On the first day of spring football practice, new Navy football coach Ken Niumatalolo was still answering the same questions that greeted him the day he was hired to replace Paul Johnson.

That's what happens when you take over a program that turned much deeper shades of Navy Blue and Gold under your predecessor.

So, I guess this is as good a time as any to throw out the obligatory quip about Ken's hard-to-pronounce surname, which I'm pretty sure means "has a tough act to follow" in his ancestral Polynesian tongue.

It certainly won't be easy to take this handoff from Johnson -- who went in search of a national championship at Georgia Tech -- but Niumatalolo has a big advantage over anyone who might have been brought in from outside the program. He has played a significant role in Navy's football renaissance, so there is no pressure to make dramatic changes in a system that has worked very well over the past five seasons.

"I've never been one to worry about putting my stamp on the program," he said during yesterday's spring football luncheon at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. "I want to do what's best for the program."

Of course, that's what you're supposed to say in a situation such as this. It's probably right on the first page of the How-To manual on inheriting a successful operation. But it's hard not to believe Niumatalolo, who comes across as way too earnest to be a Division I football coach.

No wonder Navy has done such a great job of recruiting all those smart, undersized offensive players that run the triple option so well. This guy probably plays great in the living room, in an understated, Pete Carroll sort of way. I'm guessing every visit ends up sounding something like this: Niumatalolo: "Of course, Mrs. Kaheaku-Enhada, we'll make sure Kaipo takes his vitamins every day and studies for his nautical engineering midterm."

Mrs. Kaheaku-Enhada: "Even I can't pronounce your last name, but my son is going to the Naval Academy."

Niumatalolo might be the perfect choice to take over at Navy if only because he doesn't seem to have any ego-driven compulsion to separate himself from Johnson's legacy. He played for Johnson and coached for Johnson. He is here because of Johnson. His old coach represents a debt, not a threat.

"We're just going to do what's best for the program," he said. "I'm different from Paul in that I'm not going to have a [golf] cart out there. That's the only difference."

The Midshipmen still will run the triple option, the great schematic equalizer that has allowed Navy to rank among the top 20 Division I teams in victories over the past five years in spite of the size disadvantage they take into almost every game.

"There is a physical mismatch," Niumatalolo said. "There's also a mass factor involved. That's why we run the triple option. A lot of coaches have come through the Naval Academy, and it's not that what they did wasn't right; it just wasn't right for the Naval Academy.

"The great thing about the triple option is you don't have to block everybody. A lot of times, you don't have to block their best guys."

Johnson's teams ran it with terrific precision and Niumatalolo was right in the middle of everything, coaching the offensive line during the five years Johnson dominated the other service academies and led the Mids to five straight bowl games.

The big difference now is the scope of it all. Niumatalolo has always lived and breathed football, just not on this all-encompassing level.

"As a head coach, your mind broadens out," he said. "There are so many things to think about."

Your shoulders have to broaden out, too, because you're carrying the weight of the entire program ... and, at the Naval Academy, a tradition that transcends football.

"It's a bottom-line profession," he said. "People say, 'There must be pressure to keep winning.' To me, that hasn't changed. It's always been about winning. I understand college football is big business and I don't have a problem with that. You've got to win. I'm a competitive guy. I hate to lose."

Niumatalolo says he tries to keep his focus on the future, but he admits he takes a moment every day to reflect on everything that has brought him to this point.

"I do that every morning when I look out the window of my office, from the standpoint of being blessed," he said. "There is one thing I keep on my desk -- a paperweight of the Commander in Chief's Trophy. There are a lot of things to do and a lot to think about to help us get better, but when I look at that, it reminds me: I have to find a way to win."

peter.schmuck@baltsun.com

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