Brian Newberry is in his seventh year at the Naval Academy and his third as the head coach.
In his second year as the head coach at Navy, Newberry led the Mids to a 10-3 record, wins over Air Force and Army to win the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy and a victory over Oklahoma to win the Armed Forces Bowl. The 10 wins marked just the sixth time in school history Navy has won 10 or more games in a season.
The win over Oklahoma in the Armed Forces Bowl was the first time Navy has defeated a team from the SEC in a bowl game since 1954 (1955 Sugar Bowl) when the Mids beat Ole Miss 21-0. It was the first win against an SEC team overall since Navy defeated Vanderbilt in 2004.
Navy finished the regular season with a complete domination of Service Academy rival #19 Army, knocking off the Black Knights 31-13 in the 125th playing of the Army-Navy Game presented by USAA. With wins over Air Force and Army, the Mids won the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy, which is presented annually to the winner of the football competition among the 3 major service academies (Navy, Air Force and Army) and is named in honor of the President of the United States.
Navy won the two Service Academy games in 2024 by a combined 45 points, which ties the 2019 Navy team for the biggest combined CIC blowouts by any of the three Service Academies since 2007 when Navy beat Air Force and Army by a combined 46 points.
Navy’s win over Army gave Navy victories over two ranked opponents for the first time since 1958, when the Mids defeated #8 / #7 Rice 20-7 and #14 / #12 Michigan 20-14. Navy defeated #24 (Coaches) Memphis 56-44 on Sept. 21, 2024.
Navy was predicted to finish 11th in the 2024 American Athletic Conference preseason poll and ended the year tied for third with Memphis (Navy beat Memphis head-to-head) with a 6-2 mark.
Landon Robinson (Jr. / NG), Colin Ramos (Sr. / LB) and Rayuan Lane III (Sr. / S) were named First-Team All-AAC by the league head coaches. Justin Reed (Sr. / DE), Dashaun Peele (Sr. / CB) and Riley Riethman (Sr. / P) were named to the second team. The Mids did not have a player selected to the third team, while Connor McMahon (Sr. / OT) and Ben Purvis (Jr. / OG) were named honorable mention all-conference.
Newberry’s hiring of Drew Cronic as the offensive coordinator proved to be brilliant as the Mids scored 407 points in their 13 games in 2024, 195 more than they scored in their 12 games in 2023.
In his first year as head coach, Newberry led Navy to a 5-7 record and a 4-4 mark in the American Athletic Conference. Navy, picked ninth in the preseason poll by the league’s coaches, finished tied for fifth in the AAC.
The five wins were the most by a Navy team since 2019, while five of Navy’s seven losses came at the hands of a team that played in a bowl game including two teams that finished in the top 25 (Notre Dame at #14 and SMU at #22).
The Mids had six players named to All-American Athletic Conference teams, including first team selections Colin Ramos (Jr. / LB) and Riley Riethman (Jr. / P).
The 2023 season was highlighted by a defense that was one of only two (Penn State) in the FBS to record three shutouts.
Navy’s defense also finished second in the nation in fumbles recovered (14), third in red zone defense (allowed opponents to score just 72% of the time), fourth in turnover margin (+0.92) and 19th in stop rate (71.3%).
Newberry was named head coach on Dec. 19, 2022, by Naval Academy Director of Athletics Chet Gladchuk. Newberry had served as the Mids’ defensive coordinator the previous four seasons.
As a defensive coordinator, Newberry directed some of the top defensive units in school history.
Navy finished third in the nation against the run in 2022 (88.9 yards per game), which is even more impressive when you consider it was the only defense ranked in the top 25 that faced three of the top-10 rushing offenses in the country (#1 Air Force, #2 Army and #9 UCF). Navy also finished third nationally in fewest first downs allowed (187), 23rd in sacks (2.8 per game), 22nd in fumbles recovered (11) and 32nd in total defense (339.0 yards per game).
Senior striker John Marshall finished tied for third in the nation in sacks (0.9 per game) and tackles for a loss per game (1.6), while setting school records for sacks in a season (11) and game (4). Marshall was the only unanimous First-Team All-American Athletic Conference selection in 2022 and he was also named the ECAC Defensive Player of the Year.
In 2021, the Navy defense acquitted itself well by finishing 32nd in the nation in rushing defense, 34th in total defense and 34th in red zone defense. Linebacker Diego Fagot was distinguished with All-American honors, First-Team All-American Athletic Conference and was named All-East. Fagot was also named MVP of the East-West Shrine All-Star Game.
In 2020, after a slow start due to COVID, the defense finished the year with a flurry, holding Memphis, Tulsa and Army to under 300 yards of total offense. It was the first time a Navy defense had achieved that feat since 1997.
In 2019, Newberry’s first year on the job, Navy made massive improvements on the defensive side of the football. Navy ranked 20th in third down defense (121st in 2018), 10th in rushing defense (90th in 2018), 39th in passing defense (75th in 2018), 16th in total defense (86th in 2018) and 34th in scoring defense (103rd in 2018).
Newberry, a semifinalist for the Broyles Award, presented annually to the best assistant coach in college football, and his defensive staff installed a “Get 6” culture within the Navy defense that took off. Newberry told the defensive players if they got a combination of six three-and-outs, fourth down stops, turnovers and defensive touchdowns in a game, the Mids would win. In 2019, Navy was 8-0 when it managed to “Get 6.”
The Mids finished 10th in the nation against the run despite facing the #2, #3 and #11 rushing offenses in the country. Navy forced the opposing offense off the field in three plays or less in 36 percent of its drives, which was the 10th-best average in the country. The Navy defense gave up just 15.2 first downs per game, which was tied for third best in the country. Safeties Evan Fochtman and Kevin Brennan were named First-Team All-East.
Prior to his arrival in Annapolis, Newberry served as the defensive coordinator and secondary coach at Kennesaw State from 2015-18, leading the Owls to the FCS quarterfinals in each of his last two seasons.
Kennesaw State ranked first in the FCS in fewest first downs allowed per game and second in total defense in 2018. The Owls finished seventh in scoring defense, giving up an average of 15.4 points per game. The Owls also ranked 11th nationally in third down conversion defense.
In 2017, Kennesaw State ranked seventh nationally in scoring defense and third in turnovers gained. The Owls picked off 24 passes, which ranked second nationally, and led the Big South in rushing defense, pass defensive efficiency and red zone defense, while standing second in sacks (31).
The Kennesaw defense forced an incredible 56 turnovers over Newberry’s last two years, including 37 interceptions.
Newberry joined the Kennesaw State coaching staff after spending the 2012 season as defensive coordinator at Northern Michigan.
Prior to his one season at Northern Michigan, Newberry served as defensive coordinator/linebackers coach at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn., in 2011 where the Tigers improved their scoring defense by 16 points per game and total defense by 85 yards a contest.
Newberry’s coaching experience also includes four seasons (2007-10) as defensive backs coach at Elon and five years (2004-06, 2001 and 2002) as defensive coordinator/defensive backs coach at Washington & Lee. He also served as a graduate assistant/defensive line coach at Rice during the spring of 2004, spent one season as an assistant defensive backs coach at Lehigh in 2003 and began his coaching career at Southern Arkansas where he was a graduate assistant coaching the defensive backs and wide receivers in 1999 and 2000.
In 2004, Newberry’s Washington & Lee defense produced a school-record 43 sacks and ranked among the Division III leaders in rushing defense. The Generals’ defense led the Old Dominion Athletic Conference in pass defense, rush defense and scoring defense in 2005 and in 2006, Washington & Lee forced 30 turnovers and ranked among the nation’s leaders in pass defense.
Newberry played collegiately at Baylor and graduated in 1998 with a Bachelor of Science in education. He helped lead the Bears to the Southwest Conference Co-Championship and an appearance in the 1994 Alamo Bowl, as well as a No. 5 national ranking in total defense in 1995.
Newberry and his wife, Kate, are the parents of a son, Max, and a daughter, Lyla.
