#KenWatch2015: Is it worth the risk?

While Navy Head Coach Ken Niumatalolo visits in Provo as the undisputed front-runner to replace Bronco Mendenhall, fans have begun to ask questions about whether or not the Midshipmen Coach will be a good fit for the Cougars.

Paul Johnson, Georgia Tech Head Coach, preceded Niumatalolo at Navy.

While he is a proven head coach, and seems to be a home run hire based on his record alone, fans are skeptical about Niumatalolo’s triple option attack, which he runs at Navy. Will he bring it to Provo, and will it work? Also, many question his credibility in recruiting: Navy’s class is ranked 96th on Rivals.com.

In response to the first, the team to look at is the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, who are led by Niumatalolo’s predecessor Paul Johnson. Johnson took the triple-option from Georgia Southern (where he won 2 FCS titles), to Navy (where he went 45-29) before landing Georgia Tech. Using the triple option (the only power-5 team to exclusively do so) Johnson has managed a 61-44 record, winning at least a share of the ACC Coastal in 4 of his 8 seasons in Atlanta.

Even in this year’s disappointing 3-9 campaign, Johnson and the Yellow Jackets still managed to upset the top-10 ranked Florida State Seminoles on a walk-off field goal return for a touchdown to end the game.

BYU fans can only hope that the next coach can manage to duplicate that kind of success against Power-5 opponents, like Johnson has managed to do at Georgia Tech.

A concern with running the offense is BYU QB Tanner Mangum, who has flourished in his Freshman season with

Is one player bigger than a new era of BYU football? That is a question Athletic Director Tom Holmoe has to consider when talking to Coach Niumatalolo.

the Cougars, throwing for over 3,000 yards (including the Hail Mary against Nebraska to begin the season with a win.) However, if Tom Holmoe determined Niumatalolo was the right coach for this BYU team, one player can not hold that back. Change is important to this BYU team, which has begun to grow stale as a program. The triple option would be an interesting way to implement change for a new era for Cougar football.

Also, with the toughest schedule in years, the triple option would allow BYU to throw off opponents, and pull upsets like Navy has done under Niumatalolo (and Johnson has done at Georgia Tech.) Since it is such a different offense, opponents often are caught by surprise, because they aren’t able to completely practice against it in the time prior to a game.

However, it is not assured that Niumatalolo would bring the triple option: he has always coached at places where the athletes in the program require it. Certainly, he will probably bring some elements of the style to throw opponents off, but it will probably not be exclusive to the BYU offense.

BYU fans are also questioning of his recruiting skills (as mentioned, Navy’s class is 96th even after a 10-2 campaign), however, one has to think what he is dealt with: Navy is a service academy, and requires their athletes to be in the Navy. BYU seems like the Alabama of football, even with its restrictions, when compared to what the Naval Academy has to do. This is also an advantage as well for Niumatalolo: he knows how to deal with restrictions, and will know how to tailor his recruiting to the type of athlete BYU requires. Even without a prior connection to BYU, this allows him to understand the culture before coming to Provo.

Niumatalolo is a master of development: Keenan Reynolds, the Navy QB who finished 5th in the Heisman voting, only had 3 offers outside of high school, but was developed into a top player. Despite subpar classes, he consistently outperforms his talent year in and year out.

Niumatalolo is the best choice for the next era of BYU football: whether or not he brings the triple option and his recruiting background should be questions for AD Tom Holmoe, but not deterrents that kill his chances.