REPORT: Todd Monken interviews for NFL coordinator job
Rumors surrounding Todd Monken and his desires to get back into the NFL have swirled for quite some time – since his arrival in Athens if we’re being honest. The former college head coach and NFL coordinator has had great success at Georgia and seems to have caught the eye of a few NFL teams the offseason. After reports surfaced on Friday that Monken is scheduled to interview with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next week, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reported on Saturday that Monken interviewed for the open offensive coordinator position with the Baltimore Ravens this week.
Monken has been Georgia’s offensive coordinator for the past three seasons. The last two have been National Championship runs with Monken coming in as the nation’s highest-paid assistant coach in 2022 according to USAToday.
Monken previously worked in the NFL with the Buccaneers and the Cleveland Browns, coordinating for the squads from 2016-18 (Bucs) and 2019 (Browns).
Prior to his time in Tampa, Monken was the head coach at Southern Miss for three seasons. He helped the Golden Eagles improve from 0-12 the year before he got there to a 9-4 team in his third season. The reported reason for him moving on from Southern Miss was because of his relationship with Dirk Koetter.
Monken had two different stints at Oklahoma State, 2011-2012 and 2002-2004. He spent time there under Les Miles and Mike Gundy. Miles had him on staff at LSU in 2005 and 2006 as well. Monken is originally from Wheaton, Illinois.
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Monken met with reporters a couple of times during bowl season, and he didn’t shy away from any questions – including those about whether or not he’d have interest in the future about returning to the NFL or a head coaching position in college.
“First of all, I have a great job. I said that many times,” Monken said. “I fell into this job and the culture was already set, landed here with good players, the culture was already set. My job was just to try to do the best I could to make it better the best way I could. Fight my ass off to help make it better. Hopefully I’ve done that. When you have a good job and they pay me a lot of money. We all know that.”
“You have to be careful. The grass isn’t always greener and money isn’t everything. Now I value getting paid. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t do this for nothing, but the reality is you have to be careful because your happiness is in winning,” Monken continued. “It’s about winning. It’s the fight song in the locker room. That’s what it’s about. Anybody that says, hey I’m at school A and boy the city is great, I love it. It’s great for my family and we’re 4-8 and I’m happy as hell. That’s not me. I’d rather be winning in Alaska than losing in San Diego. The reality is this is what it’s about. This is about winning, this is the fight song in the locker room. It’s about feeling of self-worth. Money becomes a big part of that, I get it, but you take a job for money, you’re still sitting in that chair and you’re not happy. I don’t control what’s out there in the media. I don’t control what gets put out. The majority of what gets put out there I have not been involved with. I don’t get it. That’s OK. It’s fine. People think I am, but that’s fine.”
Georgia’s offense finished No. 4 in the country for scoring this past season, averaging 41.4 points per game. The Bulldogs were also top-five in total offense averaging over 500 yards per outing.
