Army lacks wins, but confidence about future is abundant
PHILADELPHIA — Each close loss for Army football leads to sleepless nights for the academy’s athletics director, Boo Corrigan, who has seen the Cadets drop six games by a touchdown or less in what seems, on paper, to be another disappointing season.
“You just feel from the kids,” Corrigan said. “You feel for what they’re going through.”
Army has managed just one winning season since 1996. This year’s team has won just twice, against Eastern Michigan and Bucknell, and lost nine games by a combined total of 65 points — with most of that scoring disparity coming in a 44-3 loss to Duke on Oct. 10.
The Cadets head into Saturday’s matchup with rival Navy having lost 13 in a row in the series, a streak that dates to 2002, current Georgia Tech Coach Paul Johnson’s first season with the Midshipmen.
Army head coach Jeff Monken was on that Navy staff, as was current Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo, and Monken uses that experience to reinforce his vision for the Cadets’ future: Even when the record suggests otherwise, it pays to have faith in the process.
“We’re making progress,” Monken told Paste BN Sports. “You can’t see it from the outside, but you can see it on the inside. I know we’re getting better. We’re more competitive. And you’ve got to be competitive first, and then you learn to win.”
Army has won two fewer games than in Monken’s debut, but has improved in those areas not immediately visible in the standings: in overall attitude, energy, focus, mental toughness. The Cadets have improved their practice habits and found a new level of maturity, senior running back Matt Giachinta said.
“It definitely feels different,” said junior linebacker Jeremy Timpf. “I feel like this team has taken a huge step since last year. Our record was better last year, but I still think like we’re way better than last year.
“We’re giving some of these teams really good fights. Just the fact that we’re in there giving the best we’ve got, it shows that we can do it.”
More than anything — and despite the step back in the win column — the energy surrounding Army’s football program has changed. In the past, Timpf said, players would attend weekly film study discouraged, worn down by individual losses or extended losing streaks. This year’s team is different: Army players return to the practice field angry and energized, motivated to turn close losses into wins — to “open the floodgates,” said Monken.
“No one has flinched this year,” Corrigan said. “You come back on a Sunday and you could be dragging tail, you could be feeling sorry for yourself, but they continue to show up week after week, and they come back with that emotional energy. That’s part of the exciting thing.”
It may just be a matter of time before a turnaround. In addition to less tangible examples of progress, Army’s defense has improved dramatically since last season. The Cadets used 18 true freshman in the season opener, the second-most in the country, and are slated to start 10 freshmen or sophomores against Navy.
The young members of the roster “know what the standard is,” said Corrigan. But there’s still work to be done on offense and in general execution, according to Monken, not to mention the peskiest learning curve of all: understanding what it takes to win close games.
That may be the final piece of the puzzle — and, heading into the Navy game, a troubling reminder of how close the Cadets have come to ending their long losing streak in the rivalry. Three of the past four losses have come by single digits; last year’s 17-10 defeat wasn’t complete until Navy recovered Army’s onside-kick attempt with less than two minutes left.
“We have to do better to get where we want to be and where I know we’re going to be,” Monken said. “But our kids believe, our coaches believe, and I absolutely am confident that we’re going to win at Army.”
ARMY VS. NAVY THROUGH THE YEARS