Buddy Green is entering his 10th season as the defensive coordinator at the Naval Academy. He has been an integral part of a staff that has brought the Midshipmen back into the national spotlight with a 70-33 (.680) record over the last eight years. He was nominated for the Frank Broyles Award, which is awarded to the national assistant coach of the year, in 2008 and 2009.
The Mids posted an impressive 9-4 record in 2010, defeated Army for a series record ninth-consecutive time, defeated Notre Dame in consecutive seasons for only the third time in school history and appeared in a school record eighth-consecutive bowl game. The Mids gave up just 23.3 points per game, which was the 46th best scoring defense in the country. Safety Wyatt Middleton recovered five fumbles, which tied for most in the country. He returned one of those fumbles 98 yards for a touchdown against Army. It was the longest fumble return in school and Army-Navy history.
The 2009 season was one to remember, as the Mids tied a school record for wins with 10, won a school-record seventh-consecutive Commander-In-Chief's Trophy, appeared in a seventh-consecutive bowl game and ran its winning streak against the other two Service Academies to an amazing 15-straight games. The Mids capped the season off with a 35-13 rout of Missouri in the Texas Bowl thanks in part to Green's 2-4-5 defensive alignment that flummoxed the Missouri offense. The defense finished 18th in the country in scoring defense (19.4 points per game) and sixth in red zone defense. Safety Wyatt Middleton was named First-Team All-East.
The Mids posted an 8-5 record in 2008 and participated in the EagleBank Bowl. The Mids won the Commander-In-Chief's Trophy thanks to a 33-27 victory over Air Force and a 34-0 win over Army. Other landmark wins during the 2008 season included a 24-17 victory over 16th-ranked Wake Forest, which was Navy's first win over a team ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 since 1985, as well as Navy's victory the previous week over Rutgers. It was the first time since 1981 that Navy beat teams currently in the BCS in back-to-back weeks. Navy also defeated a program-record four bowl teams. The Mids sported the most improved scoring defense in the country, giving up just 22.0 points per game which was a 14.4 point per game improvement from 2007.
The 2007 season was also a memorable one as the Midshipmen posted an 8-5 record, won the Commander-In-Chief's Trophy, appeared in a fifth-straight bowl game, and defeated Notre Dame for the first time since 1963. Safety Ketric Buffin became the first player in school history to intercept a pass in each of the first four games of the season.
Green's defense was stout in 2006, giving up just 116.7 yards per game (38th in the country) on the ground and, more importantly, 20.1 points per game (41st in the country).
In 2005, Green did a remarkable job with a defense that returned just three starters from the year before as the Mids ranked 62nd in total defense (377.3) and scoring defense (26.1) as the Mids appeared in a third-straight bowl game, won a second-straight bowl game and won a third-straight Commander-In-Chief's Trophy.
In 2004, Green's efforts helped Navy finish 26th in the country in scoring defense (19.83), win a school-record tying 10 games (the most wins since 1905), go to back-to-back bowl games, win the Emerald Bowl and win the Commander-In-Chief's Trophy. Green was a nominee for the Frank Broyles Award, which is given to the national assistant coach of the year.
In 2003, Green's defense finished 14th in the nation in pass defense (61st the year before), 42nd in pass efficiency defense (116th the year before), 34th in total defense (100th the year before) and 34th in scoring defense (108th the year before) as he helped lead Navy to eight wins, the Commander-In-Chief's Trophy and a berth in the Houston Bowl.
In Green's first season as Navy's defensive coordinator, the Mids were devastated by injuries at nearly every position. Green, however, kept the unit together and the Mids played their best at the end of the year and held Army to just 12 points in the season finale.
Green is a 1976 graduate of N.C. State where he earned his B.A. in speech communication. A two-sport athlete for the Wolfpack, he played football and baseball. He played on two ACC Championship teams in baseball and was a member of Lou Holtz's 1972 Peach Bowl squad. Green earned his first collegiate coaching job in 1979 as a graduate assistant at N.C. State, a year the Wolfpack won the ACC Championship.
The following year, Green moved on to a coaching post at LSU for one season. In 1981, he earned his first coordinator job, serving as the defensive coordinator and secondary coach at Southern University from 1981-82.
He took his first head coaching job at Northern Nash High School in North Carolina for one season where he was also the Director of Athletics. Green got back into the college ranks at VMI as the secondary coach in 1983 and moved on to Auburn where he helped lead the Tigers to the 1985 Cotton Bowl. He returned to his alma mater in 1986 where he was the secondary coach for eight years and the defensive coordinator for four of those seasons (1990-93).
While at N.C. State, he helped lead the Pack to six bowl games. Green left N.C. State in 1994 to become the head coach at Tennessee-Chattanooga, where he coached for six seasons and was also the Director of Athletics for two years. In 1997, Green led his Chattanooga squad to a I-AA national ranking and its first winning record in six years. He also helped develop one of the top wide receivers in the NFL, Terrell Owens. Green returned to Raleigh in 2000 and took over one of the worst defenses in the ACC. By the time he left, they were ranked in the Top 25 in scoring defense and were at or near the top in every defensive category.
Green and his wife, Sharon, have two children, Todd, who is the assistant video coordinator at the Naval Academy, and Courtney, who is a school teacher in Charleston, S.C.
