ATHENS — Well, it was fun while it lasted.
Todd Monken, Georgia’s offensive coordinator for the last three years – including back-to-back national championships – has accepted a job as offensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens made the announcement Tuesday morning.
Within a half-hour of the Ravens’ announcement, Georgia coach Kirby Smart released that he promoted friend and former teammate Mike Bobo as Monken’s successor.
“I am excited to name Mike Bobo our next offensive coordinator,” Smart said. “Mike has a decade of experience as a successful SEC play-caller and over 20 years spent at UGA, both as a player and coach. Mike was an excellent addition to our staff last year as an analyst and we are looking forward to his expanded leadership on the offensive side of the ball.”
Monken was the highest-paid assistant coach in college football after signing a three-year contract that paid him $2.1 million last year. However, his agreement stipulated that he could leave for an NFL job without paying UGA for liquidated damages.
Monken finishes a three-year stint that saw the Bulldogs win back-to-back national championships thanks to an offense that scored 38.6 points per game in 2021 and one that averaged 41.1 this past season.
“We are extremely thankful and appreciative of the three years Todd and his wife, Terri, have spent with our UGA family,” Smart said. “We wish them the best as he moves on to the Ravens organization.”
Monken never hid his desire to return to the NFL, where he coached for three different teams over six seasons before answering Kirby Smart’s call to come to Georgia in 2020. In between, he had a three-year stint as head coach at Southern Miss.
Because of his success at Georgia, Monken struggled with the decision about whether to return to the NFL. But he interviewed for coordinator jobs with the Tampa Bucs and Ravens in the last few weeks. He had a second interview with the Ravens and head coach John Harbaugh last week.
“I would never say never to anything,” Monken said as the Bulldogs prepared to face Ohio State in the College Football Playoff semifinals last December. But I love where I’m at because I believe we’re going to win, and I believe in the head coach. “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 were negatives, too, however. The college football calendar has become increasingly burdensome for coaches. In addition to all-year training, recruiting and and high-school player evaluation periods left very little down time. The NFL provides mandated down time for coaches and players.
Monken is credited for revamping Georgia’s offense to fit the unique skills of quarterback Stetson Bennett and focus on getting the ball to the Bulldogs’ talented group of tight ends. Georgia used that formula to go 15-0 last season, finishing among the nation’s top offenses with an average of 41 points per game.
Bobo, a former Georgia offensive coordinator and one-time Division I head coach, joined the Bulldogs in an analyst role last season and his son, Drew Bobo, is a redshirt freshman offensive lineman on the team.
Bobo presided over Georgia’s most prolific-scoring offense in school history when the Bulldogs averaged 41.3 points in 2014. A former quarterback for the Bulldogs, Bobo’s offenses also occupy three of the top seven spots for total yards in a season and the top two sports for average yards per game, with 484.2 and 467.6 in 2013 and ‘12, respectively.
Bobo left Georgia to become head coach at Colorado State in 2015. Bobo was fired after five seasons with the Rams. He held coordinator positions at South Carolina and Auburn before joining the Bulldogs in a support-staff role last year.
Monken credited Bobo for a lot of the Bulldogs’ successful offensive game plans they came up with this past season.
“You talk about invaluable,” Monken said of Bobo before the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. “And you end up having to check your ego... Mike Bobo has drawn (scout-team) cards for us like a 22-year-old guy right out of school. Who does that? ... I can’t take everything the guys say as a suggestion, and yet the lack of ego, and just wanting to do things has been unbelievable.”
A native of Thomasville, Bobo played quarterback for the Bulldogs from 1994-97. He threw for 6,334 yards. As a senior in 1997, he finished with 2,751 yards on 199 completions in 306 attempts and had 19 touchdowns to just eight interceptions. Bobo played four seasons with Smart at Georgia and coached alongside him in 2005 when Smart was running backs coach for a year.
Bobo had a 14-year stint with the Bulldogs Mark Richt as quarterbacks coach and then offensive coordinator. During that time, Bobo helped lead the Bulldogs to 135 victories, including two SEC championships, five Eastern Division titles and eight bowl victories. A 2012 Broyles Award finalist, Bobo held the offensive coordinator spot for 92 games with the Bulldogs, scoring 30-plus points 57 times, 40-plus points 29 times and more than 50 points 13 times. In fact, three of the top five seasons for average yards per game in history for the Bulldogs came under Bobo. He was also pivotal to an offense that broke the school record in that category last season, averaging 501.1 yards per game.
In his first season with the Bulldogs, Monken successfully navigated a number of challenges at the quarterback position. Between opt-outs and injuries, the Bulldogs started three different signal-callers for the first time in 15 years. Despite the challenges, Monken’s offense was part of a 2020 team that earned its fourth straight top-10 finish in the final CFP rankings and fourth consecutive New Year’s Six Bowl game (Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl victory). The 2020 senior class won 44 games—tied for most in school history.
Monken, a native of Wheaton, Ill., came to Georgia after serving as offensive coordinator with the Cleveland Browns in 2019.
In his first season with the Bulldogs, Monken successfully navigated a number of challenges at the quarterback position. Between opt-outs and injuries, the Bulldogs started three different signal-callers for the first time in 15 years. Despite the challenges, Monken’s offense was part of a 2020 team that earned its fourth straight top-10 finish in the final CFP rankings and fourth consecutive New Year’s Six Bowl game (Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl victory). The 2020 senior class won 44 games—tied for most in school history.
Monken, a native of Wheaton, Ill., came to Georgia after serving as offensive coordinator with the Cleveland Browns in 2019.
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