Navy Midshipmen Offensive Coordinator Nominated for Broyles Award

One of the Navy Midshipmen’s top assistant coaches is up for one of the game’s most prestigious awards.

Sep 2, 2023; Oxford, Mississippi, USA; Mercer Bears Head Coach Drew Cronic watches from the sideline during the first half against the Mississippi Rebels at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. / Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

The Navy Midshipmen are preparing for their final conference game on Friday and offensive coordinator Drew Cronic will be a big part of the equation.

The first-year Midshipmen coordinator is one of 65 nominees for the Broyles Award, given to college football’s top assistant coach. The nominees were announced earlier this week.

Cronic has helped guide the Midshipmen to maintaining a spot as one of the best rushing offenses in the country.

Navy is No. 8 in FBS, averaging 243 yards per game. It also has a deceptively productive passing game, as quarterback Blake Horvath has thrown for 1,154 yards passing with 11 touchdowns against four interceptions as he closes in on 1,000 yards rushing this season.

A selection committee of former head coaches, broadcasters and a committee representing the Football Writers Association of America will select 15 semifinalists, five finalists and an overall winner. The nominees were selected from the approximate 1,500 assistant coaches in FBS.

Navy hired Cronic away from Mercer, an FCS program where he was the head coach for four seasons. He led the Bears to a 28-17 record in four seasons, which included a 22-10 record in the Southern Conference.

Mercer finished in the FCS Top 25 for two straight seasons, including 2023 when it reached the second round of the FCS playoffs.

Before that, Cronic was the head coach of Division II power Lenoir-Rhyne from 2018-19, where he led it to a 25-3 record, two Top 10 national rankings at season’s end and two playoff berths, including a run to the Division II semifinals in 2019.

He had a successful two-year run at NAIA Reinhardt from 2015-16, where as a first-time head coach he led the Eagles to a pair of Top 10 national rankings at season’s end, a 22-3 record and two playoff berths, including a trip to the NAIA semifinals in 2016.

The Canton, Ga., native played his college football at Georgia, where he was a wide receiver. After his playing career ended, he started a coaching career with West Georgia as a graduate assistant. From there, he served as an assistant coach at James Madison, Furman and Reinhardt.

With Reinhardt from 2012-14 he served as the assistant head coach, offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach and receivers coach before he ascended to the head-coaching job.

The Broyles Award. It is named for former Arkansas head football coach and athletic director Frank Broyles, who was renowned for his ability to identify and developing great assistants. His assistants included Joe Gibbs, Raymond Berry, Johnny Majors, Doug Dickey, Barry Switzer, Jimmy Johnson, Hayden Fry and Jackie Sherrill.