January 22, 2025 • 11 mins
Army Black Knights head coach Jeff Monken joins The A-Team from the Bear Bryant Awards at the Post Oak Hotel. He talks about what it's like to coach at one of the US service academies. He also slides in a subtle shot at the other "America's Team."
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Pleasure to be joined by Army head coach Jeff Monkin. Jeff,
we were talking with you a little bit before we
got started, a little bit about the weather, a little
bit about this unbelievable hotel, small talk and everything that
goes along with some of the things that happened during
an off season. But I feel like that word doesn't
exist anymore in college football. The off season. It doesn't
(00:22):
really feel like you certainly can't turn it off if
you're a head coach, because there has to be something
to do recruiting, nil, transfer, portal, everything, coaching staffs. That
has to be an accurate statement.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Right there. Isn't it's it's it's the postseason. It's not
it's not off season. It's the postseason. And then there's
the preseason, and then there's the season, and uh, those
are the seasons.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
You know.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
It's we are always trying to prepare our teams and
and and ready our guys for for competition. And that
never stops our strength staff, our coaching staff, the things
that they do throughout the year.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
With our players.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
And now, uh, in today's college football world that the
players are at college or at school almost year round,
they do get a few breaks, but but they're there
all year round, and when they are, we've got to
be there too. So that's great. I love what I
do and and uh, there's not anything else I'd want
to be doing.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Never know where an off season commitment might take you.
When it brings you to Houston, it brings you to Texas,
we know what that means. You already indicated to us
what that means. That means there's players for you to
go look at, go talk to, and handle some recruiting.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
There are and uh, we've we've we've got guys from
thirty nine different states on our roster.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Uh. That's why we call ourselves America's team.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
We feel like there's another team down here borrowing that
that moniker from us.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
But uh, we got guys.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
From everywhere, but our most well represented state is the
state of Texas. And uh, and there's a lot of
great football down here. Uh, players that that love the
game and uh and and young men and women that
are very patriotic and and are excited about the optornity
to serve their country and come to West Point. So
this is a pretty pretty fertile ground for us in
(02:06):
terms of recruiting.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
We were sitting here about this time last year on
the air with Eli Drinkwitz when we found out that
Nick Saban was like, I'm out, I'm done. And the
first reaction that he had to that was that the
way the game is going right now is what drove
the greatest head coach in college football history out of
the game. You just got done saying you like the
way things are going. Do you first of all agree
(02:28):
with that opinion that's what drove him out? Do you
think it was time and and do you kind of
take that as a challenge the way a lot of
coaches in your position do with the way things are
right now?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (02:38):
I don't know Nick, and I certainly can't speak with
any sort of authority on why he decided to do it.
He's had a great career, and I mean nobody's done
it as well as he has. I did hear him
on an interview just talking about the grind of the game,
and you know, he learned one way to do it.
And you're there early in the morning, and you're there
till late at night, and when you when you've done
(03:00):
it as long as he has, you know, that's just
hard to keep doing it all the time, over and
over again. But the game for us at West Point
hasn't changed a whole lot. The new era that people
are calling college football and college sports with NIL and
transfer portal and revenue sharing, it will indirectly affect us,
(03:24):
but it doesn't directly affect us. We still build our
roster off of high school recruiting. We don't have a
roster replacement mechanism with the transfer portal. A student athlete
from another school can transfer to West Point, but they
start over as a freshman, they go through cadet basic training,
none of their classes transfer, they start over, and they
(03:46):
go through the forty seven months experience. Therefore, we don't
get many transfers and probably not any, but that's okay.
We've built our rosters for one hundred and twenty five
plus years off a high schoolruiting and we continue to
do it that way. Uh, we don't pay players, We're
not permitted to do that. But our guys come there
(04:08):
because they they have a spirit to serve. They they
may not necessarily have have grown up with that or
even going through their high school careers thinking I'm going
to go to a service academy or are going to
the Army, but a coach comes into their high school
or gets in touch with them and says, hey, I'm
gonna give you something to think about.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
It's a world class degree. Uh.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
It's an incredible institution to be a part of because
you're you're around people that teach leadership and train leadership
every day. And the opportunities after graduation, both in the
Army and beyond are unprecedented. And we're one of the
best college football teams in the country right now. So
I think there's a lot of things that that guys
(04:52):
are excited about about.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Exploring it and uh.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
And then you know, we've got enough that say, you know,
I want to join the team. And and that's the
way we recruit, that's the way we we build our roster.
It's the way everybody used to do it. It's not
that way anymore, but uh, but it's the way we
do it. And you know, we've got to welcome change
as coaches. We got to welcome change. We can't fight it.
There's gonna be change. And we've experienced that. We've experienced
(05:18):
that with rule changes, we've experienced that with recruiting changes,
and UH, and this is certainly a time that's that's
really uh, you know, there's never been a time in
college sports like there is right now. But we're gonna
be fine. We're gonna get through it. And uh, you know,
we all love the game. We got into this game
because we love the sport and we want to see
it get better. And I think, you know, as as
(05:40):
everything gets ironed out and we start to get some
guardrails on what we're doing, it is gonna make the
game better.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Talking with Jeff Monkey and the head coach for an
army and you just mentioned very successful season playing good football,
let me ask you a couple of things about that season.
You start out in nine to zero. Tell me about
what it was like. What you think of the team
that just finished their season on Monday night you had
them in that ten T game at Yankee Stadium. Would
you feel about how y'all matched up and what kind
of team Notre Dame had and what it was like
(06:06):
playing at Yankee Stadium.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
We didn't match up at all.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
They outclassed us in every way they were. They're a
complete team. They could run the ball, stop the run,
they didn't give up big plays. And this is throughout
the year, played really solid special teams. They're well coached.
They had a fantastic football team the night we played
them in all year long, and uh, you know they
they squared off against another really good football team in
(06:31):
the National Championship game. But the Marcus has done just
a remarkable job there. He's so well respected in our
profession as a defensive coordinator, and the job that he
did at Cincinnati and then at Notre Dame, and then
to have the opportunity to take over as the head
coach at you know, maybe maybe one of the most
(06:53):
prestigious if they're not, if not the most prestigious, most
historic football program in the country.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
It's not an easy up.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
And he's just he's just done an incredible job. So
I'm really happy for him, and and uh and and
and proud of him and proud of their team and
and uh and as I am for coach Day and
all they went through to persevere and to have the
mental toughness in the fortitude to go all the way
to a championship. So there's some great coaches in this
(07:20):
profession and and in the game right now. And uh,
we're talking about Nick Saban. He's a legend and he
he will be a name that will go down and
infamy with like like the like Bear Bryant.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
We've got the Bear Bryan Awards tonight. Uh, Newton Rockney.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
He's just these these great legendary coaches, Vince Lombardi and
John Wooden and Nick Saban is going to be a
name that people will call for decades to come and uh.
And right now in the game, there's more of those,
there's more legends being made and and it's fun. It's
fun to be a part of college football right now.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
You're at a unique place for a number of reasons, obviously,
and you've already told us some of them. What's what's
to you the most unique part about coaching where you
do and the experience that that can be on game
day and especially one game in particular we all know about,
but you know just what stands out to you? And
do you ever allow yourself to get caught up in
that a little bit there on the sideline.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Oh, there are so many unique things about coaching at
West Point. We probably don't have enough time to go
through them today.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
We can keep you another segment.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
You know, I'm so proud to be a part of
that institution, a part of that program. It you know,
West Point is is it's an American treasure. And the
young men and women that attend that institution right now
are the same young men and women that attended that
institution when when that school began in eighteen o two,
(08:51):
the first engineering school in the country, and and you
know it was it was it was really created because
we were as a country making our expansion west and
we needed engineers to build roads and bridges and canals
and all those things. And and so we started West
Point to send military officers there to learn and to
(09:11):
learn the trade. And uh and so the uh, the
West Point was born. And now uh, you know, two
hundred plus years later, we're still training incredible leaders. Engineers, yes,
but uh, but leaders of character. To to to go
into the army and lead soldiers and defend the freedoms
(09:32):
in our American wale life and to be around young
people like that every day is really incredible. And to
have young men on our team who are committed to
those values of duty, honoring country. Uh, it is different.
There's not there's a sense of responsibility that they have
(09:52):
that goes way beyond football, way beyond their their academic
classes and Uh, like I said, they.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Don't all come there with that.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
That's that's that's developed, and it's grown while they're there
and that and that makes it really really special. It's
a historic program, it's a great school, and all those things.
I mean, there's been some legendary coaches. I mentioned one,
Vince Lombardi and he was an assistant for Red Blake,
Paul Dietzel. I mean, some some incredible great coaches. But
(10:22):
I frankly don't stop and smell the roses. Nobody's got
time for that. I got a job to do. And uh,
you know, perhaps someday when I look back on my career,
I'll appreciate the opportunity that I had and and uh,
you know that just the fact that I was able
to be a part of that program for so long.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
Are you recruiting us right now?
Speaker 3 (10:44):
That place. You're doing a hell of a job.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
That place for its itself, it's it is if every
American should visit West Point. Yeah, it is America's university
and uh, every state is represented. Uh We've got almost
fifty allied countries that that that sends students there.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
It is.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
It is the mecca for leadership on the face of
this planet, the incredible young people that come there, and uh,
it's just it's really really awesome to be around those
those young people and and the people that lead and
serve them, and my family lives there, we live at
West Point, and for my kids to grow up and
be influenced by those young men and women.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
Uh, it's pretty awesome. Wex Let's go run through a
brick walk.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Definitely would would be able to do that. After hearing
from your coach, Really appreciate your time, wish you the
best of luck here and on with your next season.
Been there a long time and done a phenomenal job there.
Great to catch up with you here and again, best
of luck.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
It's my pleasure. Thanks for the opportunity to beat Navy.
Pleasure to be joined by Army head coach Jeff Monkin. Jeff,
we were talking with you a little bit before we
got started, a little bit about the weather, a little
bit about this unbelievable hotel, small talk and everything that
goes along with some of the things that happened during
an off season. But I feel like that word doesn't
exist anymore in college football. The off season. It doesn't
(00:22):
really feel like you certainly can't turn it off if
you're a head coach, because there has to be something
to do recruiting, nil, transfer, portal, everything, coaching staffs. That
has to be an accurate statement.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Right there. Isn't it's it's it's the postseason. It's not
it's not off season. It's the postseason. And then there's
the preseason, and then there's the season, and uh, those
are the seasons.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
You know.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
It's we are always trying to prepare our teams and
and and ready our guys for for competition. And that
never stops our strength staff, our coaching staff, the things
that they do throughout the year.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
With our players.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
And now, uh, in today's college football world that the
players are at college or at school almost year round,
they do get a few breaks, but but they're there
all year round, and when they are, we've got to
be there too. So that's great. I love what I
do and and uh, there's not anything else I'd want
to be doing.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Never know where an off season commitment might take you.
When it brings you to Houston, it brings you to Texas,
we know what that means. You already indicated to us
what that means. That means there's players for you to
go look at, go talk to, and handle some recruiting.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
There are and uh, we've we've we've got guys from
thirty nine different states on our roster.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Uh. That's why we call ourselves America's team.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
We feel like there's another team down here borrowing that
that moniker from us.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
But uh, we got guys.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
From everywhere, but our most well represented state is the
state of Texas. And uh, and there's a lot of
great football down here. Uh, players that that love the
game and uh and and young men and women that
are very patriotic and and are excited about the optornity
to serve their country and come to West Point. So
this is a pretty pretty fertile ground for us in
(02:06):
terms of recruiting.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
We were sitting here about this time last year on
the air with Eli Drinkwitz when we found out that
Nick Saban was like, I'm out, I'm done. And the
first reaction that he had to that was that the
way the game is going right now is what drove
the greatest head coach in college football history out of
the game. You just got done saying you like the
way things are going. Do you first of all agree
(02:28):
with that opinion that's what drove him out? Do you
think it was time and and do you kind of
take that as a challenge the way a lot of
coaches in your position do with the way things are
right now?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (02:38):
I don't know Nick, and I certainly can't speak with
any sort of authority on why he decided to do it.
He's had a great career, and I mean nobody's done
it as well as he has. I did hear him
on an interview just talking about the grind of the game,
and you know, he learned one way to do it.
And you're there early in the morning, and you're there
till late at night, and when you when you've done
(03:00):
it as long as he has, you know, that's just
hard to keep doing it all the time, over and
over again. But the game for us at West Point
hasn't changed a whole lot. The new era that people
are calling college football and college sports with NIL and
transfer portal and revenue sharing, it will indirectly affect us,
(03:24):
but it doesn't directly affect us. We still build our
roster off of high school recruiting. We don't have a
roster replacement mechanism with the transfer portal. A student athlete
from another school can transfer to West Point, but they
start over as a freshman, they go through cadet basic training,
none of their classes transfer, they start over, and they
(03:46):
go through the forty seven months experience. Therefore, we don't
get many transfers and probably not any, but that's okay.
We've built our rosters for one hundred and twenty five
plus years off a high schoolruiting and we continue to
do it that way. Uh, we don't pay players, We're
not permitted to do that. But our guys come there
(04:08):
because they they have a spirit to serve. They they
may not necessarily have have grown up with that or
even going through their high school careers thinking I'm going
to go to a service academy or are going to
the Army, but a coach comes into their high school
or gets in touch with them and says, hey, I'm
gonna give you something to think about.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
It's a world class degree. Uh.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
It's an incredible institution to be a part of because
you're you're around people that teach leadership and train leadership
every day. And the opportunities after graduation, both in the
Army and beyond are unprecedented. And we're one of the
best college football teams in the country right now. So
I think there's a lot of things that that guys
(04:52):
are excited about about.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Exploring it and uh.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
And then you know, we've got enough that say, you know,
I want to join the team. And and that's the
way we recruit, that's the way we we build our roster.
It's the way everybody used to do it. It's not
that way anymore, but uh, but it's the way we
do it. And you know, we've got to welcome change
as coaches. We got to welcome change. We can't fight it.
There's gonna be change. And we've experienced that. We've experienced
(05:18):
that with rule changes, we've experienced that with recruiting changes,
and UH, and this is certainly a time that's that's
really uh, you know, there's never been a time in
college sports like there is right now. But we're gonna
be fine. We're gonna get through it. And uh, you know,
we all love the game. We got into this game
because we love the sport and we want to see
it get better. And I think, you know, as as
(05:40):
everything gets ironed out and we start to get some
guardrails on what we're doing, it is gonna make the
game better.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Talking with Jeff Monkey and the head coach for an
army and you just mentioned very successful season playing good football,
let me ask you a couple of things about that season.
You start out in nine to zero. Tell me about
what it was like. What you think of the team
that just finished their season on Monday night you had
them in that ten T game at Yankee Stadium. Would
you feel about how y'all matched up and what kind
of team Notre Dame had and what it was like
(06:06):
playing at Yankee Stadium.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
We didn't match up at all.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
They outclassed us in every way they were. They're a
complete team. They could run the ball, stop the run,
they didn't give up big plays. And this is throughout
the year, played really solid special teams. They're well coached.
They had a fantastic football team the night we played
them in all year long, and uh, you know they
they squared off against another really good football team in
(06:31):
the National Championship game. But the Marcus has done just
a remarkable job there. He's so well respected in our
profession as a defensive coordinator, and the job that he
did at Cincinnati and then at Notre Dame, and then
to have the opportunity to take over as the head
coach at you know, maybe maybe one of the most
(06:53):
prestigious if they're not, if not the most prestigious, most
historic football program in the country.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
It's not an easy up.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
And he's just he's just done an incredible job. So
I'm really happy for him, and and uh and and
and proud of him and proud of their team and
and uh and as I am for coach Day and
all they went through to persevere and to have the
mental toughness in the fortitude to go all the way
to a championship. So there's some great coaches in this
(07:20):
profession and and in the game right now. And uh,
we're talking about Nick Saban. He's a legend and he
he will be a name that will go down and
infamy with like like the like Bear Bryant.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
We've got the Bear Bryan Awards tonight. Uh, Newton Rockney.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
He's just these these great legendary coaches, Vince Lombardi and
John Wooden and Nick Saban is going to be a
name that people will call for decades to come and uh.
And right now in the game, there's more of those,
there's more legends being made and and it's fun. It's
fun to be a part of college football right now.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
You're at a unique place for a number of reasons, obviously,
and you've already told us some of them. What's what's
to you the most unique part about coaching where you
do and the experience that that can be on game
day and especially one game in particular we all know about,
but you know just what stands out to you? And
do you ever allow yourself to get caught up in
that a little bit there on the sideline.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Oh, there are so many unique things about coaching at
West Point. We probably don't have enough time to go
through them today.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
We can keep you another segment.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
You know, I'm so proud to be a part of
that institution, a part of that program. It you know,
West Point is is it's an American treasure. And the
young men and women that attend that institution right now
are the same young men and women that attended that
institution when when that school began in eighteen o two,
(08:51):
the first engineering school in the country, and and you
know it was it was it was really created because
we were as a country making our expansion west and
we needed engineers to build roads and bridges and canals
and all those things. And and so we started West
Point to send military officers there to learn and to
(09:11):
learn the trade. And uh and so the uh, the
West Point was born. And now uh, you know, two
hundred plus years later, we're still training incredible leaders. Engineers, yes,
but uh, but leaders of character. To to to go
into the army and lead soldiers and defend the freedoms
(09:32):
in our American wale life and to be around young
people like that every day is really incredible. And to
have young men on our team who are committed to
those values of duty, honoring country. Uh, it is different.
There's not there's a sense of responsibility that they have
(09:52):
that goes way beyond football, way beyond their their academic
classes and Uh, like I said, they.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Don't all come there with that.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
That's that's that's developed, and it's grown while they're there
and that and that makes it really really special. It's
a historic program, it's a great school, and all those things.
I mean, there's been some legendary coaches. I mentioned one,
Vince Lombardi and he was an assistant for Red Blake,
Paul Dietzel. I mean, some some incredible great coaches. But
(10:22):
I frankly don't stop and smell the roses. Nobody's got
time for that. I got a job to do. And uh,
you know, perhaps someday when I look back on my career,
I'll appreciate the opportunity that I had and and uh,
you know that just the fact that I was able
to be a part of that program for so long.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
Are you recruiting us right now?
Speaker 3 (10:44):
That place. You're doing a hell of a job.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
That place for its itself, it's it is if every
American should visit West Point. Yeah, it is America's university
and uh, every state is represented. Uh We've got almost
fifty allied countries that that that sends students there.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
It is.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
It is the mecca for leadership on the face of
this planet, the incredible young people that come there, and uh,
it's just it's really really awesome to be around those
those young people and and the people that lead and
serve them, and my family lives there, we live at
West Point, and for my kids to grow up and
be influenced by those young men and women.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
Uh, it's pretty awesome. Wex Let's go run through a
brick walk.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Definitely would would be able to do that. After hearing
from your coach, Really appreciate your time, wish you the
best of luck here and on with your next season.
Been there a long time and done a phenomenal job there.
Great to catch up with you here and again, best
of luck.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
It's my pleasure. Thanks for the opportunity to beat Navy.
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