Brian Newberry Keeps Navy Focused on Battle with Army

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Brian Newberry has worked hard to take the Navy Midshipmen from the depths of college football anonymity to a much higher level. The Navy head coach has put his team in a position to be talked about among other big-time programs. Sitting at 8-3 overall, 6-2 in American Athletic Conference play and a bowl game already on the schedule, some teams might look beyond their next opponent and to postseason glory.

That's not going to happen at all as Navy has its sights set on defeating the No. 22 Army Black Knights (11-1, 8-0 AAC, No. 19 in The Associated Press Top 25) in their yearly battle between military academies coming up on Dec. 14 at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Md. "It's going to come down to the team that plays with the best fundamentals and best technique," Newberry said, per Capital Gazette Sports.

Navy Rights Ship Under Newberry

Entering his second season as Navy head coach, Newberry already knew back in August that some things needed improvement. The Midshipmen posted a 5-7 mark in 2023, sitting at home during bowl season. Needless to say, Newberry wasn't overly pleased with the results. "We weren't a real disciplined football team," he said when talking with Glenn Clark on Aug. 1, per PressBox Online. "It was way too many self-inflicted wounds, pre-snap penalties, things of nature that you just can't do here at the Naval Academy."

Well, Newberry must be extremely pleased with how his team has performed in 2024. He had a bird's eye view at some primetime winning college football as a young boy. Newberry might have been influenced in some way by his beloved Oklahoma Sooners.

Newberry grew up as a fan of Oklahoma, attending his first game with his parents back in 1985. Now, he gets to go up against the Sooners (6-6, 2-6 Big 12 Conference) on Dec. 27 at the Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, Texas. But he still remembers that magical season.

Coach Watched Oklahoma Closely

Raised in Moore, Okla., Moore and his fellow Sooners fans will never forget that 1985 season as OU secured a national championship. In fact, Moore saw Oklahoma beat Colorado, one of 11 victories that then-head coach Barry Switzer's team put together, in Norman, Okla.

Newberry played college football at Baylor as a defensive back. He then entered the coaching ranks, where 25 years of pushing, encouraging and cheering players on ultimately led him to a role with the Midshipmen. He joined Navy in 2019 as the defensive coordinator under former head coach Ken Niumatalolo. Newberry was promoted to head coach in 2023.

Of course, his first season didn't pan out too well. But something good must have been in the water in Annapolis, Md., because this season's team bolted out of the gates fast. Navy won its first six games in the 2024 college football season and found itself among The AP's Top 25 teams at different times.

“We have a unique system, and we want to be extremely hard to prepare for,” Newberry said, Sports Illustrated reported. “What sets us apart (defensively) is how we do it with the intangibles and the fantastic young men in our program.”

Now that Navy is on course to play in a bowl game, Newberry will have a chance—after the season—to take stock of the Midshipmen's play. Seeing his team radically improve in a 12-month period of time gives Newberry and Navy's fans something to cheer about. Beating Army, though, would be the icing on this college football season's cake for Navy.