[Music] having done over a thousand episodes of coaching coordinator Sometimes some of our best episodes get lost in the archives so you have to go back and take a listen to them and one of the early ones we did was with the head football coach of Navy Ken matalo and he shared with us some of the ideas and philosophies that bring the midshipman success on and off the field enjoy this episode Ken Niam matalo is today's guest of the coaching coordinator podcast neamat Lolo has been on the Navy staff since 2002 and has been programs head coach since 2007 hosting a record of 77 and 42 during that stretch he sits down with me today to to discuss the program culture at Navy staff accountability and the advantages to running the triple option offense at the division one level coach Niam modolo welcome to the coach and coordinator show hey Keith thanks for having me coach what lessons did you learn in your early years that made an impact on your development as a coach what I started doing is just paying attention a little bit more in meetings and starting to learn um what other positions did I played quarterback so really tried to learn what everybody did and you know try to learn more technique of other positions and then after that year uh my position coach coach Paul Johnson the current head coach at Georgia Tech just asked if I'd be interested in being a graduate assistant and kind of noticed that i' you know studied the game and so I you know just told my wife then that hey you know might have an opportunity to your assistant they don't make any money but told her you know I could do it for two years and then we'll see if I got hired if not if I didn't and I would just move on and so it worked out I mean I I didn't know I didn't grow up wanted to be a coach I mean uh but you know I had an opportunity to stay close to the game and but that's really how it all started and obviously as coaches we learn continuously throughout our careers uh but in your 27 years what would you point to as uh some things that have been key for your development as a coach uh great question um my first position uh you know I played quarterback but my first position that I uh started as full-time was offensive line coach I was an assistant offensive line coach and at first when I got hired I was like man that's the last thing I want to do I want to be at Skelly I want to be at seven on seven and all those kinds of things stuff that I knew uh but I didn't realize that it was a blessing in disguise for me being able to be around the offensive line uh seeing the world learning the offense that I played under from a diff seen it from a different lens and just seeing how you know valuable the old line did and just seeing what the world did so I thought that was you know very valuable you know all the coaches that you coach with obviously Coach Johnson had a huge impact on me just grammatically just learning option football from him all my college coaches coach Tomy and Coach Wagner had a big influence John Robinson I worked for him at UNLV and I learned a lot of uh how to become a head coach or just learned a lot of managerial stuff from him I thought he was really really good with people um and I didn't realize it at that time I mean you just work for people but you just kind of pick up stuff from different people and I just learned from him how to treat people he was good to everybody you know just everybody that you know came through the building he treated with class and respect uh so I thought those were all things and then I I went from o line the coach wide receivers at at the University of Hawaii and then when I my first job here at at UNLV I was coaching SLO backs all of it in the same offense and then I became an offensive coordinator in uh 1997 um actually got fired and I think that was actually a big part of my development kid just from I was a young probably cocky coach thought I had all the answers and probably argued too much in the staff room you know didn't know how to didn't know when to keep quiet you know just voice your opinion or your ideas and ultimately the head coach is the boss and if he has some ideas and you can express it and if it comes to a point where he says no no is no and I think I a young age I I couldn't I I didn't like taking those so I think all of those along the ways learning from all those people getting fired coaching all the different positions in this offense so in this offense I've coached every position so I got a pretty good grasp and pretty good view from different uh perspectives I think it's really helped me speaking of your offense what makes an offense like yours with the triple option appropriate for a place like Navy well I think is a very selfless offense you got to you know you can't be one of those guys hey how many times am I going to get to run the ball or how many times I'm going to get the ball thrown to me it's it's about you it's about moving the ball it's about scoring it's about blocking for each other it's to me I kind of equ equated to uh basketball I mean you got to be a team that's selfless that's all you know it's not going to be afraid to score and shoot but also don't be afraid to give the ball up and get an assist and have just as you much as much joy and getting assist as you do scoring and that's the thing with this offense it's a team oriented selfless offense but I think more than anything Keith the thing about it it it's sound you know it's I learned this offense from Coach Johnson in 1987 obviously there are people that ran it before that with Oklahoma and different people that ran option football and it's still successful here in 2017 because it's not a gimmick offense it's based off numbers it's based off angles and so um you know that's the thing that I know I mean it's a it's a sound offense and obviously that selfless kind of offense certainly fits with the culture of the Naval Academy um and thinking about culture which obviously has become a Hot Topic today for coaches uh what do you do differently do you think in building a culture at the Naval Academy as opposed to schools that don't attract the type of player that you do I think as I mean I think culture some people think it's overrated uh I'm one of those proponents that don't believe that way um I'm more into building culture and building team unity uh building relationships than I am on the schematic side even though I feel from an option standpoint you know I feel like I know option football is good as anybody I feel like I learned it from the best and Paul Johnson so I'm not saying that I don't you know worry about schematic stuff but I just feel like culturally in organizations and teams and groups I mean I think culture is everything I mean I think the the strongest unit you know on this planet is a family and a family is a culture it's built off love and trust and all those same things coach I try to build in our team there are things that we talk about and building you know talking about loving each other and trusting each other and the great thing about it for us is these guys will have to learn all those same characteristics and same traits in the world world in real life uh it could be in combat when you're in the military serving each other and trusting each other and fighting for each other but I think those things definitely apply in sports and I've tried to use uh all of those things they learned in the military and build off it in our culture I mean we spend a lot of time in talking culture as a staff I was talking coaching staff that if your whole meeting is all about video and X's and O's to me it's a bad meeting I think you there should be personal stuff in there where we talk to see how people are doing um you know when they come in there you shouldn't just start right away into all right you just turn on the tape or video or maybe at the end of your uh meeting time take some time to talk culture leadership um real life issues I'm really into I really believe building culture building men of character but it's not something that just happens you have to spend time on it and just as you spend time on blocking and tackling on coverage stuff on blocking schemes you have to build put time into building culture and we do that on the road at meals we talk about certain things after meals and team meetings it's not just you know throwing on the tape and watching stuff we're always talking about that because I I really believe football is Ultimate Team Sport and that you got a game that everybody's job description is different from a snapper to a quarterback to an offensive lineman to a linebacker but everybody's job is important in order for you to succeed so learning how to do your job uh to the best of your ability for the overall success of the team I think those are things you got to talk about and you know it's not human nature everybody and human nature is what's in it for me and it's you're it's more I I I or me me me and everybody's into what's in it for me we're in team and in culture and in sports especially at uh a game like football I think it's important that you talk about how do we build relationships how do we build trust how do you build love for your teammate and you know we try to spend a lot of time on that as a staff and as as a program and obviously those things are intentional you have to to work at them there has to be some kind of a system form they don't happen by accident it seems like that's what you've done with your staff is you make that intentional in what you're doing no doubt Keithan it's every year we come out with the vision of our program and you know I really believe it always starts with what's your why and you know everybody in our you know this I guess you could say um mission of our program is everywhere I mean all of the coaches have it people and our strength staff uh people in the training room people in the video Department we're all on the same page we're all going the same way you know and our and I it all starts with the why and and the why of our program is very clear it's develop young men of character and Leadership that's our why it's not to win games it's not to go to this bowl game and that's our why because I always believe that your why is going to dictate the what and how of your program because if your why is just only about winning then I think people sell their souls to the devil I mean they'll do whatever it takes to win they'll cheat they you know morally they'll do things that they know aren't right just to get the W but I think if you're wise clear and if it's something with a value with good intentions the what and how you do things then you know then recruiting is easy I mean you're not going to cheat you're going to do what's right uh how you practice you know you're not going to do anything that's against the rules uh but when you start when your why is only about winning cuz this game is a really brutal game it's a really um college football is very demanding it's a big business and if you forget your why or if your why is not I believe centered on good principles that's when things start to happen that's when you start seeing programs do things that you know they shouldn't be doing uh so yes it's definitely intentional it's definitely something and I tell our coaches this all the time you know our staff's been together a long time I know you know all the coaches and their wives and their kids and their names I mean we go to bowl games and you know the back of the plane looks like you know a Romer room I mean there's kids all over the place and so you I have great amount of respect and love for all the families and coaches and I tell them if we don't if you guys can't block and tackle we'll get it fixed if we can't catch the ball we get it fixed if we can't cover people we get it fixed you know that stuff will get fixed but if you're doing stuff off the field or if you're cheating or if you're doing things that's going to bring a you know Dark Cloud to the academy and our program I'll fire you you know I mean I just feel like you know you got to hold people accountable and how can you hold players accountable if you and your staff aren't held to an accountable standard so you know those are things that we definitely talk about as a staff and just just do what's right I mean everybody knows what's right and wrong just work hard do what's right if it's good enough enough to win great if it's not it's not you know then we'll move forward and culture obviously builds into those work habits and what you do and and how you teach the game Etc your approach probably isn't the easiest or I'm sorry your style of offense probably isn't the easiest because you know not a lot of teams at the high school level uh run this so what's your your process of installing your playbook with you know new freshman each year to to get them on board and and to start playing in a system like this well it's like anything else I mean you start you start off with fundamentals you start off in small parts individually you know at each position then you move into group work and into team workor you know it's I think it's like teaching any sport you start off with Basics and fundamentals then you kind of press forward um you know to I guess you know take the training wheels off so to speak and you continue to keep adding but you know our our our system you know we've been doing it for so long the linen start I'm working on their basic steps and footworks a footwork like everybody else and where everybody else most people are working at quarterbacks and receivers are working on uh routes and you know RPO stuff the zone and the bubble screen or whatever it might be you know we start off with all of our our we call Mesh work and triple option stuff and tail motion and Pitch relationship and the fullbacks uh pitch Rel uh mes track and all those things and you just do it a thousand times you know just do it over and over you know repetition is the greatest teacher of all and you just kind of keep doing things over and over but I think the thing that helps us Keith is yes it's it's hard at the beginning because guys are coming from different stuff but what they learn here from day one is the same thing they're going to leave um do when they leave here and I think that's been you know added to Our Success our staff's been together it's the same verbage same scheme and not different and stuff and so what you're learning day one is the same thing you're going to be learning learning on a day a thousand and so hopefully you know every year you get better and not learning to don't have to worry about learning a new playbook you know every spring or every fall Camp it's the same stuff and hopefully your retention gets better and hopefully it starts to sink in year after year coach you mentioned rpos which obviously are a very Hot Topic in in football right now uh how have you mixed in the RPO along with your staple triple option football yeah you know it's kind of interesting to me I mean I think RP is option football just one is you know it's run and pass where option it's more you know dive quarterback and Pitch where the RPO stuff you know when Chip Kelly and different guys Rich Rod Rodriguez and guys first started doing it you know it's it's still always based off numbers you know whether you're you know reading the end or reading the overhang player and you know it's option based because it's all based off numbers who's how many guys in the Box and that's the same thing that's always been option football option football is all based off numbers and so you know a lot of the stuff are similar you know we do some gun stuff too it's not a big part of our package but obviously everybody does it so you try to you know put in some wrinkles that way too with some you know some some RPO stuff you know the typical stuff whether it's the Zone read with the now or bubble screen on the edge you know and and trying to manipulate the overhang player you know so we do some of that I think more probably than doing some of the RPO stuff that like you said is kind of the Rage of football uh what we've done added which most people do now is just up Temple stuff you know before uh we didn't do that uh we don't always go fast but we have the ability to go fast you know we're no huddle before we' always huddle break the Huddle rent to the line of scrimmage or jog whatever you want to say but now we we're we're always at the line of scrimmage getting signals from the side and if we feel like you know people are getting tired and we don't want them to sell we'll go faster if we feel like we want to slow down a little bit to give our defense a break you know we'll slow down so you know of things that we've added that everybody's doing modern football-wise is probably more uptempo stuff uh how has triple option blocking evolved for you with obviously safety coming to the Forefront uh one of the issues we face in football at least um you know the the spotlight that the the media has placed on it how has the blocking evolved over the time for you yeah we just adjust whatever the rules are we adjust you know it really hasn't been that big of a deal if to say you can't cut then we go hit somebody in his ribs you know I mean hit him in the hips you know right at his hip socket you know I mean and so and if it's stuff backside that you know on the scoop blocks where you have to stay up then that's fine you know I mean it's uh I think that's just part of football you just kind of evolve you know whatever have to happen you know I mean uh um and find a perimeter you know you're not allowed to do that then we would adjust to that also you know I mean cuz like you said you know first and foremost it's the safety of football uh which I understand you know I hope they don't take it out on the on the front side out in the perimeter where you know everything's in front of people you know I can say maybe eventually they'll take it off backside which like I said wouldn't be that big of a deal we've started to evolve away from that anyway and some of the cut off blocks that you do instead of you know true scoop blocks but you know but you know if they do that front side then I you know you know where do they go defensively do they take off tackling you know where you can't cut tackle you know what I mean you have to you know stay higher than that I mean I don't I mean I don't know that either but if it does I I guess defenses will adjust I guess kind of my approach to it Keith is I really don't worry about it too much cuz whatever they say and their rules hey this is for the safety of the game we're doing it I'm all for it and we'll just adjust coach what are some of the common adjustments that you see from defenses uh in trying to stop the triple and and and where does that take you in your offense I guess we could follow up with that second part after yeah it's a great question the thing that's definitely a benefit for us is there's really only four teams that run what we run you know obviously the three service acmy and and and Georgia Tech you know at the division one level uh you know there other teams that run option football Ball but it's more based off this their Zone their Zone blocking and you know with where we're still a true ve midline uh Team we've started to add some Zone blocking it's become a bigger part of it but uh we're still a verer team and because of that I I believe it's a great Advantage for us because people don't see it too often it's not that defense coordinators don't know how to defend it but your kids don't see it all week it's not like the The Zone with the bubble with the bubble I mean you see that every week or the r g sweep or you know I mean the power with the the power pass or whatever or with the now screen you know those are combinations that that people see week in and week out and so I think guys have ideas for it plus more importantly I think their kids see it every week where with with us I mean you you just see it once a week and even if you practice it during the spring or whenever you say you practice it hopefully us practicing it every day will still be better than you practicing it once a week or you know a little bit in the spring and plus you might have you know a dropback quarterback trying to run the option as the scout team guy so hopefully they can't simulate it the way we run it so hopefully that's an advantage but we've seen different things keep from guys uh you line up and guys try to change their fronts you know and try to do all these different defenses but I mean we've been doing this for so long there's nothing you can do that we haven't seen and so we just adjust we just wait to see what you're doing you know why some coaches call plays and looking down at the call sheet I mean we don't have call sheets all of our guys in the Box on the sideline everybody's Eyes Are Fixed On certain areas of the field where there the front side linebacker backside linebacker the front side uh defensive front the backside of defensive front front side coverage and the backside out people so on every snap we're giving our coordinat instant feedback what's happening you know they're pinching the linebacker scraping you know they're rolling the cloud support or whatever it might be uh then we adjust accordingly you know just our our stuff's again based off numbers um but like I said our staff's been doing it so long you know I think people that try to change up a lot of different things on on us they kind of help us because then you're forc now you're putting an onus on your your players to make sure that they know how to run four or five different fronts and if you can more power to you man than you guys but we feel like in our in our experience that guys haven't been able to put in that many fronts and be successful at doing it you know I mean it's it's easier and said than done well I think you know in in just in talking about that in general you have a system and that's a good way to run really any offense that you're not going to you know what what do I got to find on my call sheet now I have the answers and every body like you said trained to contribute to what is the answer right now I I think you're exactly right you know obviously you coach Keith so you know but it's it doesn't really matter what you do you better have answers you know what I mean you better be able to fix it in game day I'm not talking about Sunday or Monday or you know for high school on on on on on Saturday morning you know and we're all good running the video back you know rewinding it 20 times oh we should have did this you better know your offense or defense so well that in Split you know you know real life Split Second decision oh they're doing this let's do that let's do this let's crack him let's do that g block it let's let's double team him instead of him you know what I mean and those are decisions that you can only have if you know your offense if you're trying to hodg podge and try to pick from all different types of people and you know we're run a little bit of this and a little bit of Florida State a little bit of LSU I think it's hard to fix that kind of stuff I mean that's just my own opinion obviously but I I think if you want to be successful you better know exactly what you're doing and you better know how to fix it during the game coach what's some of the best advice you've received in your career that's helped you along the way um i' I've received a lot I'm the one I guess that comes to my mind is don't worry about other jobs you know just worry about the job you have and do the best you can at that and and thinking of uh you know a lot of guys do young guys focus on oh I gotta get this next big job what advice do you have to a young coach who's trying to make it in this profession yeah great question k i just just work hard work as hard as you can uh you know obviously you got to build relationships and networking I mean this I mean because you know I've been in this a long time and you know you see guys you know at different places guys that are head coaches and guys that are in NFL or guys are wherever and and you and you see some other guys maybe you saw a kid guy at High School goes man that guy that I met at that school is a way better Coach than anybody I've ever seen and you know he's at this level and probably he doesn't really care about you know going to the next level probably very content at high school which is totally fine you know I mean if that's what you want to do and you know maybe see your family more which I totally understand but if your aspiration is to move on and find other jobs you know obviously it's not bad to write other people and you know maybe people you know and let them know your your intentions that you know you of if you're a young coach trying to break in but the biggest thing I know of guys in move is just to work work work hard and just you know be a good person because word spreads around when you're trying to look for somebody and you know coaches talk hey you know of any you know whatever outside line recer coach because yeah I actually know this young kidy a graduate assistant man he works his butt off I've been really impressed with him I've met him or whatever and that's all you can do just do the best you can and just working hard cuz eventually somebody will notice either somebody that you work playing against or working against or somebody that you're working with and somebody that you are with becomes you know gets a head job or something and next you know hey you know what I want to take you with me I've been watching the way you work uh you know I'd love to take you with you know in this position so I think that's the biggest thing just do the best you can to work hard coach we can't uh leave this in interview without talking about the big rivalry the big game in coaching in a game like that how does your approach differ maybe than other weeks of the Season uh it it's going to sound cliche but you know coach it really doesn't change it's a huge game you know the biggest game but it's and ultimately it's still a football game so you got to prepare uh the best you can just like you would on every game you're trying to win obviously it's uh you know great significance to our school and to their school uh but you're trying to win every game and hopefully your effort level and your preparation that you put into every game is just as hard as the army game um you know it's changed a little bit this year from the standpoint of in years past we've had you know three weeks or two weeks to get ready after our final season our final uh regular season but being in a bowl game um excuse me the a championship we only had a week to get ready so you know and preparing for that game now becomes like any other game from a preparation standpoint you only have a week so you got to make sure that you got your ducks in line prior to that uh just to make sure that you're ready to go but the other stuff it's it's really the same you just got to you know you're preparing for a really good football team and do the best you can to prepare coach I know having uh your priorities in order is is very important to you and I think uh a lot of coaches can maybe benefit from from hearing this but how do you create balance in your life between you know profession which can really uh become demanding and the things that have to be important like your faith and your family well I think a lot of it I mean it's I mean I'm know kid I mean it's how I was raised you know I have things in my office you know pictures of my family you know obviously football stuff but my my office I got different things in here but it's either football stuff or pictures of my family you know cuz it just helps me keep things in perspective that you know I'm trying to win and you're in a pretty uh competitive profession but you know uh the things that really matter f most are my faith and my family so I I just have things around me in my office it helps me remind me of that but there're just things that have happened in my time and coaching that just try to it just helps me remember that you know what I mean whether it's you know being at conventions and hearing guys talk about their only regret is they wish they spent more time with their family and I would just sit there and just think man you know that's that's something I didn't want to have that same regret because you can't ever get that time back now that I'm older and my kids are grown I can honestly say I don't have any regrets that way I'm sure Keith I could have stayed and watched a little more tape I'm sure I could have called a few more recruits you know and done some more things that way but I'm grateful that I know that I didn't sacrifice that for my family I don't have any regrets cuz man I wish I spend more time with my kids I went to you know all my all the games that I could go to I went to my son's football games as an assistant and my daughter's basketball and lacrosse games when we were able to go and when I was an assistant and our head coach gave us off and I could go to those places I was there you know and if I had to work harder to come earlier in the morning while my kids are sleeping and so I could go back leave at night I would definitely do that and so I just think you know guys this profession is such a a tough profession you just like you said got to keep your priorities in order just you only have one family you know and you can get other jobs and football comes and goes uh but your family I mean you have one of them and you know I've just always try to take that approach I mean I'm not any better than anybody else that was just the way I wanted to do things and I didn't want to have those regrets you know when I was coaching regardless of how many bowl games you go to or whatever you win I didn't want to be at the end and like oh man I wish I could have spent you know more time with my kids or my family I I didn't want that Co the final question I have for you is one I Ask of all guests what's the one thing you would point to as giving your team the Naval Academy The Winning Edge our love for each other that's to me that's really simple just our players love each other there's you know that is the foundation of our program we call it the Brotherhood but the players definitely love each other and because of the bond and the love for each other it's amazing what you can do when going down the field when the guy next to you is willing to lay everything on the line all that he has for the guy next to him it gives you a chance to be successful coach I really appreciate taking the time with us here I know our coaches will get a lot of out of this so thanks for um you know helping them and your contributions to the game all right key thank you thanks for having me I hope you enjoyed this episode from our archives we will be back with some new episodes to get you ready for your season whenever that might start and if you are in season we'll be having some topics that address things that will help you right now in in season follow me on Twitter for everything that I do for coaches including our your call Series where we give you real situations real alignments from real games and you get to make the call we reveal on video exactly where that call came from the next [Music] day [Music]