Hello, Triple O

Jeff Monken isn’t making bold predictions on how many games he’ll win in his first season as Georgia Southern’s head football coach, or how soon the Eagles will win another Southern Conference championship, or hang a seventh national championship banner on the flag pole at Paulson Stadium.

However, he does make one promise.

“We will field a team that this university and this community will be very proud of,” said Monken, who was introduced in December as the Eagles’ coach.

Monken, 42, understands the great football tradition at Georgia Southern. After all, he helped set the bar high.

Monken was slotbacks coach and special teams coordinator under Paul Johnson from 1997-2001, when Georgia Southern posted a 62-10 record with two NCAA Football Championship Subdivision national championships (1999 and 2000), one national runner-up finish (1998), five consecutive playoff appearances and five Southern Conference titles.

“I know what the expectations are, and that’s part of the lure of being at Georgia Southern,” he said. “It’s not that people just want to have a football program – they want to have a really good football program and they want to win.

“So do I.”

Winning is exactly what Monken did in 13 years as an assistant under Johnson. At the U.S. Naval Academy, the coaching staff quickly rebuilt a struggling program into one that appeared in five straight bowl games and won five consecutive Commander-In-Chief Trophies from 2003-2007. He then went with Johnson to Georgia Tech and helped guide the Yellow Jackets to 20 wins over the past two years, including the Atlantic Coast Conference championship and an Orange Bowl berth last season.

Now he looks to duplicate the success of his first stint at Georgia Southern. Since Monken’s last game at Paulson Stadium, the Eagles have won just two playoff games.

“I had such a great experience here as an assistant coach,” Monken said. “When you have success like that and you think back on what a great time that was, it would be wonderful to get it going again and experience that kind of success for a second time.”

With the exception of one year as a high school head coach, Monken has been a career-long assistant. However, he said that becoming a college head coach for the first time hasn’t changed his approach.

“As an assistant, if you’re really bought in and you want success for the program, you care just as much as the head coach does and the pressure is the same,” he said. “It’s just the realization (as the head coach) that everything that happens with Georgia Southern football is a reflection of your leadership.”

Although his first game as the head coach is months away, Monken has already won over a number of Eagle supporters. He is bringing back the triple option offense that was synonymous with Georgia Southern’s success.

While many coaches like to add their own nuances to an offense, Monken said Eagle fans will see the same offense they have watched Johnson run for years. And why not? Georgia Southern ranked among the top five teams in rushing offense in all five of Monken’s years as slotbacks coach, leading the nation in rushing yards in 1999 and 2001. The Eagles also led the nation with an average of 50 points per game in 1999.

“The offense Coach Johnson has implemented each place we’ve gone has worked because we haven’t varied from it,” Monken said. “We have been successful because the offense we run is unique, and the fundamentals and skills our players learn in practice are the same day after day after day.”

Inheriting a team that utilized a pass-oriented offense, Monken isn’t sure how quickly the Eagles will adjust to the return of the triple option. Spring and fall practices will determine how the returning players and the incoming freshmen best fit into the old-is-new-again offense.

However, Monken vowed he and his coaching staff will not cut corners or look for quick fixes. They are committed to returning the Eagles to national prominence by recruiting quality student-athletes who are dedicated to reaching not only their own potential, but the team’s as well.

The staff got off to a strong start on National Signing Day in February, inking 23 new Eagles. “We are thrilled with the young men who are joining our program,” said Monken. “It was an exciting day for all of us – especially the kids. We’re looking forward to having them join our team.

“Our staff did a great job in assembling this class. The enthusiasm they showed was the difference in us being able to sign high-quality student-athletes who will be Eagles this fall.

“You have to build the program so that there is an opportunity for sustained success,” Monken said. “We want to be a championship football team, but I’m not willing to sacrifice doing things the right way to be champions. We are going to build the program and win and do it the right way so it will stay there.”

Regardless of which players emerge as starters, what positions they play and how many games they win, Monken said he will never lose sight of his true role as the head coach. “I am a servant to the players,” he said. “They get one opportunity to be a college football player in their life, and I want to do all I can to make it a great experience for them.”

— Paul Floeckher