Army and Navy give blueprint for UCLA Football

Navy and Army are having outstanding seasons and UCLA if they follow a similar blueprint, can be successful moving forward as well.

In 2023, Army was 2-6 entering their game against Air Force, and Navy was 3-5 last season before playing UAB. Fast-forward to the 2024 season; both teams are undefeated and looking to make the 12-team college football playoffs. Now, let's look at how this is relevant to UCLA football moving forward.

UCLA can first look at Navy football over the past two seasons as a blueprint for success in the win column moving forward. The 2022 season for the Navy ended with only four victories and a season-ending loss to Army. Ken Niumatalolo was fired and relieved as the head coach of the Midshipmen after that was his and Navy's third losing season.

Navy then hired Brian Newberry, who was the Midshipmen' defensive coordinator, before being promoted to head coach. Last season in his first season as a college football head coach, he and Navy lost three of their first four games and won four of their last eight games ending the season with a 5-7 record and a loss to Army to end the season. However, that was their most wins in a season since the 2019 season.

In Newberry's second season, he has the Midshipmen ranked in the top 25 and undefeated heading into their game against Charlotte with a 5-0 record. Their big test of the season is when they play No. 12 ranked Notre Dame in East Rutherford, N.J., on October 26th. If they can defeat the Fighting Irish, they will put themselves in an excellent position to make the college football playoffs.

The Army's football program these past few seasons has not been bad, but it has not been great. Under the leadership of head coach Jeff Monken, the Black Knights went 6-6 in 2023 and 2022. The last time Army participated in a Bowl game was in 2021, when they defeated Missouri in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl. However, Monken has only three losing seasons in his 11th season as the head football coach of the Black Knights.

After the 2021 season, it was reported that Monken was a finalist for the Kansas job. However, he stayed at Army and led the Black Knights to solid finishes to their seasons the last two years, including having defeated Navy back to back and winning their last three games these past two seasons.

How does Navy's and Army's success translate to a blueprint for UCLA football? A couple of things to consider here. In the case of Navy, allowing a new head coach without any prior college football heading coaching experience the opportunity to quickly rebuild his program through solid recruiting and having an offensive and defensive coordinator who will allow the team to flourish.

DeShaun Foster and Newberry are similar in more ways than one. Foster can follow the blueprint Newberry put out of taking a program to the next step. Chip Kelly at UCLA and Ken Niumatalolo at Navy did have success but were never able to reach the mountaintop and, in this day in age, the 12 team college football playoffs. Now, Newberry still has work to do to accomplish that goal, and Foster will have a more difficult path in the future with the Bruins playing in the Big Ten, but it is not out of the realm of possibility.

In the case of Army, they have been like how UCLA was under Kelly, winning nine games in the 2020 and 2021 seasons as UCLA won nine games in 2022 and eight in 2021 and possibly nine if their bowl game had not been cancelled that season. The difference is that Monken didn't leave Army for another job and stayed and is now seeing the benefits of the Black Knight's possibility making it to the 12-team college football playoffs.

The great news for UCLA is that they have better recruiting resources, like NIL financial incentives, but they do play in a more difficult conference with a more challenging schedule. However, UCLA can win four of their last six games and have momentum moving into year two under Foster. The Army and Navy blueprint for success that is being witnessed this season is not exactly what UCLA should follow but they should take a good, close look to help them being successful in terms of victories for the 2025 season.