What Did Army’s Jeff Monken Say About Other Jobs Like WVU?

As West Virginia’s search for its next head coach continues to linger on, Army’s Jeff Monken started gaining traction as a top candidate. So with Monken now in play, it makes sense to go back and look at what he had to say when asked about possibly leaving the Black Knights for WVU or any other opportunity earlier in the week.

“It comes with the territory,” said Monken during his Monday press conference ahead of Army’s annual matchup with Navy.

“I’ve been here 11 years and this isn’t the first go-round, it isn’t the first time my name’s popped up, That’s what happens when coaches are successful. They probably aren’t mentioning any other names of coaches for these positions that are on losing teams right now. So it’s just the way it is,” he added.

So Monken didn’t confirm or deny anything, but did acknowledge the situation.

Learning about Jeff Monken:

Currently, Monken, 57, has Army (11-1, 8-0) preparing for their annual matchup with Navy and poised to face Marshall in the Independence Bowl. Monken led the Black Knights to the American Athletic Conference title with a 35-14 win over Tulane on Friday night.

Army is ranked No. 19 by the Associated Press.

Putting together a season like 2024 at a program like Army is an incredible accomplishment in and of itself. Monken’s peers are not dealing with the obstacles and circumstances he is at a military academy and he’s the one with the better program right now.

And 2024 is not his only successful season at Army. Prior to back-to-back 6-6 seasons in 2022 and 2023, Monken won nine games in both 2020 and 2021. WVU fans will even remember the Mountaineers played Army in the 2020 Liberty Bowl – West Virginia won 24-21.

Overall, Monken is 81-56 at Army. Before Army, Monken coached at Georgia Southern, going 38-16 and winning one conference title there. Monken owns a 119-72 career record as a head coach and is 4-1 in bowl games, with his only loss being to West Virginia.

He’s also spent time as an assistant at schools like Arizona State (GA), Buffalo, Georgia Tech, Hawaii (GA) and Navy as well as coaching high school football in Illinois.

While Monken may not be the story a return of Rodriguez would be or even as sexy of a name as Kotelnicki, it makes sense WVU director of athletics Wren Baker would be impressed by him. If you can win at Army, you can likely win anywhere.

For a related story, Penn State offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki took his name out of the running for the WVU job.