It takes very special circumstances for an assistant coach with the NFL's New York Giants to lobby for any kind of football to be played in Philadelphia.
But Mike Sullivan is willing to make an exception.
The Army-Navy game "was meant to be played at the corner of Pattison and Broad," Sullivan said in an interview with Military Times last month. "That, to me, is just such a tradition in that city."
After a stop in Baltimore last year, the rivalry returns to the City of Brotherly Love for its 116th contest on Dec. 12. This will mark the ninth time the game has been played at Lincoln Financial Field, with Navy winning every one of those contests to date, part of the Mids' current streak of 13 straight victories.
Before Sullivan embarked on a coaching career that has taken him all over — he's on his second stint with the Giants as a quarterbacks coach — he played defensive back for the Black Knights in the late 1980s, earning his commission in 1989.
Army West Point went 3-0 at Philadelphia's old Veterans Stadium from 1986 to 1988, and that winning feeling is something the Ranger-tabbed former officer hopes current cadets won't miss out on.
"You really want those young men to experience that incredible feeling that it is to beat Navy," he said. "I was very, very fortunate in my time there as both a player and a coach that we had great success versus Navy. … I want those guys to have that memory, that accomplishment they can carry with them the rest of their lives."
Sullivan began spinning on the football coaching carousel in 1993 as a graduate assistant at Humboldt State University in California. He had left the Army shortly before taking the job when a back injury made future service as an infantry officer impossible.
He returned to West Point in 1995 as an assistant linebackers coach, jumped to Youngstown State in 1997, then returned in 1999 for two seasons, coaching defensive backs. Both stints were made possible by Bob Sutton, who had served as defensive coordinator when Sullivan was a player and was the head man from 1991 to 1999, a tenure that included a five-year winning streak over Navy.
"It seems like 1,000 years ago, given how things have been recently," Sullivan said.
After breaking into the NFL ranks with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2002, Sullivan joined the Giants in 2004 as a receivers coach, moving to QB coach in 2010. He was on the sidelines for two Super Bowl victories by Big Blue before leaving for a coordinator position in Tampa Bay in 2012.
Mike Sullivan's coaching odyssey included two stops on the sideline of his alma mater, the U.S. Military Academy. Here, Sullivan works with New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning during preparations for Super Bowl XLVI in 2012.
Photo Credit: Julio Cortez/AP
He also would be instrumental in landing one of the most successful motivational speakers in NFL history — in 2007, as the Giants prepared to face Washington, Sullivan asked now-retired Col. Greg Gadson, his teammate with the Black Knights in the late '80s, to speak to the club at their hotel the night before kickoff.
Earlier that year, Gadson lost both his legs In Iraq when an improvised explosive device struck his convoy. He would go on to serve as garrison commander at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, lead the Army Wounded Warrior Program, and even take a role in the movie "Battleship." The task of introducing Gadson to a room full of pro athletes who had lost their first two games of the year fell to Sullivan.
"I remember being very, very nervous, maybe more nervous than anything in my entire life," Sullivan recalled. "We're all in this auditorium, this meeting room in the hotel, and of course coach [Tom Coughlin] usually goes through his series of objectives, issues he wants to discuss with the team. All he said was, 'All right guys, we're going to do something different tonight. We have a special guest, and Coach Sullivan's going to introduce him. So Mike, come up here.'
"I knew that was coming. The thing is, I was so nervous because I wanted to do it right. I wanted to be able to talk about who Greg was, talk about our history and be able to introduce him. I just remember I didn't want to let him down. I wanted to make sure I didn't screw that up. More than any Super Bowl … anything in the Army, I was so nervous about that. That was something I'll never forget."
Gadson gave his speech, the Giants embarked on a six-game win streak the next day, and the officer would remain a contributor to the team's success the rest of the season, including a motivational speech before its Super Bowl win over the previously unbeaten New England Patriots.
The Giants gave Gadson a championship ring for his efforts. When Sullivan left for the Tampa Bay job, he recalled receiving congratulations from Giants co-owner John Mara, followed by a stern personnel announcement: "You're not taking the colonel with you."
"That's the kind of the bond that develops" between service academy teammates, Sullivan said. "You talk about Army football, the Army-Navy game. It's not wanting to let the other person down. It's not so much for yourself."
That's not to say the coach doesn't have one or two selfish thoughts regarding the rivalry, however.
Mike Sullivan
Photo Credit: AP Mike PrieferSecond, he's making the rivalry part of his plans for when his time on the sideline is over.
"At some point, when I do step away from coaching and retire, I do want to actually go to [an Army-Navy] game, and just be able to be a fan. Not playing in it, not coaching in it, just be able to take in the atmosphere. Get there early, tailgate, see the parade before the game and take part in that."
Kevin Lilley is the features editor of Military Times.
