Big Cat Country
What makes former Jaguars receiver coach (and current Ravens offensive coordinator) Todd Monken an attractive candidate for Jacksonville’s open head coaching role?
For the third time in five years, the Jacksonville Jaguars are searching for a new head coach.
Big Cat Country’s Jaguars head coach hiring process tracker is constantly being updated — but to provide more information on the top candidates being interviewed, we’ll be releasing in-depth profiles throughout the search.
Other head coach candidate profiles:
Next up: Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken, whom the Chicago Bears, the Las Vegas Raiders, and the Jaguars have all requested interviews with.
One of the most experienced coaches of this cycle, Todd Monken began his football coaching career as a three-year letterman at quarterback at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. In 1988, he was ranked first in the nation in pass attempts, completions, and completion percentage as he earned All-Conference honors. Monken then began his coaching career in 1989 at Grand Valley State as a graduate assistant for two years before transitioning to Notre Dame to fill the same role for two additional seasons. He would then receive his first position coach role in 1993 as the defensive backs and wide receivers coach for Eastern Michigan University. He would receive a promotion to offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach in 1998. After a two-year stint at Louisiana Tech University, a three-year role as passing game coordinator at Oklahoma State, and a two-year similar role at Louisiana State University, Monken would land his first NFL role in Jacksonville.
After being hired as the wide receivers coach for the Jack Del Rio-led Jaguars in 2007, Monken would lead a starting unit of Dennis Northcutt and Earnest Wilford in his first NFL season. Surprisingly, the team would go 11-5, primarily on the back of a strong run game and a physical defense. After a 31-20 divisional round playoff loss to the New England Patriots in 2007, the wheels would fall off in 2008 with Jacksonville going 5-11 with Monken’s unit featuring rookie WR Matt Jones (65 catches-761 yards-2 TDs) and Reggie Williams (37-364-3). In the following 2009 season, while Monken’s receiving core of Mike Sims-Walker (63-869-7) and Torry Holt (51-722-0) would improve in raw numbers, the team would still finish at 7-9 before going 8-8 in his final full season in Jacksonville.
After leaving Jacksonville, Monken would accept an offensive coordinator role with Oklahoma State for two years before getting his first head coaching role at the University of Southern Mississippi in 2013. Monken would turn the previously 0-12 Golden Eagles program around into a 9-5 team playing in the conference championship by 2015. He would then return to the NFL as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator following the 2015 season. Monken’s Buccaneers offenses ranked 18th, 9th, and 3rd in yards in the following three seasons, while ranking 18th, 18th, and 12th in points. After the...
