If Army’s Jeff Monken ends up being the guy, all you really need to see is two famous videos to get an idea of what the Kansas football program would be getting.
The search for KU’s next football coach is [reportedly nearing a conclusion][1], and it appears Monken is on the shortlist of potential candidates to take over the team.
The Jayhawks would be getting an energetic and passionate head coach in Monken, which is evident in two short clips from his time at Army.
Let’s start with the more recent one, which was a speech Monken gave to the Army football team before its game against Michigan on Sept. 7, 2019.
“Next play, next play, next play. For 15 rounds, let’s make them go toe-to-toe the whole way through,” Monken told his team. “State of Michigan about to meet the last of the hards.”
???? @ArmyWP_Football head coach Jeff Monken was PUMPED UP in his pregame speech before facing Michigan. pic.twitter.com/gjEGIaGo0N
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) September 7, 2019
The Black Knights did end up giving No. 7 Michigan a battle, but ultimately came up just short in a 24-21 overtime loss in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Monken later explained the meaning behind the speech on the Pardon My Take podcast, [which was released on Dec. 23, 2020][2]. Monken’s full interview can be heard between 34:12 mark through 54:09 mark of the show.
Monken said that the origin of the speech came from the 1989 Georgia Southern squad under Erk Russell, but he hadn’t used it with any of his own teams until that 2018 season.
“That team really, to me, epitomized that saying,” Monken said on the show. “I think our young men at West Point, and their classmates who have taken this pledge to serve their nation. And, frankly, the over one million men and women who serve in the United States Army that we represent when we go and play in this bowl game and we play every week.”
“They are the last of the hard,” Monken added. “They’re the people who are willing to do the hard jobs that other people don’t want to do. To stand in the gap between freedom and those who want to take it from us. And that takes a hard person that’s determined, and has a spirit about them that’s different. And I really feel like our 2018 (team) had earned that.”
Another video of Monken worth sharing is actually a postgame scene in the locker room after Army secured a 31-28 home win over Temple on Oct. 21, 2017.
On the same PMT podcast, Monken admitted to stealing that speech as well. He credited Derrick Moore for the idea, as Moore delivered a number of speeches to Georgia Tech football players while with the team. Moore left to become the director of character and player development for South Carolina football in January.
“That was something that he used to do with the teams at Georgia Tech,” Monken said. “He was just awesome. He’s a dynamic speaker, and just an engaging personality. And I don’t do that chant justice, but he did that and I loved it and our guys really have latched on to it.”
Those two videos — and his candid responses on the podcast — really help provide a glimpse of what Monken has to offer. And there are plenty of other videos out there that show much of the same in regards to the type of leader the Jayhawks could be landing.
[1]: http://www2.kusports.com/news/2021/apr/27/reports-ku-narrowing-its-next-football-coach/
[2]: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nba-preview-wc-rachel-nichols-ec-richard-jefferson/id1089022756?i=1000503276027
