When Georgia Southern went looking for a head coach after the 2009 season, it reconnected with a link from its storied past. Jeff Monken, an assistant on Paul Johnson’s staff when the Eagles won Division I-AA (now FCS) national championships in 1999 and 2000, returned to Statesboro to take over the sagging program.
Monken resurrected the traditional triple-option offense and also its winning form: The Eagles beat five ranked teams on the way to their first postseason berth since 2005 and advanced to the semifinals for the first time since 2002. They return nearly every key player from last season’s 10-5 team and are looking for even better things.
Monken talked to the AJC about his team and expectations this season.
Q: How is camp different in your second season as head coach?
A: There’s just [more of] an understanding of the expectations of the pace of practice, the tempo of drills, the effort expected. Those were unknowns in last year’s camp. We had been through spring ball, but it was not as hot. It’s a challenge and it’s tough, and we really push our guys. We have very fast-paced practices. We want to be aggressive and physical. All those things, they understand [now]. The older guys know what we are looking for and when they aren’t giving it. Most of the time they recognize it, and the coaches are constantly asking for more.
Q: The first word your players use to describe your style is "intense." Is that accurate?
A: I hope so. I don’t know of any other way to coach this game. It’s an intense game, a physical game, a fast game. I want players who are intense, and I want to be a model for them and I want my coaches to be a model for them. This is a game we have chosen to participate in it. No one makes us do it. So if we’ve chosen to be out there, let’s do the best we can to be the best we can be at it.
Q: You lost three of four games last season before beating No. 1 Appalachian State and streaking all the way to the FCS playoff semifinals. What happened to turn things around?
A: I think we were just getting better. We were improving the entire year, then we hit a stretch in the middle of the season where we had some injuries. [Fullback] Robert Brown got hurt in the third game, and then we played some backup running backs that hadn’t played a lot of college football. The second-string guy also got hurt. … Our quarterback [Jaybo Shaw] got hurt, and we had a true freshman at quarterback. We had a true freshman at [middle] linebacker [because of injury]. … We were floundering a little bit. We were 4-4 and our guys had been 4-4 before; they knew what that felt like. They could have tanked it, but they didn’t.
The next week we beat Appalachian State, and the kids believed they were going to win the game. They were not willing to let up and say, ‘Oh well, it will be one of those years.’ We were down 14-0 to Appalachian State, the No. 1 team, and our guys gutted it out. It was a fantastic feeling, and our guys gained some momentum and confidence off of that win.
Q: What does your team depth look like?
A: Good in some places, and we are really worried in other places. That’s like with a lot of coaches everywhere, even at the FBS [formerly Division I-A] level, with fewer scholarships. We have some [positions] where we have true freshmen battling for starting positions or to be backups that are going to play a lot. Defensive line is one of those areas where we have a lot of very good players. [Nose tackle] Brent Russell, he is certainly one of the best defensive players at our level. We’ve got some [other] guys there that have been in games.
We have relative depth at quarterback. Jaybo Shaw is a great leader. His backup [Jerick McKinnon] was a true freshman last year who got some experience, and the third guy [Ezayi Youyoute] is a redshirt freshman. With both [backup] guys I’d be comfortable to put them in the game to play. We are fortunate to have depth at defensive line because getting big kids at this level and having depth is tough. On the offensive line there is not a lot of depth. If a guy goes down we might have to play a guy who has not taken a snap in college.
Q: You’ve coached the option offense for a long time. In your experience, is there usually a significant improvement with it from Year 1 to Year 2?
A: I think so. I think there has been improvement, but I think it’s the same with every offense that goes in new. You keep the schemes the same, and it gives veterans the ability to remember, and the repetition becomes second nature. I think we are better [in preseason] than we were a year ago. But I always say scheme and X’s and O’s don’t mean a whole lot. What means a lot to me is attitude and effort and those kinds of things. And it still comes down to blocking and tackling and hanging on to the football. You’ve got to do the fundamental things. We will be better at those.
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