Army's Jeff Monken Is Rumored to Be a Candidate for the South Carolina Job and Gamecock Fans Are NOT Happy About It
Paul Sancya. Shutterstock Images.With Will Muschamp officially out at South Carolina, a name that has been linked to the opening is Army head coach Jeff Monken. Monken has taken an Army program that went 8-28 in the three seasons prior to his arrival and gone 41-20 since 2016. He's a damn good football coach.
Just one problem with that for the fans at South Carolina: he's a football coach who runs an option offense. And the Gamecock fans want no part of that in the Southeastern Conference.
The triple option is something that is just never going to go over well with SEC fans. I actually wrote an article when I was a student at Tennessee hypothesizing that the Vols should look at hiring an option coach as offensive coordinator after Jeremy Pruitt fired his first OC following the 2018 season and it's the most negative feedback I've ever received on anything in my life, including the Barstool comment section. So I know firsthand what happens when you dare to suggest an SEC team run the option.
But what I said about Tennessee doing it holds true for South Carolina. It's a middling program that is unlikely to rise to the likes of Alabama and Florida trying to play the way those teams play, so you need to try something different. Monken was on Paul Johnson's staff at Georgia Tech when everybody said the option wouldn't work in the Power Five and all the Yellow Jackets did in Johnson's 11 seasons was win an ACC championship and an Orange Bowl, beat Georgia three times on the Bulldogs' home field and play for a couple more conference titles. It works.
And who the hell do South Carolina fans think they are to be turning down anybody who might be able to win games there? In addition to all your SEC competition, you're also in Clemson's shadow and would presumably like to beat them every once in a while. A unique offense that takes extra time and attention to prepare for would seemingly be a great way to do that.
I would actually be much more concerned about playing the Gamecocks every season if they were running the option with Monken than if they hired Jamey Chadwell or Billy Napier. But I guess you just won't be able to talk USC fans into running an offense that's a little different.
But Monken is the man. I hope he gets a shot somewhere in the Power Five — assuming he wants to do that, he seems like a great fit at Army — because he's just awesome.
