Strong candidate reportedly emerges for Vanderbilt opening
A name previously linked to the South Carolina job is being talked as a potential SEC coach again.
Steven N. Goddfrey Jr. is reporting that Army’s Jeff Monken is a “very strong candidate” for the Vanderbilt job. South Carolina fans memorably did not respond well when Monken was linked to the Gamecocks vacancy, which has since been filled by Shane Beamer.
Monken runs the triple option offense. Some members of college football media have publicly opined that due to Vanderbilt’s disadvantages on the recruiting trail compared to the rest of the SEC, the Commodores might be best suited to go with the triple option as it would give opposing defensive coordinators a challenge for game-week preparation.
Monken, 53, has been in coaching since 1989, starting as a grad assistant at Hawaii. As a head coach, Monken is 85-54 as a head coach at Georgia Southern (28-16, 2010-13) and Army (47-38, 2014-20).
Army improved to 8-2 on the year with Saturday’s 15-0 win over Navy. The Black Knights are scheduled to face Air Force next Saturday.
Army’s Jeff Monken is a very strong candidate at Vanderbilt, per multiple sources.
I will now mention Arizona fired Kevin Sumlin today apropos of absolutely nothing…..
— Steven N. Godfrey Jr. (@38Godfrey) December 13, 2020
All respect to him, but I do not want to play teams that run that offense. Players tend to get hurt due to the blocking techniques.
I think that would be a great choice for Vandy. That style would help to neutralize some of the talent disadvantages. That being said I don’t know why you leave a good gig at Army to try your luck at the hardest job in the Power 5.
I been saying for years they should run that offense. But all their quarterbacks are slow pro style guys.it would definitely be a few years of recruiting the right personnel
I 100% endorse this choice if it is real, but I have heard in the past that Candidate X was the leader for the job at Vanderbilt, and it didn’t happen.
1966: Miami of Ohio coach Bo Schembechler was the apparent choice
1966: Former Tennessee legend and Arkansas assistant Johnny Majors apparently had been offered the job and accepted
1966 reality: Arkansas assistant Bill Pace got the job
1979: Army coach Mike Krzyzewski will be the new Vanderbilt basketball coach
1979: NBA coach Del Harris has been offered the Vanderbilt basketball coaching position.
1979 Reality: Relatively unknown Virginia assistant Richard Schmidt is the new basketball coach.
2010 Gus Malazhn has accepted the Vanderbilt job to replace interim coach Robbie Caldwell
2010 Reality Maryland coach in waiting James Franklin is hired
I will be 100% on board with Monken as head coach at Vandy, but my past experience makes me think that Monken will be the head coach at Army in 2021, and Vanderbilt will hire somebody less experienced, less competent, and with much less chance for success.
No other SEC program wants Monken to get this job. They might even donate revenue for Vandy to offer a defensive coordinator from a power 5 team rather than have that headache.
Great hire if it happens. Vandy has so many disadvantages from the facilities, size of booster base to being an academic school, they need something to stand out.
With that sort of Offense, Vandy doesn’t need to try to keep up with the Jones’ and try and recruit against Georgia and Florida for offensive talent. You don’t even need a good throwing QB, just a guy who can take hits and run like a deer.
If this happens, Ken Seals might be inclined to transfer to a school that throws the ball all over the place, maybe a Texas Tech if Art Briles were to end up coaching there.
Mike Wright would most likely be the QB of the future, and he’d get to be a second year freshman with four more years to become the Kelvin Hopkins or Justin Thomas of the offense. Keyon Brooks and Ja’Veon Marlow would make comparable A-Backs, while Rocko Griffin and Mitchell Pryor would be quite good B-Backs. Pryor doesn’t go down with just one and sometimes two tacklers, so running him on the dive option will force another defender into the box, where the SE’s could then have one on one coverage on the flanks. I would actually be excited about Vanderbilt football again, if Monken is the chosen candidate.
This isn’t verified by a corroborating source, but one of my sources from when I was in the media has told me that Vanderbilt formally made an offer to a coach this afternoon and have received a response that is positive but with guarantees the school may not be ready to make. I couldn’t get a name. However, just me reading between the lines, I don’t think Healy or Lea would require certain guarantees. Since I believe Chadwell was not in the group of finalists, I think that leaves Monken, Fisher, O’Brien, and Leipold as the candidates that would require guarantees.
Also, I did not get a reply when I asked if the guarantees were financial in the contract or facilities upgrade guarantees.
I believe that the next coach will be introduced Tuesday Afternoon, unless the candidate that has been offered declines.
If that happened boy that would be a change for him. Going from the elite Alpha male setting to Vandy, who plays girls on their team. Ha, I want to watch this.
Love to see the triple option at Vanderbilt. Even the playing field against some of the the more talented opponents. Sarah Fuller may be their quarterback at the rate things are changing in Nashville. Roll Tide!
It looks like Clark Lea is the choice. Of all the candidates, he is the least exciting potential hire, another excellent defensive coordinator with no history of offense, or basically the next Derek Mason.
I remember how John Ray was the overwhelming top defensive coordinator from Notre Dame, when the Irish had their national championship team in 1996, and Ray’s defense was the best in modern day football according to many experts. Ray was offered the Kentucky job to replace Charlie Bradshaw, when UK was in much better shape than Vanderbilt is now.
Lea is the native son that went to my high school alma mater and played one year of football for Vanderbilt. He played baseball at Nashville’s Belmont University.
How did Ray do at Kentucky? His offenses were the worst in the SEC by far. He had some decent defenses, but they wore down, and they were the perpetual cellar dwellars during Ray’s tenure. They couldn’t beat Vanderbilt.
Vanderbilt previously had a former VU football player as head coach, and Watson Brown went 10-45 in five years.
With Monken, Leipold, Norvell, Healy, Fisher, and O’Brien, the last place candidate in offensive football competence is Lea.
If Lea is the choice, Vanderbilt has done nothing more than provide lip-service to its fans. Mason at least has established a recruiting base and had his players motivated to play when there were enough of them.
If Lea is the choice, I see him having a career record similar to Mason and no better. Mason beat Tennessee three times and went to two bowls. Lea will be lucky to sniff a bowl game in the next three years or ever defeat Tennessee. Vanderbilt will not have an SEC-caliber roster, and trying to win by playing the same way as Georgia and LSU is insane. The one coach that would have given SEC opponents nightmares is Monken. Vandy struck out if Lea is the choice.
1966 not 1996