Army West Point Coach Named Finalist for Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year

Head Coach Jeff Monken was named a finalist for the 2024 Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year award.

Nov 23, 2024; New York, New York, USA; Army Black Knights head coach Jeff Monken watches his players warm up before the first half against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Yankee Stadium. / Danny Wild-Imagn Images

After a regular season that landed the Army Black Knights the top spot in the American Athletic Conference (AAC), Coach Jeff Monken was named a finalist for the 2024 Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award.

Monken is among eight other coaches in the game that have also been named as finalists: Shane Beamer, South Carolina; Curt Cignetti, Indiana; Spencer Danielson, Boise State; Kenny Dillingham, Arizona State; Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame; Dan Lanning, Oregon; Rhett Lashlee, SMU; Kirby Smart, Georgia.

The Eddie Robinson Award will honor regular season performance, as well as conference championship games. Army became the AAC champions after their win over Tulane on Dec. 6. After a hard-earned championship title and an even harder-earned regular season, the Army Black Knights came out of their 2024 season ranked No. 22 in all of college football.

This, along with the entirety of their regular season will put Monken in an excellent position to win Coach of the Year.

This year's finalist title is Monken's third finalist designation, with the most recent being in 2018. The only Army coach to win the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year award was back in 1966, when Tom Cahill led the Black Knights on the field.

The Eddie Robinson Award is a member of the Naitonal College Football Awards Association, and has honored more than 900 coaches since 1935. The award was named after the late Eddie Robinson in 1997 after 55 seasons with Grambling State University. The Eddie Robinson family is still heavily involved in the nomination process; looking for the coaches that exemplify everything that Robinson stood for.

"The FWAA and the Eddie Robinson family believe this is an outstanding group of finalists with a mixture of conference champions and inspiring breakthrough seasons for some teams,” said Eddie Robinson III, Coach Robinson’s grandson. “The outstanding coaching jobs done by several rising coaches gives us as much depth to this field as we have ever had. The FWAA membership will have an interesting time picking a winner."

The award winner will be announced on Dec. 18, but will not be presented until Jan. 18, 2025 at a reception in Atlanta. Until then, the finalists will continue on with their postseason.

Monken and the Black Knights will be facing off against the Navy Midshipmen on Saturday, Dec. 14 for their 125th annual showdown. Army will look to put a mark in the win column against the Navy. The Midshipmen currently control the lead in the all-time record, so Army needs a break out game to start their momentum.