Much has been made this week about the long-standing relationship between Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo and Army counterpart Rich Ellerson. As detailed in a story that appeared in The Sunday Capital http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/nas/2009/12/06-16/Navys-Niumatalolo-Armys-Ellerson-share-connection.html and several subsequent articles, Ellerson recruited Niumatalolo to the University of Hawaii and the two have stayed in touch ever since.

    However, a pair of assistant coaches on either side of the rivalry actually have known each other longer and have a much closer relationship. Navy defensive line coach Dale Pehrson played at Murray High in Utah when Army offensive line coach Gene McKeehan was the head coach. Pehrson would become a two-year starter at defensive back at the University of Utah then headed off to Saudi Arabia.

    Upon return to the United States, Pehrson was hired as an assistant at Murray High by McKeehan, who had returned to the school following a brief stint at the collegiate level. When McKeehan was hired as an assistant at Utah State, Pehrson took over as head coach at Murray High from 1984-87.

    Pehrson would eventually reach the collegiate level himself and was worked as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator at Southern Utah from 1991-95. During that time, he crossed paths in recruiting and became friends with a Utah State assistant named Gary Patterson, who would become secondary coach at the Naval Academy under Charlie Weatherbie.  

    When Patterson departed Navy to become defensive coordinator at New Mexico, he recommended Pehrson as a replacement. Pehrson was hired by Weatherbie in 1996 and was reunited with McKeehan, who served as Navy offensive line coach from 1995-2000.

    "Gene has been a very important person in my life. He was my high school coach and he was the one who got me started in coaching," Pehrson said with great sincerity. "I not only owe my career to Gene, I owe my life. He kept me on the straight and narrow back when I was in high school."

     Dale and Marty Pehrson remain close with Gene and Ann Lee McKeehan, so close in fact they traveled to West Point to visit the couple this past summer.