This episode features an interview with Jeff Monken, Head Coach of Army West Point Football. Coach Monken has served nine seasons at the helm of Army West Point football, the 37th individual head coach in program history. His career coaching record stands at 102-65 as a head coach, with a 64-49 mark at Army. In this episode, Coach Monken talks about where the team stands pre-season, the importance of optimizing player safety, the impact of conference realignment for Army football, and leaving a legacy at West Point.
This episode features an interview with Jeff Monken, Head Coach of Army West Point Football.
Coach Monken has an accomplished background in football, both as a coach and a player. Before joining Army West Point football, he was the head coach of the Georgia Southern Eagles football team, and prior to that served under Paul Johnson as a running back’s coach and special teams coordinator at Georgia Southern, Navy, and Georgia Tech. To date, Coach Monken has served nine seasons at the helm of Army West Point football, the 37th individual head coach in program history. His career coaching record stands at 102-65 as a head coach, with a 64-49 mark at Army.
In this episode, Coach Monken talks about where the team stands pre-season, the importance of optimizing player safety, the impact of conference realignment for Army football, and leaving a legacy at West Point.
-----
“This academy, it's way bigger than any individual that will ever work here, coach here, teach here, go to school here. This academy, West Point, that's the legacy. We all play our part and we all contribute to the legacy of this academy. And, I hope our nation is here for eternity. This is the greatest country in the world and we have the nation's premier service academy and a national treasure here. And this place, I hope, will be in existence as long as our country is a nation.” - Coach Jeff Monken
“How incredibly proud we are as a program to represent the Long Gray Line, the United States Military Academy at West Point, and the US Army. It is with tremendous pride that we put those uniforms on every Saturday and our guys go out there and fight as hard as they can to win. And that's a representation of the Army, because winning matters. And so our guys go out there and give their very best with those same colors that they're going to wear, and you can be certain that the pride of the Army and the pride of West Point and the Long Gray Line are living in the hearts of those guys every time they play.” - Coach Jeff Monken
----
(01:53) Preseason talk
(04:34) Quarterbacks and team captains
(08:37) Optimizing player safety
(15:39) Conference realignment
(24:31) Legacy at West Point
(26:07) Final thoughts
----
West Point Association of Graduates
Narrator: Hello and welcome to the WPAOG Podcast. This episode features an interview with Jeff Monken, Head Coach of Army West Point Football. Coach Monken has an accomplished background in football, both as a coach and a player. Before joining Army West Point Football, he was the head coach of the Georgia Southern Eagles football team.
Prior to that, served under Paul Johnson as running backs coach and special teams coordinator at Georgia Southern Navy and Georgia Tech. To date, coach Monken has served nine seasons at the helm of Army West Point Football, and is the 37th individual head coach in program history. His career coaching record stands at 105 and 65 as a head coach with a 64 and 49 mark at Army.
In this episode, Coach Monken talks about where the team stands pre-season, the importance of optimizing player safety, the impact of conference realignment for army football, and leaving a legacy at West Point.
Now please enjoy this interview between Coach Jeff Monken and your host Rich Demarco, Associate Athletic Director and radio play by play announcer for the Army Black Knights.
[00:01:22] Rich Demarco: Thanks everyone for listening. Rich DeMarco joined by the head coach of the Army football team now entering his 10th season at West Point, Jeff Monken. And Jeff, thank you so much for spending some time here as we get excited for football season and chance to connect with the Long Gray Line of West Point graduates.
[00:01:40] Coach Jeff Monken: Well, glad to be here with you, Rich as always and always excited to talk about Army football.
[00:01:46] Rich Demarco: Army football 2023, let's talk about this team. I know there's been a lot of changes, uh, on the offense, new leaders, new players emerging. How do you feel heading into this year?
[00:01:56] Coach Jeff Monken: Well, I'm a nervous wreck right now. We got two and a half weeks to go and we got a long way to go just to have our team ready. I guess that's preseason camp. I probably feel that way about every year, but obviously with the change in the offense, it's, it's new, it's different. We're still learning, we're still trying to get in sync as an offense.
And with the new system, uh, there's a lot of similarities, but obviously, you know, the terminology and, and some of the schemes are, are different than what we've done in the past. You know, it just takes time. But, [00:02:30] uh, our guys are working hard and they're, I really enjoy the competition. Our offense and defense get to go against each other almost every day in practice, and that's been positive.
So good news is we still got two and a half weeks to go. We're gonna take advantage of it, Jeff,
[00:02:44] Rich Demarco: for Army fans, graduates who follow the team, and as we mentioned, you're going into your 10th year army. Football's been synonymous with the triple option over your first nine years. The change in philosophy on offense, which you touched upon.
For the fan that's following Army, [00:03:00] watching a game, how would you describe how different the army offense will be in 2023?
[00:03:07] Coach Jeff Monken: From a philosophy standpoint, I don't think there's a big change. We're still gonna be a, a team that runs some triple option. It'll look different structured differently. People sitting in the stands will look down and, and, uh, see different formations, but just in terms of our desire to be able to run the ball effectively.
And control the clock and play our brand of football. [00:03:30] Not much has changed. We got running backs and, and receivers and linemen and tight ends that the number one focus for all those guys is individuals and contributing to the team is being great blockers and nobody that is gonna play in our games on Saturdays is gonna be a guy that we don't think we can count on to be a good blocker.
That's not any different from what we try to do. A year ago or the last nine years, but it'll look different and the [00:04:00] ball will get distributed to different people in different ways than it did in the past. But we ran some shotgun plays and at times throughout the last nine years, a pretty good number of shotgun plays as much as 30% of our offensive plays in a single season.
So, I mean, we've had some experience doing it. It won't be completely foreign. To the fans as they watch it. It, it's certainly not completely foreign to our players, but just the, uh, practices and the, the skills that we [00:04:30] work on to kind of support the new system, all shotgun. And that's certainly different for us.
We'll be
taking
[00:04:37] Rich Demarco: that snap. I know it's a big focal point. We've had Christian Anderson, Tyler, Tyler in recent years going back, of course, Kelvin Hopkins Jr. Ah, Maud Bradshaw. How was that quarterback? Battle position looking so far a couple weeks
[00:04:52] Coach Jeff Monken: out from the season, I'm excited about the improvements that those guys have made.
Bryson Daly is the most experienced guy and [00:05:00] he's having a good camp and just learning to not. Press and just letting the plays happen rather than feeling like he's gotta make a play every single time that he's got the ball in his hands. Dwayne Coleman, who's now a sophomore, had the spring and had a really good performance in the spring.
Uh, we talked about Alex Meredith last weekend and fortunately he, he was injured and, and, uh, won't be able to play. But there's a couple of freshmen that have been very impressive. Larry Robinson, who played in our prep school program a year ago. [00:05:30] Is having a really good camp. I'm really excited about him.
And then Champ Harris, who's a true freshman, is very talented. So there's guys there that we're excited about and, and all of them are growing. There's nobody that is walking into the position and it's, it's theirs to, to lose. I think they're all competing for the job right now. After spring practice, you
[00:05:50] Rich Demarco: named four team captains for the 2023 season.
Jimmy Charlo, Connor Fanuc, and Austin Hill. And Leo Low, and I'm always fascinated, [00:06:00] intrigued by the captain's selection each year and, and it seems like each one has their own style of leadership. Tell me about this group and what each of those four captains bring to
[00:06:12] Coach Jeff Monken: the table. I. They're all really strong leaders, all, uh, are vocal guys, which I think is important.
It's important to have captains that talk and, and certainly, uh, some are more talkative than others, but they do a great job of maintaining the standard in our [00:06:30] program, and they're responsible for that. I, ultimately, I am, but the players have to drive the culture and they're doing a great job. They hold each other accountable as captains.
They hold their teammates accountable. They've really included the senior class and lean on them and have an expectation of the rest of the senior class that they too are gonna. Contribute to the leadership on the team. So they're really doing a good job. I think it's a, a great group of guys. [00:07:00] Having strong team captains doesn't guarantee success, but just the spirit and energy around our team I think is really good and that it's driven by those guys.
Jeff, you've coached
[00:07:09] Rich Demarco: at civilian schools, you've also coached at multiple service academies. How important is it to coach a team? To coach leaders that. Have committed the to a life of service after they're done playing football. And here at the
[00:07:25] Coach Jeff Monken: Academy, it's a tremendous sense of pride for me to be here and be at West [00:07:30] Point and, and, uh, to have.
A responsibility to teach leadership and be an example of leadership for these young men and women and the fact that they'll go into the army and be, be leaders and have to make decisions that matter and sometimes in the most difficult of circumstances. It's fantastic to just be a part of this and to see them grow from the time they arrive and go through Beast Barracks to that day of graduation when they're prepared to go out and be leaders of character.[00:08:00]
To serve in our army and we got great young people here and what this academy does to develop the leadership skills that they have and prepare them. For high level leadership at such a young age is, is really remarkable. And I love coaching here. This place is a perfect fit for me. It fits my personality, and West Point embraces my style of coaching and it's just been a great experience here and I'm, I'm enjoying it.
And as I've told you before, I'm just getting started. [00:08:30]
[00:08:30] Rich Demarco: I second that there's no better coach in a better fit at a school than than Jeff Munk in at Army. I definitely have believed that for a very long time. Jeff, I know player safety very important to you. And you know, being at preseason camp, I notice, you know, you're taking safety measures with a great training staff, your team practices and helmets that have that, that layer of padding around it that, that you don't see everyone practicing with.
How important. Is that to you and the [00:09:00] measures that you take to really optimize
[00:09:02] Coach Jeff Monken: player safety? There's nothing more important to us than the safety and the health of our players. We've got a great training staff led by Tim Kelly, who's been here 35 plus years. And, uh, I hate to date him like that, but Tim does a great job and we've got a great staff.
Uh, they are very attentive. They know our players. They, they treat 'em every day. When they come into the, the training room, they, they know every injury and they're, they're keeping a. [00:09:30] A very wary eye out for guys that are injured and monitoring their health as they go through practice, illness, injury, mental health, all of it.
Just, that's the most important thing that we can do for our players is to make sure that they're healthy and and are safe just in terms of the way we practice and the equipment that we provide for our guys. That's just another measure of our care for them. And it's important to me that [00:10:00] we give our guys the best equipment, that we have a great equipment staff that can fit them properly.
And they too. Tommy Cancell, who's, who's our, our head equipment manager, he's always looking for new products and things that we can provide for our players to, to keep 'em safe when they're playing the game. The the guardian caps that we use on our helmets have become, Really more commonplace now than they have over the, the past few years.
Even [00:10:30] though it's a piece of equipment that's been available, there's, for whatever reason has been a hesitation to use those and they don't completely prevent head injuries. But, uh, we've found that. At times we think they do prevent them, but they also lessen the impact of a head injury. Uh, even when guys do suffer a head injury.
And that's one of the other things, the protocols surrounding head injuries and concussions. We are ultra careful [00:11:00] about that and, and make sure we monitor our guys and, and get them back to where they're completely healthy before there's a return to play And. That's important to, to me, it's important to, uh, the parents of our players, the families of our players and, and our training staff.
They pay very close attention to that. And we've, we've got, uh, monitoring systems, which are. Most people that follow college football may not have any idea, but many of the colleges in including us, [00:11:30] have had the opportunities to have equipment where inside the helmet there are sensors. And so when an athlete takes a blow to the head or the neck or hits the ground, that there's a a system that monitors the force.
That happens with that impact. And so we're able to then go check on that player if we see something that, that the numbers are something maybe we're uncomfortable with in terms of the speed or the g-force of a [00:12:00] hit, which you don't think about maybe in a, in a sport. But our trainers can go immediately to that athlete check to see if they're okay.
And so the technology that's come into this game in the last. Several years that probably, uh, you know, 10 to 15 years ago they started with that system. It's been really, really beneficial for us, and I know for a lot of schools, so hopefully we're, we're doing a good job of doing the things we can control to keep our guys safe and [00:12:30] that hydration and water and nutrition, that all plays into that as well.
And we try to do our very best to equip our guys with the, with the gear that they need. The personnel to take care of them and then give them the food and the nutrition that that's gonna help them be at their peak physical condition.
[00:12:50] Rich Demarco: Jeff, the amount of care that you have for your players is evident that you talked about whether it's a physical, a mental, emotional safety.
[00:13:00] I think one, a position that's really grown in the last several years on your staff has been director of player development. I don't know. We've talked about that from time to time. Could you take me through the genesis of that position, what you're looking for when hiring, because you've had several players, many former players in that spot, several people, many former players in that spot.
And
[00:13:22] Coach Jeff Monken: what you
[00:13:23] Rich Demarco: really look to accomplish by having a
[00:13:25] Coach Jeff Monken: director of player development, We haven't always had that position. It's something we, [00:13:30] we've been able to create. And now, uh, with the cooperation of the army, we get one of our former players who's a rank of captain to come back and to serve our team in a leadership position like that.
It's not only great for our team, but it think it's a tremendous experience for that officer to be able to do that. I really value having a former player, especially here, somebody that's been through. This program graduated from West Point, had to go through Beast Barracks, has [00:14:00] experienced all of the emotional rollercoasters that go along with, with coming to West Point and going through that plebe year and going through affirmation and, and then serving in the Army and bringing that experience back.
It's great for our players and they support 'em in all different ways. The the freshmen, the Plebes, and what they go through in their first year. It's so valuable to have somebody that's experienced that be able to talk them through that. But then all the way up to our seniors who are now [00:14:30] trying to figure out what branch they'd like to serve in and, and where they might like to serve as they choose branch night, post night.
And to have someone with some experience to be able to, to share with them is, is valuable. But also just having somebody for those guys to lean on. That's been through the same things that they have, have worn those shoes and they don't. The Director of Player Development, who right now is Captain Luke Pru, played safety for us.
My first two years [00:15:00] here, just replaced John Voight, who was a team captain, and they've both done a tremendous job. But to have a guy that. Doesn't decide if they're gonna start on offense or defense or play on the kickoff team or be on the travel squad. There's no judgment there. They can just go and and get that support.
It's invaluable, and Luke does so many things for us. Just the monitors, our academics helps prepare our guys for the things academically that are coming up throughout the [00:15:30] year. Travel, there's just. So many things that he does and anything really that touches our players, he's directly involved in that and helps him through that.
A
[00:15:41] Rich Demarco: lot of big news surrounding college football, at least in recent weeks, has been conference realignment and the landscape of college football set to take a dramatic change. One thing that stayed consistent here at Army is being an independent conference realignment [00:16:00] has at least an indirect effect on army football, Jeff, so how.
Has army football been affected by everything that's gone on and is planning to go on here in 20 24, 20 25?
[00:16:13] Coach Jeff Monken: Conference realignment is not done. I'm, I'm certain that there's gonna be a continuous evolution of these major conferences and major, major college football for us right now. It hasn't directly affected us, but I know that it will, in terms of scheduling, obviously, as, [00:16:30] as conferences start to change and grow.
Are teams that we're gonna have on our schedule in future seasons, that likely we'll have to push games out to, uh, years in the future or cancel games together. I don't know. There's no way to predict what's gonna happen with college football and, and with conferences. And there may come a day where we'll have to join a conference and that everybody in college football will have to be part of a conference that may be part of [00:17:00] the, the future of college football.
And we'll see where that goes. But for right now, we, we value our independence and the opportunity to be able to. Play teams from all across the country, different conferences, and it's just a, it's a unique experience for our players and there's very few places in college football that you can have an experience like this where you play different teams every year and play different parts of the country every year.
And I think there's a value to that. And, and we're a national team [00:17:30] in our program, within our program, our, our roster here in our prep school. We're gonna have 39 different states represented within our program. So we're touching every part of this country. And so as America's team, we value being able to play a schedule that takes us all across America.
[00:17:49] Rich Demarco: Now let's talk about that 2023 schedule. When you look at it to begin on the road at Louisiana Monroe, coming up on September 2nd, the Power Five, at least right now, [00:18:00] conferences represented with three opponents from the Power five on your 2023 schedule. Actually those three opponents occurring in a four game period Also.
Conference, stalwarts, U T S A, joining the American Athletic Conference. Troy, you had a tight game with last year on the road, and of course the Service Academy rivals Air Force and Navy. What are your thoughts on this 2023
[00:18:23] Coach Jeff Monken: slate? Well, we got enough challenges just, uh, trying to make sure Army doesn't beat Army, and that's what we're [00:18:30] trying to focus on, is doing the things that we can control to play the best that we can.
And obviously there are some challenging teams that are gonna square off against us. Starting with Louisiana Monroe. That's, that's a tough place to, to go and play. And they play really well at home. And look at the game a year ago, they had us down at halftime, I think, I believe it was 1714 at halftime.
They're an athletic, well-coached team. And, uh, we were fortunate to, to come out on top and win the game in the second [00:19:00] half last year, but that's a tough game to start the season, to travel down to Louisiana and, and play down there. And you mentioned the three power fives. We've got three conference champions.
The two academies which are always. Complete slug fests. And so it's a challenging schedule, but I still say the most difficult opponent we got is, is army. We've got to make sure that we prepare our team, that our players practice and and prepare themselves [00:19:30] so that we don't make the costly mistakes, whether it be an assignment, mistake, or fundamental error.
That costs us the opportunity to win a game. And that's enough of a challenge in itself is, is being able to handle those things, but then squaring off against teams that are very athletic and have been very successful. It's a tough schedule and I, one of the coaches sent me a, I think it was a ranking one through a hundred and however many teams there are now most difficult [00:20:00] schedules.
And I believe, uh, one of the publications said it was the 24th most difficult schedule and. It was the most difficult group of five schedule. So for what that's worth it. It's hard every year. It's hard to win a college football game, but it doesn't matter who you play. It's hard to win a college football game.
And we've got a particularly challenging schedule this year. And. But it's, it's a great opportunity. With the challenge comes opportunity. I know our guys are excited about it. I am too. And what we're focusing on right now is to try to get [00:20:30] our team prepared to play our very best and uh, and then as we approach game week and getting prepared for U L M I.
Knowing what a challenge it's gonna be to, to go down there and win a game. Army fans,
[00:20:41] Rich Demarco: always excited about the Surface Academy. Matchups, of course, against Air Force and Navy and the matchups against those top of the top tier teams in the Power five. Who could forget the games on the road at Oklahoma and Michigan this year.
A road game, October 21st at L SS U. And Jeff, [00:21:00] not to break it down, but just in general, what kind of opportunity? Does that provide your team from the experience to the talent level, to the brand name, to be able to take what's Army America's team on the road into one of the most well-known college football
[00:21:17] Coach Jeff Monken: programs in the country?
I think our guys certainly, and players that love football, you know, they've dreamed of playing at the highest level their whole life. Those are guys that love football [00:21:30] and for everybody that. Kind of has grown up like that, thinking the first time they put the pads on, they had this vision for themselves to play in a stadium like L S U.
They're excited about it. Our players are, and I'm excited about taking our team down there. It's gonna be a tremendous challenge. And you mentioned some of the other teams and the places we've played. We didn't beat Oklahoma and we didn't beat Michigan and we came close, but. It still [00:22:00] counts the same. And so our challenge is not just taking our team down there and, and letting them experience playing at L S U and playing a a top five team, and, but it's to try to get our team prepared to win.
And that, that's the goal every time we play and just playing at L S U and playing a team of that caliber. It wouldn't matter if we played 'em here. They are super talented, very well [00:22:30] coached, and one of the best teams in the country. So it would be a challenge no matter where we play, but that's part of the excitement and I know our guys are, they will be looking forward to that opportunity.
Right now we got, we got other fish to fry and it'll be as tough for us to go down to. Louisiana Monroe and win there as it is going to L ss u or Syracuse or wherever. I mean, it's hard to win a college football game and we know that our guys are gonna have to play their very [00:23:00] best if we're gonna have a chance to win any of our games.
And, uh, certainly that we'll have to be top, top-notch caliber team when we go down to L S U to have a chance to beat them. Of course,
[00:23:10] Rich Demarco: Jeff, your regular season ends on December 9th, the biggest game of the year, the Army-Navy game presented by U S A A on a standalone day, and really has always been and has finally over the last 10, 15 years been recognized by having it on its own day, how special it is in the framework of [00:23:30] college football.
This year, for the first time, Foxborough, Massachusetts will be the host. How excited are you to be in. City that's gonna experience Army, Navy for the first time,
[00:23:42] Coach Jeff Monken: it's gonna be a lot of fun to, to take our team up there. Uh, it's one of the neat things about this game that it doesn't matter where it's played.
There's always an incredible draw to this game and. What a fan base the New England Patriots have up there. They're loyal football fans and [00:24:00] I'm certain they're gonna be excited to see a game like this. The Army Navy game come to their town and I anticipate it's gonna be a great crowd, as it always is, and it'll be a a tremendous atmosphere and.
It'll be neat to take our team to Foxborough. It's a place I've never been and an Army's never played, so it's a great opportunity and we'll be excited about that. It's a long time coming, but, or, or until we get to that game, it's a long time, but certainly it's, it's one that we always [00:24:30] kind of have our sights set on.
365 days a year. Jeff, I know
[00:24:34] Rich Demarco: we mentioned heading into year number 10. You mentioned here on the podcast, you're just getting started. I'm gonna put you on the spot here though. Because I've asked you about this several times, whether we're on the air or off the air. Do you think about your legacy here at West Point?
Man, I could throw a lot of numbers at you. A lot of statistics, a lot of what's been done that hasn't been done either ever or in a very long time. You think about the legacy
[00:24:59] Coach Jeff Monken: I got, no [00:25:00] legacy. This academy, it's way bigger than any individual that will ever work here. Coach here, teach here, go to school here.
This Academy, west Point. That's the legacy. We all play our part, and we all contribute to the legacy of this academy. And I hope our nation is here for eternity. This is the greatest country in the world and we have the nation's Premier Service academy and a [00:25:30] national treasure here. And this place I hope, will be in existence as long as our country.
Is a nation. And so that's a long time, I hope. And so all of us that come through here and do our part to help West Point be the place that it is and to produce the people that it does, it's just an honor in itself to be a part of this, this great academy, Jeff, we have a lot of
[00:25:56] Rich Demarco: loyal listeners, of course graduates of West Point, part of the [00:26:00] long gray line.
I know that you'll meet them at games in your, in your everyday job, hear from them via email, via the phone. What message do you have for the loyal graduates who will be listening here
[00:26:14] Coach Jeff Monken: to this podcast? Just how incredibly proud we are as a program to represent the long gray line, the United States Military Academy at West Point and the US Army.
It is with tremendous pride that we put those uniforms on every Saturday [00:26:30] and our guys go out there and fight as hard as they can to win. And that's a representation of the army 'cause winning matters. And so I. Our guys go out there and give their very best with those same colors that they're gonna wear.
And you can be certain that the pride of the army and the pride of West Point and the long gray line are, are living in the hearts of those guys every time they play. Well, Jeff,
[00:26:54] Rich Demarco: thank you for the time. It's always great catching up with you and to be able to talk about the team this season for the West Point graduates. It's been special here on the podcast with you.
[00:27:06] Coach Jeff Monken: I’m glad to be here. Beat ULM, beat Navy.
[00:27:08] Rich Demarco: He's Jeff Monkin. I'm Rich DeMarco. Thanks so much for listening.
[00:27:14] Narrator: This has been a production of the WPAOG Broadcast Network. Please take a moment to rate and review the show and join us each week for a new episode. Thank you for listening.