And they had a blast!
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Navy's Visit To Patriots' Minicamp Serves As Bill Belichick's Latest Effort To Honor Late Father
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Matt Rybaltowski
I cover the business of sports for Forbes' SportsMoney.
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Not many children memorize the plays of their favorite local college team by the age of six or spend nearly every free second breaking down game film with their father by the time they enter the fourth grade, but Bill Belichick wasn’t raised in a typical household.
Belichick’s late father Steve, a 33-year assistant football coach at the U.S. Naval Academy and author of the scouting bible “Football Scouting Methods” is still regarded today as one of the most revered scouts in the history of the sport. Belichick’s intelligence, meticulousness and dogged work ethic quickly wore off on his young son, who became equally enthralled with the intellectual and athletic challenges inherent in the complex sport.
Belichick, the four-time Super Bowl champion coach with the New England Patriots, has been exceedingly loyal to Navy football since his father’s death in November, 2005. Months later, Belichick moved his father’s historic football book collection to the Naval Academy Athletic Association, providing fans with access to more than 400 books and periodicals dating back to the late 1890s. In his latest association with the program, Belichick invited Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo and his staff to spend a day with the Patriots last week at the first of their three-day minicamp.
Bill Belichick has maintained a close association with Navy football since his father Steve passed away in 2005. (AP/Steven Senne)
“They’re just up here to watch what we’re doing,” Belichick told reporters following last Tuesday’s practice in Foxborough. “We have a great relationship with Ken. He’s been a good friend and everything I’ve asked, he’s always been there for me.”
Niumatalolo, a rising young coach who turned down an offer from BYU in December, called the experience invaluable, likening the visit to “a trip to Disneyland,” for his coaching staff. While Niumatalolo declined to answer whether his staff had an opportunity to watch film with the Patriots out of respect for Belichick, they were able to attend Tuesday’s practice.
“You couldn’t take notes fast enough,” Niumatalolo said.
The Midshipmen are coming off an enormously successful 11-2 campaign, where they upset previously undefeated Memphis 45-20 and concluded the season ranked No. 18 in the Associated Press Top 25. At one point, Navy spent five consecutive weeks in the Top 25 poll, its longest streak since 1963. Navy has won at least eight games in each of the last four seasons, all of which have ended in an appearance in a bowl game. As a result, Niumatalolo reportedly received a pay raise from Navy after passing on the BYU job, according to Desert News. In his last contract, Niumatalolo earned as much as $1.7 million a year, excluding incentives from winning three bowl games and the Commander In Chief trophy.
Still, Niumatalolo, like Belichick, is a tireless worker, constantly in search of ways to improve his team. Navy’s Veer/Flexbone offense is rare in FBS and is virtually non-existent in the NFL. It is difficult to ascertain how Niumatalolo can incorporate aspects of the Patriots’ offense into the triple option. On defense, though, the Midshipmen run a modified 3-4 scheme, with the flexibility to switch to a 4-3 when the matchup presents itself. In that regard, there are a number of similarities with the system run by Patriots defense coordinator Matt Patricia.
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