12/10/2001 - Football
Fans Share in Excitement
Links associated with this release:
0
0
0
As eyes scanned the packed Bo Coppedge Room at Monday's press conference announcing Paul Johnson as the head coach of the Navy football team, one would see people with differing associations to the Naval Academy sharing similar emotions: optimism, excitement, joy. Whether you were looking at Naval Academy or athletic department administrators, Academy instructors or coaches, Midshipmen or alumni, fans or media, the hope and promise of better tomorrows for Navy football was evident all around.
"I'm the number one fan of Navy football and I was anxious to come down here to meet the coach," said Charles Cooper, a 1949 graduate of the Naval Academy who was a three-year letterwinner at guard for the football team. "I retired in 1985 (as a lieutenant general in the Marines) and I don't think I have missed a home game since then. Before I retired I only missed home games when I was on deployment.
"I have great memories of when (Coach Johnson) was here in 1995 and '96. What I remember most about his offense was the beautiful variations he ran. They were able to move the ball on everybody."
"It was a fun offense when he was here the first time," said fan Kathy Miller. "It got to the point where you were afraid to take your eyes away from every play because they were always zipping up and down the field. If you looked away, you might miss something big."
People were excited about the return of Paul Johnson for more than what he promises to bring to the playing field.
"It was nice to hear him speak about his fondness for the Academy," said longtime fan Bob Murphy. "We can't make every game anymore, but we keep coming back to as many as we can because of the strong feelings we have for the Academy. We are glad that was one of the reasons he decided to come back here."
As the non-traditional press conference concluded in a Navy-traditional way with the band and cheerleaders leading the crowd in the singing of the Navy Blue and Gold, Navy fans everywhere felt the eight-month wait until the start of next season couldn't end soon enough.
