Army Black Knights Coach Jeff Monken Talks Job Rumors Before Army-Navy Game

Army West Point Black Knights head coach Jeff Monken has been down this road before when it comes to job openings at other schools.

Dec 6, 2024; West Point, NY, USA; Army Black Knights head coach Jeff Monken watches his team warm up before the first half against the Tulane Green Wave at Michie Stadium. / Danny Wild-Imagn Images

It’s December, it’s Army-Navy week and there are job openings all over college football.

That means Army West Point Black Knights head coach Jeff Monken is linked to jobs other than the one he currently holds.

North Carolina and West Virginia are both looking for head coaches and in some way Monken’s name has come up in connection, either in well-sourced reporting or those wonderful college football message boards.

That’s the life of a successful coach that isn’t coaching at one of the country’s blue blood programs. Everyone things you’re looking for something better.

To Monken, it means he’s doing something right.

"It comes with the territory,'' Monken said during his Monday press conference to talk about Saturday’s game. "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.''

Monken didn’t confirm or deny anything. He just acknowledged the truth of the matter.

The newly-minted American Athletic Conference coach of the year just led the Black Knights (11-1) to a program first, as they beat Tulane to win the league title. Before this year, the Army was largely an independent program, not including a seven-year stint in Conference USA that was unsuccessful.

This is just the second 11-win season in school history, with the other coming in 2018. Both 11-wins seasons have come under Monken.

Army now has four 10-win seasons in program history (1996, 2017, 2018, and 2024), three of the four coming under Monken.

He’s 81-56 at Army since he arrived in 2014. Before that he was the head coach at Georgia Southern, where in four years he went 38-16. Overall, he is 119-72.

He’s worked primarily in the triple-option offense, or some version of it. He was a Navy assistant under Paul Johnson and followed him to Georgia Tech.

Is that an impediment to a high-major job? Perhaps. But if someone truly wants to hire Monken, they’ll have to pay up. He’s reportedly being paid $2 million a year through 2027.