Army names Rich Ellerson football coach

WEST POINT, N.Y., Dec. 26 (UPI) -- The U.S. Military Academy Friday hired Rich Ellerson to be its next head football coach.

Ellerson has been the head coach at Cal Poly since 2001, where his record during an eight-year tenure was 56-34 with three Great West Conference championships and two FCS playoff berths.

He will be Army's fifth head coach since 2000, and he replaces the fired Stan Brock.

"We are extremely excited to be in position to name Rich Ellerson as our head football coach today," said athletic director Kevin Anderson. "He has done some amazing things in building (Cal Poly) into a national power."

Using a triple-option offense in 2008, the Mustangs ranked first nationally among FCS teams in total offense (487.45) and scoring offense (44.36), before losing to Weber State in the first round of the FCS playoffs.

Ellerson, 53, inherits a major task at West Point, which includes ending a seven-year losing streak against Navy and coaching the Cadets to the first winning season since 1996.