Army has rewarded head coach Jeff Monken for the consistency that he has brought to the Black Knights football program.
According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Monken has received a new extension from Army that will keep him as the head coach in West Point through the 2027 season. The extension will raise his salary to over $2 million per year.
It’s the second contract extension for Monken during his time with the program. He also received one in 2019 that would keep him with the program through the 2024 season.
Since taking over the program in 2014, the Black Knights have gone from a struggling program to one of the better non-Power Five programs in the country. After going 6-18 in his first two seasons, the Black Knights have notched five eight-plus win seasons since 2016 while only suffering one losing season. During that stretch, Army has appeared in five bowl games and won four, including three Armed Forces Bowl appearances.
Most importantly to Army, Monken has led the program to five wins over rival Navy, with all five wins coming in their last seven matchups. Prior to Monken becoming the head coach in West Point, Navy had won 15 of 16 games, including 14 straight from 2002 through 2015. His overall record during his time with Army is 66-50.
The extension is a notable one, as Monken is a name that is commonly mentioned during coaching carousels for Group of Five and lower Power Five programs. Additionally, it has been discussed over the last several weeks that the American Athletic Conference could be targeting Army to join the conference in the near future. Since the program’s inception in 1891, Army has never been part of a conference, choosing to be Independent.
Beyond his time with the Black Knights, Monken was also head coach at Georgia Southern from 2010 through 2013 before the Eagles jumped to the FBS. During his four years in Statesboro, the Eagles had three seasons of 10 or more wins and made three NCAA Division I Semifinal game appearances.
Thanks in part to the program Monken had built in Statesboro, the Eagles won the Sun Belt Conference under then-head coach Willie Fritz in their first season at the FBS level in 2014.
So far in 2023, Army is 2-1 with back-to-back wins over Delaware State and UTSA. The Black Knights will now look towards trying to upset the Syracuse Orange this Saturday. Also remaining on their schedule this year is notable matchups against Boston College and LSU.
