Four years into his tenure, Army head coach Jeff Monken has done a terrific job in turning around the program and getting the Black Knights back to being an extremely competitive team. That’s why it’s not too surprising to see West Point and Monken announce Thursday that the coach has agreed to a new multi-year contract extension that will keep him in black and gold for the foreseeable future.
“I want to thank West Point Superintendent Lt. Gen. Robert Caslen, Army West Point Director of Athletics Boo Corrigan and the entire West Point community for their confidence and trust in me to be Army’s head football coach,” Monken said in a statement. “My family and I are humbled and honored to be associated with the world’s premiere leadership institution and I am especially proud to have the privilege of coaching the outstanding young men that make up the Army West Point Football Brotherhood at the United States Military Academy.”
Monken is just 16-23 at the academy but a closer inspection shows just how far he’s brought the team from one of the worst in the FBS to one of the more competitive ones out there. For example, in 2016 he guided Army to their first win over Navy in 15 years, won a bowl game for the first time in six seasons and recorded the most wins with the program in two decades. They’ve won five straight games going into Saturday’s contest at Ohio State and look to be well on their way to another bowl game when all is said and done in 2017.
Monken does run the triple option so it would take a unique program to lure him away from West Point, but he could be an interesting name to pop up in the annual coaching carousel after the season concludes. After Thursday’s extension though, that just got a lot harder as it looks like the coach is set to remain with the Black Knights for years to come.