Army Black Knights football

The Army Black Knights football team, historically known as the Army Cadets, represents the United States Military Academy in college football. The Black Knights team competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a member of the American Athletic Conference. The Black Knights play home games in Michie Stadium with a capacity of 36,000 at West Point, New York. The Black Knights are coached by Jeff Monken, who has held the position since 2014.

Army claims three national championships, including two (1944, 1945) from the AP Trophy. Army has produced 24 players and four coaches in the College Football Hall of Fame, 37 consensus All-Americans, and three Heisman Trophy winners: Doc Blanchard (1945), Glenn Davis (1946), and Pete Dawkins (1958).

With the exception of seven seasons (1998–2004) where the team was a member of Conference USA, Army competed as an independent, meaning that they had no affiliation with any conference. They started to compete in the American Athletic Conference as a football-only member in 2024. For all other sports Army is primarily a member of the Patriot League.

Army competes with their historic rivals Navy in the Army–Navy Game, traditionally the final game of the college football regular season. The three major service academies—Army, Navy, and Air Force—compete for the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy; Army has won the award ten times, most recently in 2023.

History
Army's football program began on November 29, 1890, when Navy challenged the cadets to a game of the relatively new sport. Navy defeated Army at West Point that year, but Army avenged the loss in Annapolis the following year. The academies still clash every December in what is traditionally the last regular-season Division I college-football game.

Army's football team reached its pinnacle of success during the Second World War under coach Earl Blaik when Army won three consecutive national championships in 1944, 1945 and 1946, and produced two Heisman trophy winners: Doc Blanchard (1945), Glenn Davis (1946). From 1944 to 1950, the Cadets had 57 wins, 3 losses and 4 ties. During this time span, Army won three national championships. Army produced a third Heisman trophy winner in 1958 when Pete Dawkins took the honors.

Past NFL coaches Vince Lombardi and Bill Parcells were Army assistant coaches early in their careers.

The football team plays its home games at Michie Stadium, where the playing field is named after Earl Blaik. Cadets' attendance is mandatory at football games and the Corps stands for the duration of the game. At all home games, one of the four regiments marches onto the field in formation before the team takes the field and leads the crowd in traditional Army cheers. Two of the regiments are tasked with performing the morning parade while the last regiment is tasked with ancillary stadium duties.

For many years, Army teams were known as the "Cadets." In the 1940s, several papers called the football team "the Black Knights of the Hudson." From then on, "Cadets" and "Black Knights" were used interchangeably until 1999, when the team was officially nicknamed the Black Knights. Individual cadets as well as groups of cadets to include the entire team are still often referred to as "Cadet" or "The Cadets" with regard to athletic events.

Between the 1998 and 2004 seasons, Army's football program was a member of Conference USA, but starting with the 2005 season Army reverted to its former independent status. Army competes with Navy and Air Force for the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy. In 2024, Army began competing in the American Athletic Conference. While Air Force competes in a separate conference, Navy also competes in the AAC. The regular season matchup between Army and Navy is competed as a non-conference matchup after the conference championship game and therefore does not affect conference standings.

National championships
Army has won five national championships from NCAA-designated major selectors, including twice (1944, 1945) from the AP Poll. Army claims three national titles.

Lambert Trophy
The Lambert-Meadowlands Trophy (known as the Lambert Trophy), established in 1936, is an annual award given to the best team in the East in Division I FBS (formerly I-A) college football and is presented by the Metropolitan New York Football Writers. Army has won the Lambert Trophy nine times; seven times under head coach Earl "Red" Blaik in the 1940s and 1950s, and twice under head coach Jeff Monken in 2018 and 2020.

Bowl games
Army has played in ten bowl games. They have a record of 7–3.

Future bowl tie-ins
The NCAA's football oversight committee determined the number of primary bowl tie-ins for each FBS conference and FBS independent for the 2020–2025 bowl cycle using eligibility data from the 2014–2017 seasons. The Black Knights received one guaranteed tie-in per year. On October 24, 2019, the West Point Athletic Department announced that they had agreed to a contract that placed their team, if eligible, in the Independence Bowl for three of the six years, with the remaining years being contracted to an ESPN Events-owned bowl.

The contract includes a clause that allows Army the ability to accept a bid from a different bowl game once during the three-year agreement with the Independence Bowl and once during the three-year agreement with ESPN Events. Aligning with this, on November 5 Army announced that it had agreed to a secondary contractual tie-in with the Duke's Mayo Bowl. It agreed that it would serve as the primary backup for the bowl and would have the opportunity to accept an invitation to the game twice during the six-year cycle. The Duke's Mayo Bowl's primary tie-ins for the 2020–2025 cycle are the ACC (all years), the SEC (odd years), and the Big Ten (even years); if any of those conferences were unable to place a team into the bowl during any of those years, Army would be extended an invitation to fill their place. The opponent conferences for the Independence Bowl were announced to be the Pac-12 and the American on January 30, 2020.

The Duke's Mayo Bowl can extend an invitation to Army once during the even years (2020, 2022, 2026) and once during the odd years (2021, 2023, 2025) to fill a vacancy as part of a secondary tie-in.

ESPN Events operates the following 16 bowls that Army could be invited to during odd years of the cycle:
 * Armed Forces Bowl
 * Birmingham Bowl
 * Bahamas Bowl
 * Boca Raton Bowl
 * Camellia Bowl
 * Cure Bowl
 * Famous Idaho Potato Bowl
 * Fenway Bowl
 * First Responder Bowl
 * Frisco Bowl
 * Gasparilla Bowl
 * Hawaii Bowl
 * Las Vegas Bowl
 * Myrtle Beach Bowl
 * New Mexico Bowl
 * Texas Bowl

Head coaches
† Dennis Michie coached 1 game in 1890, and then coached a full season in 1892.

Commander-in-Chief's Trophy
Air Force, Army, and Navy have played each other every year since 1972 for the Commander-in Chief's Trophy. Air Force leads the FBS service academies with 21 victories, Navy has 16 victories, and Army has 10 victories, with the trophy being shared 5 times. Army is the current holder of the trophy.

Air Force
Air Force and Army meet annually and vie for the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy. Air Force leads Army 38–19–1 through the 2023 season. In a shocking upset Army defeated Air Force on November 4, 2023, in Denver at Empower Field. Air Force was nationally ranked and undefeated going into the game. Army prevailed 23–3.

After the Navy–Notre Dame game was canceled in 2020, the Army–Air Force game became the longest uninterrupted intersectional rivalry in college football.

Navy
Army and Navy play each other annually in the Army–Navy game, which is also a part of the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy. This series is one of the oldest and traditional rivalries in the NCAA. They first met in 1890, and have played each other annually since 1930. The games are generally played at a neutral site. Navy leads the series 62–55–7 through the 2023 season.

Notre Dame
Notre Dame is a rivalry which some feel has fallen into obscurity. In much of the early 20th century, Army and Notre Dame were considered football powerhouses, and met 34 times between 1913 and 1947. Though the rivalry has slowed down, they last met in 2016. Many media members considered the 1946 contest to be the "Game of the Century". Notre Dame leads the series 39–8–4 through the 2018 season.

Michie Stadium
Michie Stadium, which opened in 1924, is the home stadium of the Army Black Knights in West Point, New York. The stadium is named after the first Army football head coach, Dennis Michie. In 1999, the field was renamed Blaik Field at Michie Stadium in honor of former coach Earl Blaik.

In 1999, Sports Illustrated ranked Michie Stadium the third-best sports venue of the 20th century.

Traditions
Songs

Alma Mater is the Army's school song. Army's fight song is "On, Brave Old Army Team". Army also plays other organized cheers; Army Rocket Yell, Black, Gold, and Gray, and USMA Cheer.

Mascot

Army's mascots are the Army Mules. While dating back to 1899, they were officially adopted as mascots by USMA in 1936.

College Football Hall of Fame
The following 4 individuals have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as coaches.

The following 24 individuals have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as players. Daly and McEwan also served as Army's head coach.

Other notable players
President of the United States and General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower and General of the Army Omar Bradley were on the 1912 Army football team. Eisenhower was injured and his football career was over by 1913, when the two future generals were juniors. Bradley, a star of the Army baseball team for four years, was on the field in 1913 when Notre Dame upset Army in a historic college football game in which the forward pass was used for the first time. Bradley played end opposite the legendary Knute Rockne, the Notre Dame end who later coached the Irish to national championships before dying in a plane crash near Bazaar, Kansas, on Easter Friday in 1931.

Award winners

 * Heisman Trophy
 * Doc Blanchard – 1945
 * Glenn Davis – 1946
 * Pete Dawkins – 1958


 * AFCA Coach of the Year
 * Earl Blaik – 1946
 * Tom Cahill – 1966


 * Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year
 * Tom Cahill – 1966


 * Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year
 * Bob Sutton – 1996


 * George Munger Collegiate Coach of the Year
 * Jeff Monken – 2018


 * Vince Lombardi College Football Coach of the Year
 * Jeff Monken – 2018


 * President's Award
 * Jeff Monken – 2018


 * ECAC Division I FBS Football Coach of the Year
 * Jeff Monken – 2021


 * Maxwell Award
 * Glenn Davis – 1944
 * Doc Blanchard – 1945
 * Pete Dawkins – 1958


 * Outland Trophy
 * Joe Steffy – 1947


 * William V. Campbell Trophy
 * Andrew Rodriguez – 2011


 * James E. Sullivan Award
 * Doc Blanchard 1945
 * Arnold Tucker 1946
 * Andrew Rodriguez – 2011


 * Defender of the Nation Award
 * Andrew King – 2016
 * Arik Smith – 2021

Future schedules
Schedules as of September 21, 2023.


 * 1) At FedExField, Landover, MD
 * 2) At M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore, MD
 * 3) At MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ
 * 4) At Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, PA
 * 5) At TBD

Army has games against Tulsa in 2025 and BYU in 2032 with dates yet to be announced.

Radio
Radio rights are held by Learfield through Army West Point Sports Properties, a joint venture with the USMA, and are branded on-air as the "Army Sports Network from Learfield". Pamal Broadcasting-owned WGHQ in Kingston, New York serves as the network's flagship station.

Former affiliates (1 station)

 * WVKZ/1240: Schenectady

Current broadcast team

 * Army Sports Network
 * Rich DeMarco (play-by-play)
 * Dean Darling (color analyst)
 * Tony Morino (sideline reporter)
 * Joe Beckerle (pre and post-game)