Upward Trending--Coach Monken

[WP76]

Even though we lost (again) yesterday--and realizing it's only one game--that was the best prepared Army team I've seen against Navy in several years.

I was starting to have some doubts mid-season (Kent St.) but I think that Jeff Monken may finally be the guy to turn the fortunes of Army football and change the frankly toxic culture that has infected our program for so long.

That said, we still have quite a ways to go. Hopefully, this will be a ride that we all can enjoy.

 

[BillGil]

Id say he s trending up but only slightly. The good news is we had better special teams and better defense this year. And I dont think either area will get worse. The only real embarrassment was the Kent State game. Hes a better fit than Ellerson. He will go as far as his recruiting and the USMA's willingness to accommodate the football program will take him. Hes on a long term contract , it would be hard for him to get on the hot seat anytime soon.

 

[ashokan]

I thought the game was best I've seen from Army vs a good team (and Boston and Northwestern weren't) in awhile - maybe since 2010. I never would have expected a sub 300 yd, 17 points allowed game vs Navy. Not scoring a TD was hard but Navy's defense was playing option very well. It was a defensive game from both teams and it was a pip. I've always liked that Monken is very clear and honest about things that are wrong. Ellerson was often dazed and confused - "shocked" was often the word he used. Along with his clear assessment, Monken also knows hoiw to fix things and is confident he will do it. He went through it with Navy.

I noticed something else important. In past years I've said Army didn't always seem to play as a team that was particularly close - or even like they liked each other. Larry Dixon said something interesting in that regard:

"Senior fullback Larry Dixon said it was painful walking off the field a loser, especially knowing that he would never play alongside his teammates again, but he said that was both because he is graduating and because of the close-knit culture that Monken instilled in this year's team.


"My freshman, sophomore and junior years, it was easier to leave the locker room because we weren't as close as a team," Dixon said. "That's the hardest thing I've ever had to do is just part ways with my teammates. I'm thankful for what Coach Monken has done, and I'm thankful for him, is he has created a family. … This team is as tight as we've ever been."


That's what good football coaches do. X's and O's only get you so far. Too often Army players seemed like they were in their own bubble and detached from a team identity.

New coach gives Army hope in one-sided Army-Navy r

 

[jerseyboy63]

Having a 4-8 season with losses to Yale and Kent State and could have easily lost to UConn would not be considered up and coming. That was the easiest schedule Army could ever have and did nothing with it. As close as the Navy game was, there have been many close games in the past few years (aside from 2013). We still fumbled in the clutch, couldn't convert a 4th and a foot and missed a field goal. Those are inexcusable. 3 points by an offense is a joke. That's not an upward trend, not when you have that backfield. Which, by the way, is even more of a joke - you have all that talent at RB and they are not used. Inept play calling yesterday. The offense has without a doubt taken a major step back. And the thing about it is that 75% of the starters are seniors...this team will have to reload again next year and play unproven players. I do not see the offense being better next year. I know the talent left on this team is not as good as Dixon and Baggett.

Lets take a look at the past few years: nothing new happened this year.

2013 - got killed, but having turned the ball over ~5 times will give you no chance and players actually quit because they new what was coming after the game.

2012 - Driving at will and fumbled with under 2 minutes left. Lose by 4. We also missed a FG during the game and had we made that FG, we could have kicked at the end instead of trying to run in the endzone.

2011 - we were up in the 4th quarter. When Navy tied, they kicked off and we fumbled the kick off. Navy proceeded to score and take the lead. We also missed a FG in that game, and turned the ball over on downs late in the game (around the 25 yard line). Yet again, if we made a FG earlier in the game, we could have kicked again and at least went to OT.

2010 - fumbled at the 1 right before half and they ran it back 99 yards for a TD. 14 point swing and we lost by 14.

And of course, this year...fumble, cant convert a 4th down and a missed FG. And the D Line is graduating, as is Bacon, so don't expect the D to be the same next year.

And those teams always had more yards, just got killed with TOs and missed FGs

So, the game showed nothing. We have had our chances recently and have not won. With all of the seniors on this team, the skill level will drop. And if JM thought he had better talent, those guys would have played ahead of the seniors. So, currently on campus, the talent is leaving in May.

JM loves being the face of this team - is on the team poster, is the first to run out of the tunnel and is in front of the team to sing. If he loves being the face of the team, he needs to take more responsibility for the mistakes during the horrific performances and play calls. Those play calls were as bad as it gets. He has referred to the tackling and blocking as "atrocious." Then take some blame...if you want your face plastered all over the TV, take the good and the bad.

 

[centuryman]

As someone who has lived through the last year of young (awesome), the years of Sutton (booooooooooring), and then the utter calamity of Berry Ross Brock and Ellerson (seriously, can any school claim to have messed up FOUR coaching hires in a row. FOUR. How much bad luck can you have?)............

I don't know how anyone can look at Monken and not finally feel that we are in the right place, finally. It took us a long time to get here, and we are perhaps the last D1 program in the country to realize that it is not 1987 anymore....but we finally got the right guy.

We will see 5 or 6 wins next year, even though he technically won't have any of his players contributing that much (most will be at prep). And I predict we will split 1 of 2 with the other academies.

this is a 5 year rebuild, minimum.

The two keys: (1) Army leadership continuing to support the football staff, and not backtracking. Army leadership has a history of going back on what they said they would do (see: Campbell, Caleb as an example). (2) recruiting. If monken can't get the jimmies and the joes here, it won't matter.

 

[ashokan]

"It took us a long time to get here, and we are perhaps the last D1 program in the country to realize that it is not 1987 anymore....but we finally got the right guy."


One thing new I noticed is players complmenting coaches in articles. Aside from Dixon quote above I also see things like

"Of course it will be our one huge regret from our time here, not beating our archrivals," defensive end Joe Drummond said. "But when it comes to this program moving forward, we know it's in very capable hands."...

"The only reason why I stayed this long was because of the football team and this coaching staff,'' Kaufmann said. "I want to be a football coach in the future and I'm taking notes from this coaching staff. I love Mitch Ware, my quarterbacks coach. Every time he says a quote or anything about a defense, I pay attention and take a mental note of it so I can use it when I'm a coach."


I haven't been reading things like in Army articles for a long time.


I know some people are puzzled and/or upset by less pitches to backs etc. But when Army backs were racking up more yards and leading nation in rushing, Army was still only winning 2-3 games a year and still having bad loses to bad teams (like winless Hawaii).


Less pitches mean less fumbles and I like seeing less fumbles (a problem with Ellerson's option). Army fumbles are in the teens for first time in years. Having 1000 yard rushers with 30 fumbles a year isn't a solution. I only went back to 2008 but yearly fumbles look like this
:
2008 = 36
2009 = 34
2010 = 23
2011 = 36
2012 = 35
2013 = 23
2014 = 18

The 18 fumbles is with 2 QBs and that usually leads to more fumbles but fellas did a good job this year. Defense cost the games like Yale




This post was edited on 12/15 2:39 PM by ashokan

 

[goarmyfan]

If Army does not learn to be able to pass for some 1st downs it will always repeat it's lack of offense. Navy and AF both have learned that passing has to be a pat of the T option Offense if your going to win.

 

[goodknight65]

Originally posted by goarmyfan:

If Army does not learn to be able to pass for some 1st downs it will always repeat it's lack of offense. Navy and AF both have learned that passing has to be a pat of the T option Offense if your going to win.

Air Force, yes. Navy not so much. Navy passes only slightly more than we do despite having the better passing quarterback. We passed 7 times in the game and Navy passed 8, and that's pretty typical for both teams. On the season, we passed 105 times and Navy passed 123.

Navy had a far better completion percentage against us, but for the year Reynolds completed only 46%.

Air Force has expanded their passing game considerably, but they were never as conservative as Army and Navy.

Monken's GSU teams passed less than Army in the four years he was there; so I wouldn't expect much change going forward.

 

[centuryman]

From what I have seen of Monken here but also at Georgia Southern, I think he is one of those guys that would love to have a huge victory without throwing a single pass

If you recall, Monken's big win over Florida a few years ago was accomplished without completing a single pass.

Monken is a FB...then QB....then pitch type of coach. We saw that this year with the lack of use of maples and baggett. If Monken can successfully recruit the necessary lineman, FB and QB......expect our games to mimic the Ga Southern/Florida game.

 

[ashokan]

"If Army does not learn to be able to pass for some 1st downs it will always repeat it's lack of offense. Navy and AF both have learned that passing has to be a pat of the T option Offense if your going to win."


I think that with the rise of the spread, and various option variations, more contemporary defenses are better vs the option than they used to be. They play the edge better and are better at handling blockers and runners in space. Rutgers is a former Big East team where spread was main offense (though not for RU). Navy couldn't run on them this year (around 170 yds for the game) and they had to throw 20 times to stay in the game (and they did ). I know its true Monken doesn't want to pass a lot but he will still have to pass - and do better than 2-7 (vs Navy). When Army does throw its often for a pretty good gain. However too often I see balls hit open guys all alone right in the hands and they drop them like they were hot.

 

[BrentDavis]

Comparisons to AF's offense are invalid. They don't run a TO offense.

 

[snoopy72]

There were not many drops this year like in past years. More often the ball never was thrown or poorly thrown......on a good % of pass plays Santiago would run before even looking for a receiver (sometimes because of poor blocking and sometimes because he could not see over the line and was more comfortable running than passing). Actually passing the ball on a called pass play is part of any offense.......we missed a few big plays because the ball was never thrown or was poorly thrown to open receivers. That is something that AJ brings more to the table (without sacrificing running ability) but he needs to stay healthy and keep the ball off the ground. When we ran the triple O with Jim Young we would throw 6-8 times a game with great success. Ronnie McAda would have statistically been the leading passer in the country the year we played Auburn in the Independence bowl, had he thrown a few more times.

 

[NotSoOldGrad]

I would like to see some more passing as well but we need offensive talent that can accommodate it. Santiago was often running for his life behind a patchwork O-line on running plays, forget about having time to pass. AF and Rice blew up our line almost instantaneously with a lot of consistency.

Add that to the fact that Angel isn't going to blow anyone away with his arm strength or accuracy and you have a recipe for disaster if you're looking to throw the ball. I'm hoping that the O-line is slightly improved and more solidified in terms of starters next year. If so, that should help us run the ball with more consistency and be more efficient with our passing O.

I'm also very high on Bradshaw. The kid looks like a baller. Hope he pans out.

 

[BillGil]

speaking of A Bradshaw. Where is he? is he still at WP?

 

[army73]

I don't know what happened with Bradshaw but he's not in the QB conversation for next year....at least not with people I talk to. Our best bet for next year at QB is a healthy AJ Schurr who can hold onto the ball, unless we recruit some real stud QB out of HS. No idea what's coming out of prep......good to be silent on that front since those guys are still recruitable by others.

 

[sflynn9]

Sal Interdonato recently tweeted that Bradshaw will return to the team for Spring ball. My prediction is that he will start next year.

 

[DocJayy]

Originally posted by sflynn9:
Sal Interdonato recently tweeted that Bradshaw will return to the team for Spring ball. My prediction is that he will start next year.

LOL, that was reported two weeks ago here on GBK!

 

[sflynn9]

Yet there are multiple posts on this thread asking if he is still at the Academy.

 

[goarmyfan]

I will jut say this with 100% accuracy AJ will be the Starting QB for 2015 this is not a guess but a fact. If you don't know this you know nothing about the Army football team.

 

[sflynn9]

Whatever you say.

 

[Bulletproof09]

Originally posted by sflynn9:

Yet there are multiple posts on this thread asking if he is still at the Academy.

I asked about Bradshaw months ago, some said it was a private situation.... so I left it alone!!!!! Maybe GBK will give us a update soon.....

 

[Bulletproof09]

Originally posted by DocJayy:

Originally posted by sflynn9:
Sal Interdonato recently tweeted that Bradshaw will return to the team for Spring ball. My prediction is that he will start next year.

LOL, that was reported two weeks ago here on GBK!

I didn't know that either Doc.....

 

[ashokan]

Nice game by Georgia Tech and Paul Johnson last night. Army has an apple off the right tree at least.

Ex Army coach Mike Sillivan is headed back to NY Giants to be QB coach



Giants find old friend to coach Eli Manning again

 

[aleclee]

Originally posted by ashokan:

Nice game by Georgia Tech and Paul Johnson last night. Army has an apple off the right tree at least.

One of the starting OGs for GT is the son of two of BeatNavy's classmates.

This post was edited on 1/1 11:15 PM by aleclee

Brains and Braun

 

[ashokan]

Georgia Tech's line is well regarded. I like they way they always seem to get the big WRs who can catch when GT needs it. Calvin Johnson coming from that offense seems odd if people don't know how Johnson builds his teams.

 

[aleclee]

Originally posted by ashokan:

Calvin Johnson coming from that offense seems odd if people don't know how Johnson builds his teams.

Demaryius Thomas also came from GT. That's a pretty mind-boggling duo of NFL WRs to come from any school, let alone one that runs "the option".