Former Army Football Coach Getting Compared To Current Alabama Head Man

A former Army West Point Black Knights has drawn an eye-opening comparison.

Kenneth Teape | Feb 17, 2025

Army West Point's offensive line coach Matt Drinkall during practice on March 1, 2024. / Patrick Oehler/Poughkeepsie Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

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Army West Point Black Knights

The Army West Point Black Knights had the most successful college football season in program history in 2024.

They won 12 games, the most in a single campaign ever, reaching the double-digit mark for only the fourth time and the first since 2018.

Three of the four instances of 10-plus wins have been accomplished by head coach Jeff Monken, who has built a culture of consistency and winning since taking over the program in 2014.

In 11 years, he has compiled a record of 82-57, victorious in five out of the six bowl games the team has participated in as well.

The Black Knights have finished with a record below the .500 mark only three times. He has made things work and found success despite facing challenges other coaches around the country don’t deal with.

In the team’s first year as a member of the American Athletic Conference, they ran through their schedule, going undefeated. With an 8-0 record, they got to host the championship game at Michie Stadium and destroyed the Tulane Green Wave, 35-14, to take home the title.

Replicating that level of success in 2025 will be difficult since their star quarterback, Bryson Daily, has graduated. Their second-most impactful offensive weapon, running back Kanye Udoh, opted to transfer, landing with the Arizona State Sun Devils.

Another obstacle the team will have to overcome is some major losses on the coaching staff, headlined by the departure of Matt Drinkall.

The Army offensive line coach accepted the head coaching job with the Central Michigan Chippewas, creating a major void on Monken’s staff.

It was a move that Stewart Mandel of The Athletic viewed highly, giving the signing a “B” grade in a recent article highlighting all of the head coaching moves made in college football this offseason.

“The former Iowa receiver has some Kalen DeBoer parallels, going 42-17 as an NAIA coach at Kansas Wesleyan from 2014-18. More recently he spent six seasons absorbing Jeff Monken’s winning culture at Army,” Mandel wrote.

A lot of the team’s success this past season was because of how dominant they were on the ground.

The Black Knights averaged 300.5 yards per game on the ground, mauling their opponents in the trenches with regularity. Drinkall was the architect of that offensive line group and he will be missed.

That group won the Joe Moore Award as the best offensive line unit in college football as the same five players, Connor Finucane at left tackle, Bill Katsigiannis at left guard, Brady Small at center, Paolo Gennarelli at right guard and Lucas Scott at right tackle, started all 14 games.

Drinkall had a major hand in their success and Army will have its work cut out for it replacing him in 2025.

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