Happy Sunday, everybody, and if I didn’t say so already, Happy New Year as well. We’re halfway through an electric NFL Wild Card weekend, and Army’s got a new Defensive Coordinator.
I like it.
I honestly thought the rationale behind Army Head Coach Jeff Monken’s hiring former Georgia Tech, App. State, and Wofford DC and Michigan assistance Nate Woody was sufficiently obvious as to defy analysis, but enough folks have reached out over the past few days to talk about it that maybe that’s not the case.
Let’s start with the basics:
Welcome Nate Woody! @CoachJeffMonken adds new defensive coordinator to staff. #GoArmy pic.twitter.com/TlTPIuZWNl
— Army Football (@ArmyWP_Football) January 2, 2020
Excited to go to work with @CoachNateWoody! #GoArmy pic.twitter.com/3y6qAEUPOl
— Army Football (@ArmyWP_Football) January 2, 2020
New DC @CoachNateWoody on joining the Black Knights.#GoArmy pic.twitter.com/lJwcJAOiqN
— Army Football (@ArmyWP_Football) January 2, 2020
As multiple media outlets have reported, Monken is intimately familiar with Woody’s work. The two men coached against each other in the Southern Conference back when Monken was at Georgia Southern, and Woody went on to coach at Georgia Tech under Monken’s mentor Paul Johnson. In fact, Woody was mentioned as a candidate for Army’s DC job when former Army DC Jay Bateman left for North Carolina, though the job ultimately went to then-Safeties Coach John Loose.
For what it’s worth, my read on this is pretty simple. I would guess that Monken considered bringing Woody on as DC when he himself was first hired by the Black Knights after the 2013 season, and that he again considered it when Bateman left. Woody would have been a fine hire either time. However, Monken decided to give Loose a shot after the team’s performance in the bowl game against Houston — for better and worse. No one thought this was a bad decision at the time, however. Everyone on the As For Football staff in particular thought it was the obvious move.
For a while it worked out, too. Army’s defense played very well against Rice, and they played even better in their Week 2 match-up against Michigan. Once the injuries started, though, the defense couldn’t recover. We’ll never know how much different Loose’s tenure might’ve gone had LB Amadeo West and S Jaylon McClinton been able to stay healthy all season. As it is, Army’s defense about held par in terms of yards/play and total scoring, but their ability to get pressure on opposing quarterbacks fell off a cliff, and that affected their third and fourth down conversion numbers quite a bit. In English, they just couldn’t get off the field. They also struggled to contain dynamic running attacks, as we saw in both the Air Force and the Army-Navy games.
With all of that, Monken decided to give Woody a shot.
I’ll be honest and admit that I didn’t love Woody’s tenure as DC for Georgia Tech. However, what he did for Appalachian State was undeniable, and one expects his tenure with Army will look more like his tenure did with App. State. Certainly, the schedule and the recruits he’ll see will more closely mirror what he saw at App. State. Nor will a year at Michigan have hurt. If anything, another year of Power 5 experience is a major plus.
Woody runs a 3-4 scheme, and his particular specialty is coaching outside linebackers. Given their issues in 2019, he is precisely the guy that the Black Knights need right now. The 2020 Army team should have a lot of young, hungry, marginally-experienced talent, but they need a guy who can channel that talent and hunger in order to get results. Woody has done it before — many times — and I expect he’ll succeed again at Army.
.@CoachJeffMonken also announced that John Loose has been elevated to Assistant Head Coach. #GoArmy pic.twitter.com/l7sIpo8KSA
— Army Football (@ArmyWP_Football) January 2, 2020
A head football coach is more like an organizational CEO than an actual coach most of the time. Consider all the crap that Jeff Monken has to do for Army that has nothing to do with on-the-field results. This move, then, should put some of that managerial burden onto Loose, hopefully freeing Monken himself up to be a little more hands-on in the field.
Over time, organizations tend to take on the personalities of their leaders. In 2020, I’d expect a double-dose of Jeff Monken at Army.
#1 is just getting started. He was PRODUCTIVE during his Sophomore campaign:
⚫️ 80% completion percentage
⚫️ 19.4 yards per completion
⚫️ 87 yard TD pass
⚫️ 484 yards rushing
⚫️ 6.4 yards per carry
⚫️ 5 rushing TDs
⚫️ 83 yard TD run?☠️#GoArmy pic.twitter.com/IMirCX8gDH
— Army Football (@ArmyWP_Football) January 2, 2020
It’s unclear what if any changes are coming to Army’s offense. Navy Coach Ken Niumatalolo said after the Army-Navy game this year that a good amount of his team’s offensive success had come from finding ways to stop playing “in a phone booth”.
Every Army fan will know exactly what he meant.
When you’ve got a guy like Navy QB Will Worth or Army QB Ahmad Bradshaw, playing in a phone booth makes a certain amount of sense. Both those guys are bangers, and Bradshaw in particular excelled running between the tackles. I’m not convinced that QB Kelvin Hopkins was ever that guy, exactly, though he clearly managed it behind a dynamic offensive line and fullback position group in 2018. Still, I’d have to say that Hopkins’ best thing was distributing the football, not necessarily running for tough yards in traffic. What set him apart was the way he managed the offense, not falling forward to get three tough yards in a cloud of dust.
That’s doubly true for QB Jabari Laws. If Laws is really going to be QB1 for the Black Knights, then a certain amount of rethink is going to be required on offense. I’ll admit that I’m curious to see how that goes, though I’m also not convinced that the starter’s job is already Laws’ to lose.
Bottom line: it should be an interesting camp this summer.
* * *
Let’s close with a moment’s admiration for what Titans’ RB Derrick Henry did last night in New England.
PUNISH HIM ?@KingHenry_2 | #TENvsNE pic.twitter.com/Aih0v7N8fH
— Tennessee Titans (@Titans) January 5, 2020
Henry had 34 carries for 182 yards plus a screen pass for 22 yards. He had 204 of his team’s 272 yards of total offense.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game,” Henry said afterward. “We just had the mindset to never give up and keep playing. That’s the way we like it – we want it gritty, and we want it dirty.
“We played Titans football. We knew we were coming into a hostile environment, and we just had to play our game.”
This sets up the run-heaviest of confrontations next week as Tennessee travels to take on Baltimore.
The Ravens have been all but unstoppable this year, and despite my longtime rooting interest in the Titans, part of me wants to see them advance. Not only did QB Lamar Jackson carry my fantasy team to a league championship, he’s also been fun as Hell to watch. The best possible Super Bowl is probably Baltimore vs. San Francisco or maybe Baltimore vs. Seattle. I guess we’ll see.
Enjoy today’s games, friends. We’ll talk more next week.
* Cover Image via West Point Flickr.
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