opening

Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo will talk with BYU on Monday about the school’s vacant head coaching position.

Niumatalolo’s agent told the Annapolis Capital-Gazette the meeting would take place. Niumatalolo is coaching Navy in its final game of the season against Army on Saturday.

“Kenny is doing his due diligence. He feels strongly that he needs to hear what BYU has to say,” agent Evan Beard told the Capital-Gazette.

Niumatalolo has been with Navy since 2007. He’s one of a few qualified candidates for the opening at BYU, which was created when coach Bronco Mendenhall left the school to become the head coach at Virginia. BYU rules say that a team’s head coach must be a member in good standing of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Niumatalolo is a member of the church.

The coach is 66-37 in his eight-plus years as Navy’s coach. He was hired to replace now-Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson after serving two stints as the Midshipmen’s offensive coordinator. Navy is currently 9-2 and will go to the Military Bowl at the end of the season no matter what the outcome of Saturday’s game is.

BYU finished the regular season 9-3 as an independent. Navy, previously an independent, became a member of the American Athletic Conference before the 2015 season and was a candidate to go to the conference championship game – and possibly a New Year’s Six bowl – before it lost to Houston in the final week of conference play.

We touched on this a bit in the Dr. Saturday Podcast (which you can hear below) but it’s worth repeating; BYU is not a clear-cut step up from Navy at the moment.

[Check out Dr. Saturday on Tumblr for things you won’t see on the blog]

The Cougars became independent in 2011 when it left the Mountain West Conference. Since then it’s fought to be as relevant as Notre Dame is in the ranks of the independent. As Power Five conferences are adding scheduling requirements for member teams to play another Power Five school during the season, BYU is trying to be universally considered a Power Five opponent.

The Big 12, which recently instituted a Power Five non-conference requirement, does not count BYU as a Power Five member. Notre Dame is counted.

Both schools have recruiting disadvantages too. Getting top athletes to come to a school with a strict honor code like BYU or a service academy like Navy is tough. And Niumatalolo’s success with the recruiting disadvantages at Navy is likely another reason why BYU is intrigued.

His triple option offense is tougher and tougher to defend for defenses that see more spread formations every year. And it can be successful without a boatload of five-star recruits. But would BYU fans immediately embrace it? BYU is, after all, the school of Jim McMahon and Ty Detmer.

Niumatalolo can continue BYU’s run of success under Mendenhall. But he can also keep his run going at Navy. It looks to be a tough decision, and if Niumatalolo isn’t the right fit at BYU, the Cougars’ coaching search could get a lot tougher.