2018 College Football Coach of the Year:
Jeff Monken, Army (11-2)
As we edge ever closer to the end of the college football season and welcome in 2019, it's the perfect time to award this season's college football Coach of the Year. There were several deserving candidates out there, from perennials like Alabama's Nick Saban, and Clemson's Debo Swinney, who both led their respective programs to dominate unbeaten seasons, to UAB's Jeff Clark, who in just the program's second year back after folding completely following the 2014 season, led the Blazers to a Conference USA Championship, and school-record 11 victories after their victory in the Boca Raton Bowl. Notre Dame's Brian Kelly, and Washington State's Mike Leach were also deserving, as was Northwestern's Pat Fitzgerald. In the end, Army's Monken gets the nod for coach of the year after their amazing 2018 campaign.
Monken took over a struggling Army program to start the 2014 season, and after two seasons of rebuilding, has guided the Black Knights to all kinds of unprecedented success. Army finished the season with a school-record 11 victories, - not bad for a program that boasts a ton of impressive history, albeit most of which happened before the 1960s. In fact, Army put together arguably the greatest 3-year stretch in college football history from 1944-46, but had never won 11 games in a season before.
They managed an 8-5 record in 2016, that included a Bowl victory, and the end of a long losing streak to rival Navy in the annual Army-Navy game showdown to end the season. 2017 was even better as the Black Knights won another Bowl game and finished 10-3, matching a school record for victories in a season. 2018 started a bit slowly with a 34-14 loss @ Duke, but the Black Knights improved rapidly from that point. They knocked off Liberty and Hawaii before taking a trip to Norman to face #5 Oklahoma. The Sooners were 30-point favorites, but someone forgot to tell that to Army, who actually dominated time of possession, rushing yards, and rushing attempts for the game, only to give up a late score that sent the game to overtime, where OU eventually prevailed 28-21. It was a terrific outing for the Black Knights, as they proved they could hang with anybody. Monken and his Cadets went on to win every game the rest of the way, including a 42-13 blowout of then-unbeaten Buffalo on the road, en route to finishing 11-2 and turning in one of the greatest seasons in the programs' long, storied history. It should be noted that the service academies are at a clear disadvantage when it comes to recruiting at this level as well, which makes Monken's successful turnaround of the program all-the-more impressive.
They finished off the regular season by defeating rivals Navy for the third consecutive season, 17-10, and then absolutely blew Houston away in the Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, TX, by the score of 70-14. The complete demolition of the Cougars was record-breaking in numerous ways, as Army set a record for most points scored in a Bowl game with 70, and matched the record for largest margin of victory in a Bowl game (+56).
The Black Knights finished the regular season ranked in the top 25 for the first time since finishing the 1996 season ranked 24th and 25th, respectively, in the final Coaches' and AP Polls. They are currently ranked 22nd in the AP Poll and 25th in the Coaches Poll and are sure to move up in the final edition of each after their absolute beatdown of Houston in the Armed Forces Bowl. The 70-14 demolition should propel the Black Knights into the top 20 in the final polls for the first time since 1958! It was truly a season to remember for Army football, and a very deserving Coach Of the Year in head coach Jeff Monken, for the amazing job he has done in turning around what was a badly struggling program to recapture some of its long-lost glory.
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