NCAA Endzone

Bobby Ross retired Monday as Army’s football coach, and without a victory over Navy in his three seasons with the Black Knights.

The former NFL coach, who had a 9-25 record at Army, will be succeeded by offensive line coach Stan Brock.

“I think there’s a point in time when you feel like it’s your time to retire, and I think I’ve reached that time,” the 70-year-old Ross said in a statement. “I think there is an issue of having a certain degree of energy, which I feel is very important for anyone leading a college football program. I feel that I was lacking in that area.”

Ross came out of retirement to coach a team that had been on a 15-game losing streak and was the first in NCAA history to finish a season 0-13 (2003).

Speculation that Ross might leave began shortly after Army’s 26-14 loss to the Midshipmen in December. The Black Knights finished the season on a six-game losing streak. Ross’ son, Kevin, the offensive coordinator, took much of the blame for the Black Knights’ sputtering offense.

Before his arrival at West Point, Ross was 77-68 in the NFL with the Chargers and Detroit Lions and spent 15 years as a college coach, including stints with The Citadel (1973-77), Maryland (1982-86) and Georgia Tech (1987-91). His 1990 Georgia Tech team went 11-0-1, sharing the national title with Colorado. His college record was 94-76-2 before he accepted the Army job.

Ross, a Virginia Military Institute graduate, hoped to duplicate what he had done at Georgia Tech in the late 1980s. And after two seasons of improvement — Ross had nearly the same record at Army (6-16) as he did at Georgia Tech (5-17) — he seemed to be right on track.

But Georgia Tech went 7-4 in Ross’s third year and was co-national champion with an 11-0-1 mark the next season (1990). Ross’s third year at West Point started at 3-3, but the Black Knights lost their last six games by an average of 20 points.

Still, there have been signs of progress. Army won seven of its last 17 games under Ross, and nine of the last 16 losses have been by 14 points or less. In the three seasons (2001-03) that preceded Ross’s arrival, Army was 4-32, suffering those 32 losses by an average of 21.6 points.

Army, Bobby Ross, college football