Paul Johnson: The Triple Option Patriarch

By Winfield Featherston Dec 11, 2009, 2:36pm EST

Whenever he gets the chance, Army Coach Rich Ellerson watches the football teams from Navy and Georgia Tech on television. He does so partly because of his long-standing friendships with those teams' coaches, Ken Niumatalolo and Paul Johnson. But Ellerson is also curious: His team, like Niumatalolo's and Johnson's, employs the triple-option offense....

There is no doubt that if this is a family tree, the patriarch is Paul Johnson.