ATHENS — Credit Joani Crean – or blame – for the Baltimore Ravens targeting Todd Monken as their new offensive coordinator.
Coach John Harbaugh revealed Tuesday that it was the wife of former Georgia basketball coach Tom Crean who first told him that he needed to talk to Monken about the Ravens’ coaching vacancy. Joani is Harbaugh’s sister.
“Joani just tells me, ‘You’ve got to talk to Todd Monken,’” Harbaugh said Tuesday in Baltimore. “‘He’s amazing; his wife’s amazing; he’s a great coach. We’ve seen what he’s done here at Georgia.’”
Monken’s introductory news conference was held Tuesday in Baltimore. After three years in Athens as Georgia’s offensive coordinator, Monken accepted the Ravens’ offer Feb. 14 to do the same job for them.
Monken had come from the NFL to UGA, where he helped the Bulldogs win back-to-back national championships the last two years.
With the Ravens, Monken will take over a middle-of-the-league offense that, at the moment, is not certain whether Lamar Jackson will return as its quarterback. But Monken admitted he was intent on returning to the NFL.
Monken also interviewed for a coordinator opening with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, for whom he’d worked before. At $2.1 million a year, he was the highest-paid assistant coach in college football and certainly would have received another raise had he chosen to stay.
“Irrespective of who was on the roster, it was something that I really wanted to do and that I’ve always wanted to do,” Monken said of his decision to leave Georgia. “That doesn’t mean I’m not grateful for Kirby Smart and the coaches I worked with there. I get way too much credit for our success.”
With the Bulldogs, Monken took over an offense that averaged 30.8 points and 408.1 yards per game the year before his arrival. They averaged 41.1 points and 501.1 yards during last year’s 15-0 season.
Offensive analyst Mike Bobo, a former Georgia quarterback and career offensive coordinator, is succeeding Monken in Athens.
Monken said the Bulldogs will be fine.
“Part of the reason I went to Georgia, one of the main reasons, was because of culture,” he said. “Great head coach, winning, really good on defense. Obviously, trying to find a way to do it better on offense. … I came in there and the culture was already set, the players were already recruited, the staff we put together was tremendous in terms of our success. But this is what was next.”
