12/7/2004 - Football
Johnson Not Interested In Mississippi Job

ANNAPOLIS, Md.-Navy head football coach Paul Johnson said this afternoon that he is not interested in the head coaching position at Mississippi.

"Despite internet and newspaper reports to the contrary, I am not a candidate for the head coaching position at Mississippi, nor am I interested in pursuing the position," said Johnson, who is en route to Annapolis from a two-day trip to his native state of North Carolina.

Johnson is a candidate for national coach-of-the year honors after leading Navy to a 9-2 record and a berth in the Dec. 30th Emerald Bowl against New Mexico. Navy's nine regular-season wins are the most by a Navy team since 1963, while a win by Navy over New Mexico would give the Midshipmen 10 victories for just the second time in school history and the first time in 99 years.

The Mids are a remarkable 17-7 over the last two years, the most wins at Navy over a two-year span since 1907-08 when the Mids won a school-record 18 games (9-2-1 in 1907 and 9-2-1 in 1908).
Navy has posted back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 1996-97 when it finished 9-3 and 7-4, respectively. It is also just the fourth winning season in 20 years for the Midshipmen and 10th in the last 40 years.