Navy football was a hot mess during the 2000 and 2001 seasons. The Midshipmen were a mistake waiting to happen during that dismal period when they compiled a 1-20 record under head coach Charlie Weatherbie.
Things were so bad that it was almost guaranteed that at least once during every post-game press conference Weatherbie would utter the line for which he is best remembered: “We shot ourselves in the foot.”
When Paul Johnson took over as head coach in 2002, his first priority was to teach the Midshipmen to not beat themselves. It was not an easy task to break all the bad habits that had become ingrained in the program and Navy made many of the same old mistakes in going 2-10 in Johnson’s first season.