Jeff Monken | Army Football Head Coach

Alrighty, welcome back in. It is the Zach Gelb Show Coast to Coast on the Infinity Sports Network. We know Army has won the American Athletic Conference. We're going to be heading down to DC. We'll be doing our show live Friday from USA Army Navy Radio Row.

Then you have the big game between Army and Navy on Saturday at 3 p.m. Eastern. And now joining us is head football coach at Army and that of course is coach Jeff Monk. And coach, congratulations. Appreciate the time and how you've been.

Great. Appreciate the opportunity to be on with you. So what does it mean to you? Now having a few days to process it, knowing you were able to deliver Army an American Athletic Conference Championship. I'm just so proud of our team, proud of the players and the coaches and the effort that everybody put into that. But playing in a conference championship game is intense.

It's emotional. It's exciting. The opportunity to win a championship. And for so many years here, we've been an independent football team and really have played for the Commander in Chief's trophy, which is a championship for us. And frankly, there is no championship that equals the CIC championship for us.

But that was really exciting. Our guys have played really well and they just played a particularly good game on Friday night against what I thought was a great team. Tulane's got an excellent football team. Those first two years.

Now you're sitting there 11 and one. You know, you could have 13 by the end of this football season. There's been some good moments. There's been some moments of resiliency. And you guys keep on getting off the mat and having consistent seasons.

Just how do you look back at the earlier days to now with what you've been able to do with the program? Those were all building blocks. So those were foundational pieces that needed to be put into place in order for us to get where we wanted to as a program. And those first two teams, I give those guys a lot of credit. They suffered through some really difficult afternoons, disappointments. But man, they worked hard. And the thing about the guys in this program, they always answered the bell. And I've pushed them and I've demanded a lot about a lot out of the people in this program, particularly our players.

But they've always answered a bell. And those first two teams, though the records didn't show the results we'd hoped for, I could tell that there was growth and improvement going on in our program. And then by the third year, we made a bowl game and won a bowl game and went on a really good run.

But it was all built off of those first teams. And I've been so proud of our team to be able to continue that and the guys in our program to be able to continue the success. Because it's hard to win and it's hard to continue to win, to sustain success.

It's very challenging. But our guys have managed to do that at a pretty good level here. People knew you guys were going to be a good team entering this season. I don't know if people thought you guys would be 11-1 at this stage. What type of team, just curious, Coach Jeff Munkin, did you think you had when you go back to the summer? I really liked our team.

I thought the building blocks for this season started last November. There was a determination in our team and we had really good leadership in our locker room a year ago. We had strong captains. We lost some tough games through the middle of the season last year.

And our guys never wavered. And we won the first weekend in November over Air Force. And we won the rest of the games that year, recaptured the Commander Cheese trophy, which is a huge source of pride for our team. And then carried it into the offseason and really felt like in the offseason there was a determination and a confidence that we could be better. And our senior class, man, just what a great group of guys and what terrific leaders we've got in that class. And that carried into the spring practice, the summer workouts, preseason camp.

And by that time, I felt like we had a chance to at least be competitive with all the teams we were going to play. It's a really strong offensive line. I think everybody on our staff really felt like we had a good offensive line. As it turns out, I think this is the best offensive line on any team I've ever been a part of.

They're really good and really tough. And they've paved the way for our offense, certainly. But defensively, the way that those guys continue to come up with plays, and we're not particularly talented, just those guys play really well together and they play really hard.

And so we put it all together. We managed to win a lot of games there in a row. We had a setback against Notre Dame, who's got a great football team.

Holy smokes, are they good. But our guys didn't flinch. We didn't let it derail us. They came back the next week and beat a really tough UTSA team, won the game on Friday night.

And now we sit here just a few days away from the biggest game of the year. Jeremiah Love of Notre Dame, quite some player, right, coach? He's a great player and he's not the only one that's a great player on that team.

They got a whole bunch of them. And you have a great player as well in Bryson Daly. We got a chance to talk with him on the show about a month and a half ago. 37 total touchdowns this year. Unbelievable player and an unbelievable person. Just what makes your quarterback so special?

One, he's a tremendous leader. I grew up a coach as a kid. His grandfather was a coach. His mom was a coach.

Dad is a coach. Just grew up in that life and I think really appreciates and values being a part of a team and how he can contribute to the team. So he's a great leader from that standpoint.

Very unselfish and very humble. But he's also very demanding of the other people around him. He's strong and rugged and tough. And we've seen everybody watched him play all year. And just what he's done as the quarterback for our team. He's had a tremendous football season. But all of the other things that he brings that you want a quarterback to have in the locker room, in the huddle, in the workouts. He's all those things, too. So I think that just that that compels everybody else on our team to want to do better and to fight harder and to play their best.

Excuse me, to play their best. And he told me that his family, no military background. And he didn't know if he was going to go to Army.

And then he fell in love with the place when he came on his visit. You know, obviously this isn't for everyone. It takes a different commitment to commit to your program and you have to be a special person. Were you surprised when he ended up saying, hey, coach, this is the road that I want to travel and I want to be a part of this program?

I don't know that I'm ever surprised that a guy says that. I think there are there are young men and women all over this country who have a spirit to serve. And sometimes they don't realize that that that that burns inside of them. They they sometimes just need an invitation and say, let me let me let me show you what you can do with the spirit and the leadership skills that you have. And I think that that opportunity to serve others appeals to some people. And I think the opportunity here to be challenged, to lead, to to know that that they're going to be in a leadership position when they graduate and have an opportunity to be something. Be a part of something that's that's bigger than themselves.

Something is really special in a way that will be a source of pride for them and for their family. Some guys just that appeals to. And we never know who those guys are going to be as we enter this place to prospects.

But he was one of them. And he's just got a great family. He's a great kid. I'm glad he's on our team and he's going to be a bang up Army officer. He's just going to be terrific.

Love it. Coach Jeff Monken here with us. Army Navy obviously coming up on Saturday. I saw in the last rankings you guys were 22 in the college football playoff. We know the Heisman Trophy is going to be presented on Saturday.

Bryson isn't a finalist just with those two topics not getting more consideration. Is it a little bit disappointment or do you kind of understand it? Oh, it is what it is. We don't make those decisions. We can't control it. All we can do is play the best we can try to try to win the games that are put in front of us and and maximize who we can be and hope that's good enough. And other people are tasked with making those decisions.

They're not easy decisions. But but certainly for Bryson, the year he's had, I had really hoped that he would have an opportunity to just be at the table with the guys down at the downtown athletic club. He's he's had just a marvelous year. I think he's one of the best players in college football. He's he's at least as valuable to our team as any player in college football play in college football is to theirs.

And for that, I thought he deserves an opportunity. But the numbers, it's hard to argue with the numbers. I mean, he's you know, he's rushed for a lot of yards, thrown for a lot of yards, accounted for a lot of touchdowns. And and there's not many times in the history of college football that an academy player has the kind of season that that he has had and can be a legitimate, a legitimate candidate for the biggest individual award in college football. And I think this is one of those times he he certainly had the numbers to back it up. And I don't know that anybody would have felt like he was out of place based on the statistics that he's had.

And if you just turn the film on and watch him turn the TV on on Saturday afternoons and watch him, most people would agree. So we have the jersey in the studio, right? We got the Army jersey here.

We're ready for the game coming up on Saturday. Just one of the emotions, because I know all throughout the year it's go Army beat Navy. So how about the emotions before this one?

It is. It's an emotional game. It always is. But what we've got to be very conscious of is not allowing the emotion of the game to stand in the way of the execution that needs to happen. And that's really what we're focusing on is trying to do a great job of executing our assignments and fundamentals. And we're going to have to do it as well as we've done it all year if we're going to have a chance to win. So just excited about the opportunity to be on a national stage and have the college football world all with their eyes on this Army Navy game is going to be fantastic.

Last thing I want to ask you, Coach Jeff Monk, it has nothing to do with your program, but I would love your insight just because of the fact you've been doing this for a while and you've had a lot of success. There's a report out there from Inside Carolina that UNC and Bill Belichick are now finalizing a deal for Bill to be the head coach. How do you think a guy that's won six Super Bowls? You know, the legend that is Bill Belichick will do in the college game.

Winners win. And he's certainly an outstanding coach. What a career he's had. And so, you know, if that's the case, they're getting a great football coach. And guys that know how to win and guys that compete like he did for so long and has for so long, they know how to do it. So I wish him well.

If that's the case, I certainly wish him well. Well, Coach, we wish you well. Good luck coming up on Saturday. Appreciate you jumping on board with us today and good luck. Thanks a lot. Be Navy.