Bill's Bowl Blog

Part 2: John Feinstein talks Army-Navy

Author John Feinstein, who spent the 1995 season with the Army and Navy football teams and wrote “A Civil War: A Year Inside College Football’s Purest Rivalry,” spent an hour talking about the rivalry and his out look for this year’s game. He continues to follow the rivalry with connections to both teams. Over the last 12 years Feinstein has done the color commentary for Navy football games on the Navy radio network.

Part 1 of the interview transcript was posted on Tuesday.

Here is Part 2:

How will the change of quarterbacks to Ricky Dobbs effect the Navy team and does that spell trouble for Army?
Feinstein: Well, it could because Dobbs is the best passer Navy has had since Paul Johnson came back. The only other quarterback in his class is Aaron Polanco. But he’s also fast and tough and strong. He’s awfully tough to bring down. He has not yet mastered the triple option, but my guess is he’s going to. I don’t really think we’ll see his potential until next year, but boy he definitely has great potential. With arguably their three best offensive weapons outside the quarterback position graduating they are going to need to replace those weapons.

How are the academies able to recruit these athletes?
Feinstein: For a lot of these guys the Academy is their one chance to play 1-A football. As Jim Cantelupe said while I was writing the book, “If you can’t play for Notre Dame the best thing to do is play against Notre Dame.” A lot of these guys play with a chip on their shoulder because no one else wanted them at that level. Whats interesting is that these coaches will look for players who have military families. I do think it’s been remarkable to see how well Navy has been recruiting during a time at war because if you walk into someone’s room and former Army coach Bobby Ross brought this up when I was talking to him. Parents would say: “Promise me that my son isn’t going to get shot at.” The honest answer is no. What the coaches do a lot is if the question comes up is they close it up because they know they are not going to get that player so they move on.

Why do you think Bobby Ross’ tenure as the Army coach did not work?
Feinstein: Well, first of all he was very stubborn about not running the option because with his pro experience he wanted to run a pro style offense. And he thought he could recruit the players he needed. There was also a disconnect with the brass. He thought he was going to get kids time so they could be in the weight room during the summers and it never happened. He wasn’t getting what he thought he was going to get.

How well has Ken Niamatolo done transitioning this team after former coach Paul Johnson left for Georgia Tech?
Feinstein: I think Kenny has done a great job once you consider two things. They played a tougher schedule this year. They played Pittsburgh and Wake Forest and Rutgers. Plus Duke is better than past years. And, you had a different quarterback. If you said quarterback Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada was going to only play two and a half games they still would win six games and have a bowl bid wrapped up I would have laughed at you.

What would it be like if Georgia Tech played Navy in the Eagle Bowl Game?
Feinstein: I think it would be a lot of fun for those not playing in the game. But, it would be a lot of pressure for both teams and coaches. And obviously it is a matchup the bowl would want, but the question is would Georgia Tech go to the ACC and ask out of it. I could see Georgia Tech saying we’ll go wherever just don’t send us to Washington, but knowing Paul he might say the heck with it I want to go back and kick Navy’s butt. I think it’s probably not likely but it’s possible.

Was the ending of Paul Johnson’s tenure at Navy like and were there hurt feelings?
Feinstein: I think with the players there was a complete understanding. He had crossed everything off his list. He won Commander in Chief’s trophies, he’s gone to bowls, he’s won bowls, he totally resurrected the program. What else is there for him to do? And now he’s going to a place where he could win a national championship and interestingly enough the same place Bobby Ross did win a national championship, plus the fact he was offered more than $2 million a year. He couldn’t turn it down and he knew this was the time to go. My whole thing was ‘go with God’ after what he’s done. But in the administration there were some hard feelings. There were those who thought: “We put you here, we made you a star, we put you on the map.” But, you can’t deny a guy who has done that much to deny him a chance at the brass ring.

Will Army try to bring in one of Paul Johnson’s assistants to run the option?
Feinstein: It’s very hard for a guy to go from one academy to another. It has happened, but there’s always the question: “Is he really one of us.” At the academy you have to have grads on the staff. They are the only ones who know what the kids are going through. If I was Army I don’t know who I would get for my head coach. But there are two guys. Ed Warinner at Kansas is one. He built that great offensive lines in the 90’s under Bob Sutton at Army. Now he’s running the offense at Kansas and doing a great job. He didn’t go to Army but he coached at Army for like 12 years and loves it. Then there is Mike Sullivan who is an assistant with the New York Giants and he went there. I think Mike would love to come back to Army under the right circumstances.

What have been the after effects of the Caleb Cambpell situation?
Feinstein: I’m not sure because it’s early in the recruiting cycle, but I do think the Obama election will help recruiting because it shows that this war could be over real soon. I don’t think the Cambpell thing necessarily hurts, but it could have helped. I think it was completely unfair. They got some unfair publicity from people who had no idea what they were talking about and they folded. I was on the radio and I had one guy say Caleb Cambpell was a coward and a deserter. I said first off you don’t know the guy and thats completely ridiculous. He was just doing what the Army told him he could do. Look back, who are the two best recruiters in the Naval Academy in the last 50 years? Roger Staubach and David Robinson. Caleb could have been the one bright spots on the Lions right now. When the Lions play on Thanksgiving Day the feature piece would have been on Cambpell cause he’s the only one to do.

Do you stay in touch with the players you covered in your book and do they come back for the Army Navy game?
A bunch of guys all come back and we’ll all go to dinner from the Army and Navy teams every year. We’ve done it since 1996. We usually go to The Palm in Philadelphia but last year in Baltimore we went to Morton’s. These guys have become real good friends. Cantelupe and Andy Thompson were in each other’s weddings. They all keep in touch with each other.