It's nearly 100 degrees outside, but Paul Johnson is burning up for an entirely different reason.

"J.P.!" Johnson yells, bringing a passing drill to a dead halt. "Why are you running toward the defenders after you catch the ball instead of away from them? Tell me, is it because you're a glutton for punishment?"

"No sir," answers J.P. Blecksmith, a senior wide receiver.

"Because if you are, I would suggest you join the Marines where you can run up hills instead," Johnson says. "Take the ball upfield when you catch it!"

"Yes sir," Blecksmith says.

The exchange is a typical one these days in Annapolis, as Johnson is preparing Navy's football team for its opener Saturday against SMU. There is anger, sarcasm and humor in the voice of the Midshipmen's first-year head coach, but perhaps most importantly, there is instruction. Paul Johnson isn't here to make friends, he's here to win. And if there is one thing Johnson knows how to do, it's win.

"I don't worry about guys liking me," says Johnson, 45. "I think you have to just try to do what's best for the team. If the players like you or they hate you -- as long you can get them to play -- it doesn't matter."

What does matter to Johnson is returning the Navy program to respectability. He is liked by his players, but more importantly, he is already respected. Teaching those players to win, however, will be no small feat. The Midshipmen are 1-20 over the past two seasons, their lone win coming in 2000 against Army, 30-28.

And while Navy was competitive in several of its games in 2001, the Mids were just as often unfocused, disorganized and outmatched. Navy's defense was, statistically, one of the five worst in the country. Coach Charlie Weatherbie was fired after seven games, and defensive coordinator Rick Lantz oversaw the final three losses to end Navy's worst season ever.

None of that, of course, matters to the new sheriff in town. When Navy athletic director Chet Gladchuk started to put together a list of coaches, Johnson's name quickly rose to the top. In six years at Georgia Southern, he went 62-10, and he won the Division I-AA national championship in 1999 and 2000.

Military stripes, too

But perhaps even more important, Johnson had shown he could win despite the academy's strict academic and military requirements. In 1995 and '96, he served as offensive coordinator under Weatherbie, and his spread-option offense broke all kinds of school records. In 1996, Johnson's offense finished fifth in the country by averaging 283.6 rushing yards a game, and Navy went 9-3, its first winning season since 1982.

"My coaching philosophy is simple," Johnson says. "There are three factors you need to be successful. One, you have to have knowledge. The players have to believe you know what you're talking about. Two, they've got to be a little bit afraid of you, about what might happen if they don't listen to you. And three, they have to care enough about you or each other that they'll play hard.

"I think you can survive if you've got one of the three. I think you can be good if you've got two of them. But if you get all three, you can be great. And that's what I'm shooting for."

It's been a long and somewhat nomadic journey for Johnson, but never has he wanted to do anything with his life but coach football. Growing up in tiny Newland, N.C., Johnson realized early there was no NFL career in his future. There wasn't even a college career, actually. He bounced around from position to position in high school. But the subtle nuances of teaching others how to block, throw and tackle appealed to him.

"When I graduated high school, I thought, 'OK, how can I stay around the game?' " Johnson says. "I knew I wanted to coach. So I went off to college [at Western Carolina], but when I graduated I went back to my high school and was lucky enough to get a job right away as the offensive coordinator. My only goal then was to be the head coach at my high school."

Blue Hawaii

Things progressed much more quickly than that, however. In 1983, he was offered a job as defensive line coach at Georgia Southern. It paid less than just about every high school job he was offered, so he said he wasn't interested.

"My wife [Susan] actually talked me into it," Johnson says. "She told me, 'You can always go get another high school job, but if you don't take this, you'll wonder what it might have been like the rest of your life.' It made sense."

It wasn't long before Johnson became the Eagles' offensive coordinator, and Georgia Southern won back-to-back I-AA titles in 1985-86. Life was good.

"One day I get a call out of the blue from Bob Wagner, the coach at the University of Hawaii," Johnson says. "He says, 'I've seen your team play a couple times and I want you to be my offensive coordinator.' I told him no, and I really thought it was one of my buddies just messing with me. But he kept at it, saying 'Why don't you fly out here? Just come take a look.' "

There are few recruitment pitches better than a Hawaiian skyline, so when Johnson got there, he was intrigued.

"They showed me around and then said 'What will it take to get you here?' " Johnson says. "I threw out a figure I thought was a bit high, and they said, 'OK.' "

In 1987, at age 29, Johnson was the offensive coordinator of a major college program. In eight seasons, the team broke more than 160 school records, never winning fewer than nine games while he was there.

"I've never taken a job that I didn't think, well, I can do this job for the rest of my career," Johnson says. "But in 1993, my daughter was born. My wife is an only child, and my daughter [Kaitlyn] is an only child. All of our family still lived in North Carolina. We started to wonder about moving closer to them."

Still, it wasn't until Johnson was visiting in-laws in North Carolina for Christmas in 1994 that he thought seriously about it. He checked his answering machine in Hawaii, and listened to a message from Weatherbie, then the Utah State coach. "Give me a call," Weatherbie said. "I've got a job offer for you."

"Charlie thought I was in Hawaii with the time difference," Johnson says, "So at 2:30 in the morning, he calls me and says, 'I've got the Navy job. Will you come be my offensive coordinator?' I told him, 'It's 2:30 in the morning, call me and ask me tomorrow.' But when I started thinking about it, it sounded pretty neat."

First tour of duty

Like always, Johnson helped turn the Mids into a winner, going 14-9 in two years and beating Cal in the Aloha Bowl in 1996. But two years later, he was on the move again, taking the top job at Georgia Southern, where he would build a I-AA power.

Johnson, however, never forgot the Naval Academy. He loved the athletes and they loved him, even on the days they wanted to punch his lights out.

"He's a blue-collar guy who believes in all the things that make the gridiron the special place it is," says Clint Bruce, a star linebacker in '97. "I think he and I almost fought once on the practice field, because we're both so intense, and you have to love a man like that. ... I wish I could suit back up."

Though Johnson admits leaving Georgia Southern was a tough decision, the new challenge was too much to pass up.

"I was comfortable at Southern," he says. "I was well-paid, we were winning, and I loved the kids. But I'd accomplished about everything I could. When people said I couldn't win at Navy, that made me want to come here even more.

"I've been fortunate in that I've never been anywhere where I haven't been successful. We're going to be successful here. I wouldn't be able to handle it if we weren't, so we're just going to be."

ANCHORED FOR TWO SEASONS

1-20...................................365..............................735

Record............................Points scored........points allowed

Next for Navy

Opponent:SMU in season opener for both schools

Site: Gerald J. Ford Stadium, Dallas

When:Saturday, 8 p.m.

Radio:WJFK (1300 AM), WNAV (1430 AM)

Line:SMU by 11 1/2