Jeff Monken: Scheduling Was Major Motivator For Army's Move to the American Athletic Conference

Joe Londergan | Jul 23, 2024

Nov 11, 2023; West Point, New York, USA; Army Black Knights head coach Jeff Monken speaks with officials during the second half against the Holy Cross Crusaders at Michie Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Danny Wild-USA TODAY Sports / Danny Wild-USA TODAY Sports

2024 marks Army football's first season as a member of the American Athletic Conference. It's a move that not all West Point fans were particularly excited about. However, in the eyes of Black Knights' head coach Jeff Monken and the rest of the academy's leadership, it's a move that was completely necessary.

As Monken pointed out during Tuesday's portion of AAC Media Days, as an independent, finding FBS opponents who actually had open weeks on the schedule was becoming increasingly difficult. Joining the AAC helps alleviate that significantly.

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"Scheduling has become a real challenge and a lot of that is driven because of the changes in college football, the realignments of the major conferences, and as those teams are changing conferences, their schedules have to change and there's a huge trickle down effect," Monken said. "Whether it's those teams that are sending us a letter saying we need to get out of this game because we're changing conferences, or other teams that say we had a schedule change because of another opponent, we have to cancel our game or change our game. It just became very challenging to put a schedule together."

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Monken also noted that having a pathway to the College Football Playoff, albeit a long shot, was a major motivator, as it helps the Black Knights secure players hoping to compete for the sport's biggest prizes.

"I think it's important that if we're going to compete at the FBS level, that there is a pathway to the playoff. I'm not delusional...It will be tremendously challenging for us to win a game in this league, but to not be able to say we've got a pathway, particularly in recruiting, it just felt like we needed to be in the position to do that."

Finally, Monken noted that while Army's previous attempts at joing a conference did not go well, the 2024 version of the AAC seems like a much-needed fit for Army football. Army was previously a member of Conference USA from 1998-2024

"I just don't know that it was a great match at the time for Army," Monken said of that period, which ended ten years before he became the program's coach. "It was not a successful venture for West Point. I think because of that, there's been a lot of hesitation and a lot of doubt about joining the league. But I just felt personally, and as I talk to Mike [Buddie] and General Gill that this was the right time for us to make this move."

Army are set to open the season on Friday, August 30 when they host Lehigh.