Jeff Monken has now coached Army Football in 18 games. It is not too early to start to compare him to his predecessors and make some observations about the challenges any coach must face to get a program like Army playing consistently at a higher level.
Coach Monken is 5-13 so far. That is not a very good record and we've not played a lot of heavyweight teams either. Yet it is also not as horrible as recent coaches like Todd Berry, Stan Brock, and Bobby Ross. Coach Monken is not performing as well as coaches like Jim Young, Bob Sutton, and even Rich Ellerson at this point in their 2nd seasons. Bob Young and Rich Ellerson both won bowl games in their second seasons. A bowl appearance/victory does not seem likely at this point in Jeff Monken's second season although it is still technically possible.
4-8 was not a bad first year for Coach Monken's tenure but the team did seem to allow winnable games at Wake Forest and Yale to slip through its fingers. 2015 has featured 4 close losses so far where the Army team failed to make the plays on offense or defense needed to beat Fordham, UConn, Wake Forest, and Penn State.
And that gets me to problem Number One: This team does not win the close games. Close games it did win in 2014 were 'needlessly' close due to opponents recovering onside kicks and making dramatic late game scores to keep it close to the end (UConn, Fordham, Buffalo). Problem number one is that consciously - or more likely unconsciously - our players do not seem to expect to win. Thus, they do not play as if they expect to win. They played the first 5 games of 2015 without giving up and fighting hard to the end but those ends were consistent losses whether it was talent rich Penn State or a scrappy Patriot League Fordham team. This 'winning' problem goes back farther than the arrival of Jeff Monken on campus. Think about how Army fumbled away at least two opportunities to beat Navy in the Trent Steelman/Larry Dixon era. Those losses and the turnovers that doomed those efforts also speak to a pervasive inability to play as though you believe you will win. Turnovers are a huge indicator for me that this team has long term, self-defeating tendencies. The turnovers that I see this team making are often unforced errors. AJ Schurr in particular seems to have this unfortunate turnover/confidence syndrome and now Ahmad Bradshaw is playing the same way.
Problem Number Two has been lack of talent/lack of player depth. Although Academy standards are tough this is really a problem of recruiting. Jeff Monken and the Army Football staff appear to be deadly serious about fixing this problem. Additionally, the facilities of the program at Kimsey, the Foley Center, etc... seem up to the level of the competition. Everything I witnessed there this past weekend indicates the program makes a good impression on recruits (44-3 butt whippings aside). But there is more to recruiting than nice facilities or making a great effort. Eventually, you need to establish a reputation as a winning coach and a winning program. So far those are not accomplished. I see the current class of 2019 and incoming class of 2020 as being much stronger than our typical inbound classes under Rich Ellerson. But I am concerned that unless we finish this season more strongly that we will lose that 'new coach' momentum. We really need to show some progress in our final 6 games. Progress is measured in wins and not 'moral' victories which are really losses. If we cannot get to a bowl this year we could at least beat AF or Navy. That would be a good indicator of progress recruits can believe in.
A third problem is sustaining energy. Energy seems to be a problem for this team as the season goes along. Last season's embarrassing, inexplicable loss was at Kent State. So far this year it would have to be the awful effort against Duke. If you were at the stadium last weekend you could not help but notice the lack of enthusiasm as this Army team re-entered Michie Stadium. They clearly did not want to be back out on that field. There was effort in two drives that got inside the Duke 10 but after those failed to score touchdowns it was beatdown time. Other academy teams are also prone to this problem. This year Air Force at Navy completely self-destructed, fumbled the ball numerous times, etc...
Leadership is a problem others have pointed out and I agree but I'll let others develop that point further. So in summary I see the challenges as:
1) Will to win/belief in winning team
2) Recruiting
3) Energy level as the season progresses
4) Strong Team Leadership
What else is there?
Coach Monken is 5-13 so far. That is not a very good record and we've not played a lot of heavyweight teams either. Yet it is also not as horrible as recent coaches like Todd Berry, Stan Brock, and Bobby Ross. Coach Monken is not performing as well as coaches like Jim Young, Bob Sutton, and even Rich Ellerson at this point in their 2nd seasons. Bob Young and Rich Ellerson both won bowl games in their second seasons. A bowl appearance/victory does not seem likely at this point in Jeff Monken's second season although it is still technically possible.
4-8 was not a bad first year for Coach Monken's tenure but the team did seem to allow winnable games at Wake Forest and Yale to slip through its fingers. 2015 has featured 4 close losses so far where the Army team failed to make the plays on offense or defense needed to beat Fordham, UConn, Wake Forest, and Penn State.
And that gets me to problem Number One: This team does not win the close games. Close games it did win in 2014 were 'needlessly' close due to opponents recovering onside kicks and making dramatic late game scores to keep it close to the end (UConn, Fordham, Buffalo). Problem number one is that consciously - or more likely unconsciously - our players do not seem to expect to win. Thus, they do not play as if they expect to win. They played the first 5 games of 2015 without giving up and fighting hard to the end but those ends were consistent losses whether it was talent rich Penn State or a scrappy Patriot League Fordham team. This 'winning' problem goes back farther than the arrival of Jeff Monken on campus. Think about how Army fumbled away at least two opportunities to beat Navy in the Trent Steelman/Larry Dixon era. Those losses and the turnovers that doomed those efforts also speak to a pervasive inability to play as though you believe you will win. Turnovers are a huge indicator for me that this team has long term, self-defeating tendencies. The turnovers that I see this team making are often unforced errors. AJ Schurr in particular seems to have this unfortunate turnover/confidence syndrome and now Ahmad Bradshaw is playing the same way.
Problem Number Two has been lack of talent/lack of player depth. Although Academy standards are tough this is really a problem of recruiting. Jeff Monken and the Army Football staff appear to be deadly serious about fixing this problem. Additionally, the facilities of the program at Kimsey, the Foley Center, etc... seem up to the level of the competition. Everything I witnessed there this past weekend indicates the program makes a good impression on recruits (44-3 butt whippings aside). But there is more to recruiting than nice facilities or making a great effort. Eventually, you need to establish a reputation as a winning coach and a winning program. So far those are not accomplished. I see the current class of 2019 and incoming class of 2020 as being much stronger than our typical inbound classes under Rich Ellerson. But I am concerned that unless we finish this season more strongly that we will lose that 'new coach' momentum. We really need to show some progress in our final 6 games. Progress is measured in wins and not 'moral' victories which are really losses. If we cannot get to a bowl this year we could at least beat AF or Navy. That would be a good indicator of progress recruits can believe in.
A third problem is sustaining energy. Energy seems to be a problem for this team as the season goes along. Last season's embarrassing, inexplicable loss was at Kent State. So far this year it would have to be the awful effort against Duke. If you were at the stadium last weekend you could not help but notice the lack of enthusiasm as this Army team re-entered Michie Stadium. They clearly did not want to be back out on that field. There was effort in two drives that got inside the Duke 10 but after those failed to score touchdowns it was beatdown time. Other academy teams are also prone to this problem. This year Air Force at Navy completely self-destructed, fumbled the ball numerous times, etc...
Leadership is a problem others have pointed out and I agree but I'll let others develop that point further. So in summary I see the challenges as:
1) Will to win/belief in winning team
2) Recruiting
3) Energy level as the season progresses
4) Strong Team Leadership
What else is there?
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