Jeff Monken

Jeffrey Michael Monken (born April 15, 1967) is the head coach of the Army Black Knights football team. He was formerly the head coach of the Georgia Southern Eagles football team. He previously served under Paul Johnson as a running backs coach and special teams coordinator at Georgia Southern, Navy and Georgia Tech.

Assistant coaching career

After graduating from Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois in 1989, Monken took his first coaching position as a graduate assistant at Hawaii. It was during his tenure at Hawaii he first worked under Paul Johnson, who was the Rainbows' offensive coordinator at the time. From Hawaii, Monken coached for one season at Arizona State and three at Buffalo.

He was hired as a head coach for the first time at J. Sterling Morton High School for the 1995 season. From Morton, Monken spent one season at Concordia before being hired by Johnson as a running backs coach at Georgia Southern in 1997.

He continued to coach under Johnson at Georgia Southern (1997–2001), at Navy (2002–2007) and at Georgia Tech (2008–2009) before taking the head coaching position at Georgia Southern.

Head coaching career

In November 2009, Monken was hired to succeed Chris Hatcher as the head coach at Georgia Southern. In his first season with the Georgia Southern, Monken led the Eagles to an overall record of 10–5 and to the 2010 FCS Playoffs Semifinals, defeating top-ranked and previously undefeated Appalachian State to begin a streak of six consecutive wins.

In 2011, Monken led the Eagles to an overall record of 11–3, the Southern Conference championship and a second-straight trip to the 2011 FCS Playoffs Semifinals. He was named both the AFCA 2011 FCS Region 2 Coach of the Year and the Southern Conference Coach of the Year.

In 2012, Monken again led the Eagles to a Southern Conference Championship with a 10–4 overall record, a third consecutive FCS Semifinal Game appearance and final No. 3 national ranking. Georgia Southern accepted an invitation to join the Sun Belt Conference in March 2013 and subsequently made the move to FBS. In its first transition year in 2013, the Eagles were not eligible for the NCAA playoffs and ended their FCS history with a 26–20 victory over Florida in the season finale.

On December 30, 2013, Monken was introduced as the 37th head coach of the Army Black Knights football program.

Monken is a cousin of Todd Monken, the offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. A dozen of Monken's family members, including his father, Mike, and brother, Tom, have coached football at the high school, college or pro level. Monken was inducted into the Millikin Athletics Hall of Fame in October 2013.