Three weeks ago, Todd Monken supposedly was a candidate for the Purdue head coaching job. Last year, Brian Kelly wanted him to be his offensive coordinator at LSU. NFL teams, we’re told, are constantly peppering his agent with inquiries.
Georgia’s offensive coordinator is a wanted man. Fortunately for the Bulldogs, Monken is wont for nothing at the moment. He’s having a good ol’ time calling plays for the nation’s No. 1-ranked team.
“I would never say never to anything. I would never say no to anything, but I love where I’m at because I believe we’re going to win, and I believe in the head coach,” Monken said at a Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl news conference Wednesday morning. “So, those are all huge factors in where you decide to stay as a coach. Winning’s important, having good players is important, and I get to run the offense. I mean, there’s a lot of positives.”
There certainly are. That’s why at three years in Athens, this ties for the third-longest span of Monken’s coaching career. He was at Eastern Michigan for seven seasons early in his career and with the Jacksonville Jaguars for four. His other 12 stops all were for three seasons or less.
In all, Monken has had 15 coaching jobs since starting his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Grand Valley State in Michigan in 1989. This being his third season at Georgia, many assume that Monken will move on after the season. That, and the fact that the Bulldogs have been rolling since he grabbed the reins of their offense has made him a hot commodity in the coaching ranks.
Accordingly, UGA has done what it can to lock up Monken. In May, he signed a three-year contract extension that made him the highest-paid assistant coach in college football, at $2.1 million a year. The new deal includes a buyout clause in which Monken would have to pay Georgia 20% of his remaining total compensation if he terminated his contract before its completion. However, that is waived if he were to leave to become an NFL coordinator or an FBS head coach.
There reportedly have been overtures regarding other jobs. However, as the No. 1 Bulldogs prepare to face No. 4 Ohio State in a College Football Playoff semifinal Saturday, Monken said he’s not thinking at all about any of that.
“I don’t know. At some point in my career, I thought I knew exactly what I wanted next year, in five years, in 10 years, really what I wanted,” Monken said. “I don’t know if it’s just getting old or the appreciation for the job you have, but I don’t control opportunities that come my way.”
Obviously, nobody at Georgia wants Monken to leave, but it’s well-prepared should that happen at some point. For a long time, offensive analyst Buster Faulkner was thought to be Monken’s heir apparent. Faulkner abandoned an offensive coordinator’s post at Southern Mississippi to work behind the scenes for Monken at Georgia. But Faulkner was hired earlier this month as Georgia Tech’s new offensive coordinator.
Meanwhile, former Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo is waiting in the wings. He accepted an analyst role from his longtime friend Kirby Smart after being dismissed from Auburn last fall. Monken has taken every opportunity he could find to compliment Bobo for the ideas and innovation he has provided behind the scenes this season.
“Anybody who’s been a coordinator, to them there’re probably plenty of times where they’re like: ‘I don’t want to do (expletive) that way; that’s the dumbest (expletive) I’ve ever heard in my life,’” Monken said. “And yet (they) check their ego and do anything I’ve asked them. Mike Bobo has drawn (scout) cards for us; he’s drawn cards like a 22-year-old. But he’s said, ‘I’m going to embrace this role of doing red zone.’ I can’t take everything the guys say as a suggestion, yet, the lack of ego and just wanting to do things has been unbelievable.”
Georgia’s offense has been unbelievable under Monken. And it has morphed with each season. The Bulldogs were somewhat of a pro-style team at first, when the expectation was that JT Daniels was going to be the starting quarterback. For a little while, they were run-heavy. But as Stetson Bennett’s presence became more prominent and Georgia’s tight ends showed their wares, Monken shifted to more of a spread, run-pass option offense.
All the while, he has fulfilled Smart’s most basic charges, which are to be tough and physical and score points. The Bulldogs are averaging 39.2 points per game and, of course, remain undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the nation.
Above all, it’s the winning that is keeping Monken in Athens.
“You have to be careful: The grass isn’t always greener, and money isn’t everything,” Monken said. “Now I value getting paid, don’t get me wrong; I don’t do this for nothing. But the reality is it’s about winning. …
“I’d rather be winning in Alaska than losing in San Diego. This is what it’s about.”
