Nine months after his Black Knights ended Navy’s rivalry win streak and two games into a so-far unbeaten season, Army West Point head football coach Jeff Monken has signed a multiyear contract extension, the school announced Thursday.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Monken made $932,521 in salary in 2016, according to USA Today’s annual report on college coach pay; he also earned a $50,000 bonus for beating Navy, according to contract terms reported by Newsday.
While the length of the new deal wasn’t released, the old deal kept the coach on the Army sideline through the 2020 season, per Newsday.
Army athletics director Boo Corrigan called the deal a “natural progression” in the news release announcing the move. He praised Monken and his staff for “believe strongly in the academy's larger mission of developing leaders of character to lead the U.S. Army.”
Now in his fourth season, Monken has a 16-23 record at Army after coming to West Point from Georgia Southern, which was then in the lower-tier Football Championship Subdivision. After going 4-8 in 2014 and 2-10 the following year, Monken led the Black Knights to an 8-5 record in 2016, including the streak-busting win over Navy and a victory in the Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowl over North Texas. It was the first Army bowl win since 2010.
Monken’s old contract earned him more than Air Force head coach Troy Calhoun, who made $800,000 in salary in 2016, per USA Today. Navy’s Ken Niumatalolo made $2 million.
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"My family and I are humbled and honored to be associated with the world's premiere leadership institution,” Monken said in the release, “and I am especially proud to have the privilege of coaching the outstanding young men that make up the Army West Point Football Brotherhood at the United States Military Academy."
The Black Knights visit Ohio State (1-1, No. 8 in the Associated Press poll) on Saturday afternoon (4:30 p.m. Eastern, Fox TV). The Buckeyes are 30-point favorites.
Kevin Lilley is the features editor of Military Times.
