Some of the most popular names you’ve probably seen thrown out there for the West Virginia job include sRich Rodriguez, Jimbo Fisher, Barry Odom, Jon Sumrall, Andy Kotelnicki, and so on. One potential candidate that has been mentioned, but not nearly as much is Army’s Jeff Monken.
It’s a bit unconventional for a Power Four school to hire a head coach from one of the service academies because of the triple option offense they all run, but at some point, some school is going to roll the dice on Monken, and when that happens, other schools will likely regret not being the one to do so.
Monken is the second-winningest coach in Army football history and has the second-best winning percentage for those who have coached a minimum of 100 games at Army. He’s produced three 10-win campaigns in his eleven years on the job, helping him to a current record of 81-56. The six head coaches before him all finished their tenure with a sub-.500 record, which just shows the kind of job he’s done since arriving at West Point.
Because of the commitment that the student-athletes have to make at the service academies and the off-field requirements, recruiting is pretty challenging. You’re not going after the same types of recruits as Tulane, Memphis, South Florida, East Carolina, and others in the conference. There were many challenges for Monken to overcome, yet he coached his team to a conference title and nearly into the College Football Playoff.
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If Monken makes the move to a Power Four job, what style of offense is he going to run? Who is his offensive coordinator? Those are questions that will produce hypothetical answers because of his history with the triple option, an offense that won’t work at this level.
Georgia Tech ran it for years under Paul Johnson, and while they had some special seasons, they were few and far between. Once he left, it put the Yellow Jackets in a tough spot because they had an entire offense used to running the option and struggled to find a new identity until last year.
With the transfer portal being so prominent now, you can flip your roster a lot faster than ever before. But that still doesn’t eliminate the concern of how the offense will be called and who will be in charge of operating that side of the football.
As previously mentioned, I feel pretty confident that Monken will have success wherever he decides to go. That being said, I don’t think right now is the time for Wren Baker to think this far outside of the box. He has to go with a coach that doesn’t have quite as many questions/unknowns with the offense.
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BRIDGEPORT, W.Va (WDTV) – West Virginia lawmakers continued working as the Saturday midnight deadline approaches.
Senate Action
The Senate passed 12 bills, including one requiring adult content websites to use age verification to block minors. Senators also passed a bill creating a Cold Case Task Force.
House Bill 49-90, targeting gift card crimes, and House Bill 54-37, the Vape Safety Act, also passed unanimously. All four bills now go to the House for concurrence.
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Delegates passed Alyssa’s Law, allowing teachers to wear mobile alert buttons that notify 9-1-1 and trigger a school lockdown in emergencies. The bill is named after a victim of the 2018 Parkland shooting.
Bill 4005, which clarifies jobs prohibited for workers under 16 — including bar work and logging — also passed. Both bills now head to Governor Patrick Morrisey’s desk.
Senate Bill 4 would require bystanders to stay at least 30 feet from first responders.
Senate Bill 75 would allow West Virginia law enforcement to cooperate with officers in bordering states. A bill from the Education Committee would allow teachers with at least 15 years of experience to become certified as school principals.
For more legislative coverage, go to our website at wdtv.com.
The West Virginia Mountaineers (10-3) welcome the Maryland Terrapins (10-5) to Kendrick Family Ballpark Tuesday afternoon the first encounter between the two programs since 2023 and the first meeting in Morgantown since 2018. The first pitch is set for 2:00 p.m. EST and the action will stream on ESPN+.
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The Mountaineers captured their fourth consecutive series of the season after taking two of the three games from Columbia over the weekend. West Virginia sophomore Matt Ineich and senior Brodie Kresser both blasted grand slams during the series. Ineich lifted WVU in game two with a walk-off grand slam in the 10th in game two, and Kresser ignited a 16-1 rout, capping a six-run second inning in the series finale.
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Gavin Kelly leads West Virginia at the plate with a .436 batting average with a Big 12 leading nine doubles. Ineich and senior Paul Schoenfeld has raked in a team-leading 16 RBI apiece, while senior Matthew Graveline has clubbed a team-high three home runs.
On the mound, West Virginia is expected to start sophomore David Hagen. The right-hander has made four appearances on the season, including one start. He last started in the home-opener against Ohio where he pitched two scoreless innings and recorded a strikeout to collect his first win of the season. He holds a 1.00 ERA with five strikeouts on the season.
After starting 3-4, Maryland is 7-1 in its last eight games. The Terrapins won two of three at UNC Wilmington in the season opening series, followed by a midweek win against Georgetown before getting swept at Louisiana. The Terps bounced back with a pair of midweek wins versus Delaware and swept a one-win Wagner team.
Junior Brayden Martin is batting a team-best .443 to go with four doubles and 12 RBI. Redshirt freshman Ryan Costello leads the Terps in home runs (9) and RBI (21) and is third in batting average at .328, while freshman Ty Kaunus has a team-high seven doubles and has .269 batting average.
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Maryland is scheduled to start freshman Nic Morlang. The right-hander has four appearances on the season, including four starts. He allowed five earned runs in his appearances, coinciding with his two starts, in six innings of work. In his last two appearances in relief, He’s allowed one earned run on five hits.
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West Virginia leads the all-time series 8-5, including a five-game winning streak over Maryland.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Multiple law enforcement agencies responded to a series of parties in Morgantown over the weekend.
Morgantown police officers, West Virginia University Police and state police responded to reports of overcrowded parties, underage drinking, physical altercations and multiple injuries.
Morgantown Communications Director Brad Riffie said several citations were issued for open containers and underage consumption.
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Two large parties were dispersed and six arrests were made without incident.
None of the reported injuries are believed to be serious or life-threatening.
The Morgantown Fire Department assisted in the operations.
