Following the conclusion of a third straight subpar season, Navy head football coach Ken Niumatalolo, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is no longer in his post, the school announced Sunday.
“Our sincerest gratitude to Coach Ken for what has been a distinguished and impactful legacy at the Naval Academy,” Navy athletic director Chet Gladchuk said in a statement.
”Navy football flourished for many years under his leadership. He will forever be remembered for the influence he has had on the lives of those who played for him. We all have great respect and appreciation for his 25 years of service to the Academy.”
Niumatalolo, 57, was promoted to head coach at Navy following the 2007 season after being an assistant there since 1995, with the exception of a three-year period from 1998-2001 when he was an assistant at UNLV.
Niumatalolo brought unprecedented success for a decade, compiling nine winning seasons in 10 years and becoming by far the winningest coach in program history (his 109 victories are one away from doubling the second-most wins by a coach in school history).
In 2018, however, Navy went just 3-10. The program rebounded in 2019 by going 11-2, but the last three years have seen the team go 3-7, 4-8 and 4-8.
Perhaps just as important, if not more so, Navy has gone just 2-5 in its last seven games against Army, including Saturday’s 20-17 double overtime loss to conclude the 2022 campaign.
Navy has also gone just 2-5 in its last seven games against Air Force.
Because of the decline in the program, there has been talk that the move made Sunday could happen.
Navy, however, will be competing in a theoretically softer American Athletic Conference moving forward, as UCF, Cincinnati and Houston are leaving for the Big 12 Conference and Charlotte, FAU, North Texas, Rice, UAB and UTSA are joining, and there was talk that could help Niumatalolo keep his job.
Away from Navy, Niumatalolo was featured in the 2014 film “Meet the Mormons,” and in 2015 was considered for the BYU head coaching job when Bronco Mendenhall left for Virginia before it went to Kalani Sitake.