The West Virginia Mountaineers are believed to be down the home stretch of their search for a new head coach. Signs had been pointing to Penn State offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki or Jacksonville State (and former WVU) head coach Rich Rodriguez. But earlier on Monday, Koltelnicki announced he was staying at Penn State.
However, there’s another candidate that may be emerging. According to WV Sports Now‘s Mike Asti, Army coach Jeff Monken has become a “third dark horse candidate” who is still in the mix for the job in Morgantown.
Monken has won everywhere he’s been, including this season at Army where he’s 11-1 (8-0) as they prepare for their annual match up with Navy this weekend before taking on Marshall in the Independence Bowl. Monken led the Black Knights to the American Athletic Conference title with a 35-14 win over Tulane on Friday night.
Monken is in his 11th season with Army after spending four seasons at Georgia Southern, where he went 38-16, including three seasons of double digits wins. At Army, he’s won at least 10 games in three seasons with the Black Knights.
He is a cousin of Todd Monken, the current offensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens, and one-time offensive coordinator of the Oklahoma State Cowboys. A dozen of Monken’s family members, including his father, Mike, and brother, Tom, have coached football at the high school, college, or professional level.
Jeff Monken is 57 years old and is 119-72 as a college football head coach.
