Once a pilot in the sky, now Candeto is a pilot on the ground

By Doug Roberson

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Losing a yard in a football game ... not a big deal.

Missing by a yard on an aircraft carrier ... that's something different.

Craig Candeto knows the fine line.

Now a graduate assistant football coach at Georgia Tech, Candeto used to quarterback Navy. In between he was a fighter pilot, flying jet planes with a bigger price tag than Tech's athletics budget.

So, coming in at 160 mph and trying to land on the 200-foot wide strip of an aircraft carrier that's not only moving away from you, but is also pitching with the motions of the ocean ... well, Candeto said there's football, and then there's catching that last hook and avoiding turning an aircraft into a $58 million piece of coral reef.

"The stakes are pretty high in college football, but even higher in aviation," Candeto said. "You mess up in college football, you go to the bench. You mess up bad enough in aviation, you risk your life or someone else's."

Candeto played for Paul Johnson at Annapolis and quarterbacked the Midshipmen to one of their biggest wins: 58-12 over Army in 2002. Candeto rushed for six touchdowns and passed for another in a game that he said turned around the program and the rivalry. That moment put him in the record books, tied for the most rushing touchdowns by a quarterback, but Candeto is too modest to say it was anything more than one good game called by one good coach.

When he graduated from Navy and went to carrier qualifying school, he got the "Top Gun" call sign that fit him to a tee, even if he didn't feel comfortable with the multi-layered pseudonym: "Chosen." What else should one call a fair-haired friendly guy, who also captained the football and baseball teams?

"I know he's a Christian," said Thayer Paxton, a Marine captain who became one of Candeto's best friends when they attended flight school in Meridian, Miss. "I don't know if he wanted to be compared to the Chosen One.

"At the same time, you can't let anyone know you're not going to like it or it's going to stick."

It stuck, and traveled with him to his assignment at Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach, Va., where he spent a year.

With seven years left in his commitment, a medical issue resulted in him being grounded. Candeto declined to say what it was. It might have been a blessing. He could have transferred to another job in the service, but what could match the thrill of flying an F/A-18 Hornet or the rush of being catapulted off the deck of an aircraft carrier?

"It's like nothing I've ever felt," he said.

He had always had plans for his post-Navy life and realized if he completed the rest of his hitch he would be 34, and it might be too late to start anew. So he applied for and received an early discharge.

"The Navy has done so much for me," he said. "I can't begin to thank the Navy for what it groomed me for."

Of course, it's sometimes easier to know what you want than it is to know how to get started.

Candeto said he fell in love with football while at Navy and knew that one day he wanted to coach. But he wasn't sure how to find a job, so he began to randomly send resumes to schools around the country.

He got lucky when Austin Peay hired him last summer as a graduate assistant. Then, he got another break when Johnson hired him as a graduate assistant at Tech in January and put him in charge of the B-backs.

“He actually turned down a couple of full-time jobs at I-AA schools because he wanted to come back and learn the offense," Johnson said.

Indeed. Candeto isn't here on a lark. He eventually wants to be a head coach at a BCS conference, preferably at a school like Tech. Then a little TV commentary. After that, he wants to open a youth center so that he can fulfill his calling and mentor kids, just as his parents did as high school coaches back home in DeLand, Fla.

But first he's learning how to coach ... and to cope. His salary as a G.A. doesn't compare to what a commissioned officer receives. But he's not complaining. Just like when he was a plebe at Navy, he's making the sacrifices necessary to put himself into position for a better assignment.

He said tenacity is what got him into the Naval Academy, helped him excel on the fields, helped him learn to fly jets and will make him a successful coach.

"In a jet, you have to make sure everything is in order and just as it should be," Candeto said. "This carries over to coaching and will help me in the profession by scrutinizing and doing things that some people will not take time to notice or pay attention to.

"Fourth-and-two in the ACC championship, hopefully I'll stay calm and make decisions."

Though Candeto played for and now coaches for Johnson, he doesn't have the same coaching personality. While Johnson sometimes gets fired up as he gets his point across, Candeto said he prefers to take a cooler approach as he tries to keep it as positive as he can.

He has to remind himself during meetings or practices, when Johnson comes walking to the line to watch the quarterback and the offensive line, that he can relax. He's not a player anymore. Although in a few months he will juggle coaching and working on his graduate degree in economics, he knows this is what he wants to do.

"This is a great opportunity," Candeto said. "Being with coach Johnson again. He's someone I've respected from day one. I'm learning from one of the best."