Arizona Football: Top 3 head coaching candidates to replace Kevin Sumlin

2. Ken Niumatalolo, Navy head coach

There is always a catch when it comes to selling the triple-option to boosters and donors. On the one hand, the offense is one that your opponents see once a year and can shift the competitive balance. Simultaneously, the triple-option is a niche offense with a ceiling that could signal to boosters they are not donating to a program with aspirations of becoming elite.

When Ken Niumatalolo had Malcolm Perry, the Midshipmen did add some run-and-shoot principles to their option attack. There is nothing that says the offense could not expand beyond the more traditional option Navy runs.

That’s not the big question here.

Would Niumatalolo leave the Naval Academy?

Coaching in Annapolis has to be one of the more special places in college football. However, there is a ceiling to coaching at Navy but Niumatalolo has that job until retirement.

Leaving Navy for Arizona means a complete rebuild. Is that something Niumatalolo is interested in doing? He would be leaving one place with a ceiling to coach another place with — albeit higher –a ceiling.