One of the nation's true triple-option experts, Ellerson agreed to become Army's 36th head football coach on Dec. 26, 2008.
Ellerson is a veteran of nearly 30 years of coaching on the collegiate ranks, including eight as head coach at Cal Poly prior to his arrival at West Point. Not regarded as a traditional FCS power prior to Ellerson's arrival in 2001, Cal Poly finished each of his last four years ranked in the Top 25 of national FCS polls. The Mustangs won at least seven games during each of Ellerson's last six seasons at the helm and spent the majority of the 2008 season ranked in the top 10 of both the FCS Coaches Top 25 Poll and The Sports Network Division I-AA Poll. Cal Poly was ranked No. 3 in the FCS Coaches Poll for the final seven weeks of the regular season (and the last four weeks of The Sports Network Poll) before they were upset in the first round of the FCS playoffs by Weber State on Nov. 29. Before Ellerson's arrival, the Mustangs had not fashioned a winning season since 1997 and had enjoyed only three winning years since 1990.
Niumatalolo's 27 wins are the most wins in school history by a coach in his first three years, while Navy's 10 wins in 2009 are tied for the most wins in school history. He is the first coach in school history to lead Navy to a bowl game in each of his first three seasons and is the first Service Academy coach to win the Commander-In-Chief's Trophy in his first two years as a head coach. Niumatalolo is just the second coach since World War II to lead Navy to a winning record in each of his first three seasons at the helm and joins Eddie Erdelatz and Wayne Hardin as the only Navy coaches to beat Notre Dame in consecutive seasons. Niumatalolo's squads have also gotten it done in the classroom as the APR (Academic Progress Rate) for the teams he has coached at Navy is 981, which is the third best rating in the country.
The Mids posted an impressive 9-4 record in 2010, defeated Army for a series record ninth-consecutive time, defeated Notre Dame in consecutive seasons for only the third time in school history and appeared in a school record eighth-consecutive bowl game.


