Cover Story: The Evolution of Todd Monken

By: Ryan Mink

Todd Monken was 4 years old when he started watching football film.

His father, Bob, was the head coach at Lake Park High School in Illinois for 30 years. After Saturday night games, Todd rode with his dad the next morning to pick up the tape. Then they'd retire to the basement.

"He sat in my lap and watched it with me," Bob said. "He was connected to football from the time he was born."

Bob had four brothers. They were all high school football head coaches. Those five brothers had seven sons. Except Todd, they all coached or still coach high school football.

The lineage continues. Todd's son, Travis, is a senior at Oklahoma State and is entering his fourth season as a student football assistant. That's three generations and 13 football coaches in the Monken family. It's the family business.

There are five Monkens in the Illinois high school football coaches hall of fame, but Todd isn't one of them. He launched his career in college and has climbed the highest of anyone in his family. Thirty-four years and 13 moves later, Monken is in Baltimore – back in the NFL and in position to have his greatest success yet.

Since Monken was introduced as the Ravens' new offensive coordinator on Feb. 21, quarterback Lamar Jackson signed a long-term extension and Baltimore assembled its most talented wide receiver room in franchise history, signing superstar Odell Beckham Jr. and veteran Nelson Agholor, and drafting Zay Flowers in the first round. The Ravens still have one of the game's top tight ends, a strong returning offensive line, and a deep and dynamic running back corps.

The pieces are in place, and Monken is at the controls. If his offense is a hit, the Ravens have a legitimate chance to reach the Super Bowl that has eluded them over the first five years of the Jackson era. With Monken coming off back-to-back college football championships at Georgia, the hope is that he can also help deliver a trophy to Baltimore.

When Monken kicks off his first season as the Ravens' offensive play-caller Sunday, sitting in a booth high above the turf at M&T Bank Stadium so his emotions don't get the best of him, he'll sit on a mountain of experiences and influences that have led him to this opportunity.

Monken doesn't come from a coaching tree. He comes from a coaching forest, anchored by his family's football roots. And the 2023 version of Monken's offense will be unlike anything anyone has seen before.

"I'm very excited – very, very excited," tight end Mark Andrews said. "I have a lot of faith and trust in Coach Monken and the way that he sees the game. He's very good at what he does."

'Your Heroes Were Your Dad's Players'

Todd started routinely going to his dad's high school football practices when he was in early elementary school – too early to remember it clearly.

"I was trying not to piss off dad, probably dicking around somewhere behind the stands or something," he said.

His father's recollection is a little different. Bob remembers Todd finding a helmet and shoulder pads to slap on and hitting the tackling dummies, trying to do whatever the players did.

"He was just part of us," Bill said. "I didn't have to worry about him during practice. He was right there with the players. He was always there."

One of Todd's fondest memories is summers when his dad took his team to Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisc., for a week and all the coaches, their kids, and the players stayed in the dorms. They took field trips to Green Bay to the Packers Hall of Fame and watched the players ride bicycles to training camp practice.

Todd's identity was as a Lake Park Lancer. He had a scrapbook with pictures of his dad's players.

"Your heroes were your dad's players," Todd said. "After being a little kid when my mom would make my Halloween costumes, I bet I went as a football player for freakin' eight years in a row or something."

Monken family holidays were a football convention. They convened for either Thanksgiving or Christmas with 18 grandchildren, including 11 boys, crammed into three nearby houses. They played football every day, came back with black eyes and ice bags on their heads, and held boxing matches in the basement at night.

One of the cousins Todd was closest with is Jeff Monken, who is in his 10th season as the head football coach at Army. Asked what Todd was like as a kid, Jeff answered with no hesitation.

"Funny," he said. "That guy loves life. He always has. He's a fierce competitor, but personally kind of laid back. He likes to joke, likes to laugh. He's still the same way."

One of Jeff's favorite childhood stories is a time when the boys were running through the hallways the morning after a sleepover probably full of combat. Todd's little brother, Ted, ran straight at Jeff, said "You wanna fight?!" and punched him square in the nose. Jeff gushed blood. Todd looked at him and wise cracked something like, "Well, you're no boxer."

"I couldn't help but laugh, blood running down my teeth," Jeff said.

Of course, there was plenty of football talk during the holidays among the adults, with it soaking into the kids via osmosis when they weren't trying to kill each other. It wasn't arguments, just talking about the game. Jeff's father, Mike, coached at Joilet East and Joilet Central High in Illinois for more than 30 years. He and Bob are both in the Illinois hall of fame.

"Our dads were so influential in their communities," Jeff said. "They coached their players just like they fathered us. They were very caring, very loving, but they were all disciplinarians. It wasn't just activity time. They wanted to build teams and build young men.

"When you're around people like that that love what they do and are respected because of the way they treat people, it makes you want to be a part of that. I think it attracted all of us to want to go into that profession ourselves."

For Todd, the love of coaching is also just an extension of his childhood. He just loved being around the guys and the game.

"I think when you've been part of a team since 5 years old, there's something about being part of the team. It's being part of something greater than yourself, helping others succeed," he said. "Then there's the strategic part of it. My whole family is in teaching, so there's a teaching element to it. How do you maximize someone's measurable skillset?"

As he got older, Todd drew up offensive plays for his father. They ran one in a scrimmage, Bob said, but never in a real game. It was in high school when Todd first thought he might want to follow in the family business and someday become a coach. Then he could call his own plays.

He knew the first step would be to play, and he was good at that too. A quarterback at Knox College in Illinois, Monken led the nation in passing attempts, completions and completion percentage in 1988. He finished with eight different Knox College records.

But Todd always viewed playing in college as his appetizer to coaching, and he got his start at Grand Valley State under Tom Beck as a graduate assistant in 1989. Todd was paid $5,000 to basically be the running backs coach, and his parents helped him make ends meet.

"Once I decided I wanted to coach, I wanted to do it at the highest level," Todd said. "I had no thought that I would ever get to the Baltimore Ravens. I just thought, 'Man, if I could coach in college.' That was a pipe dream. Your dad is a high school coach and you're not connected that way. How are you ever going to get to that?

"But I figured if I'm going to do it, let's go ahead and do it. If I didn't do that, I probably would have been a shop teacher at Washington High School, having a $7,000 stipend and getting pissed off at some kid that doesn't know how to build a countertop the right way."

That's Monken's modesty (and sense of humor) coming through.

"He's really, really smart. I envy that as a coach. I envy the knowledge he has for the game and the way he sees things, recognizes things, adjusts in-game while things are going on," Jeff said. "He's a smart guy, a tremendous leader, and he has a great personality. He could have done a lot of things, but he's doing exactly what God engineered him to do."

'It's a Big-Ass Coaching Tree'

Todd and his wife, Terri Monken, met at a funeral. Todd jokes that he was the original funeral crasher.

She was struck by his blue eyes and the vulnerability of a tough football guy to show his emotions. How soon did she find out he was very into football?

"Oh, probably within the first few minutes of talking to him," Terri said. "It's in his DNA. You just always know there's three people in the room: you, him, and football."

After dating for six years, the two were married in 1991, 32 years ago. They've moved 13 times since.

"You get used to the smell of cardboard," Terri said with a laugh. "I don't think Todd's got 'settle' in his bones. He loves to chase the opportunity. And every step, for the most part, has been a phenomenal move."

When they got hitched, Todd was in his second graduate assistant coaching job, this time at Notre Dame, where Beck had become the offensive coordinator under legendary Lou Holtz. From there, it was on to Eastern Michigan (1993-1999), where Monken worked his way up to offensive coordinator and called plays for the first time in 1999. In his first game, they had seven straight three-and-outs.

"I mean, holy (crap)," Monken said. "You talk about wanting to quit calling plays. I mean, my goodness. So, that was awful. I mean, I was like, 'I thought this was going to be fun; this is terrible.' There's nowhere to go. You can't complain about the play-caller. You're that guy."

After that, Monken went to Louisiana Tech (2000-2001), Oklahoma State (2002-2004), and LSU (2005-2006), mostly coaching wide receivers. In 2007, Jack Del Rio gave Monken his first job in the NFL with the Jacksonville Jaguars as the wide receivers coach. For four years, he worked under offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter, who became one of the biggest coaching influencers of his career.

In 2011, Monken left the Jaguars to take a job under Mike Gundy as the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State. That's where he broke out of his wide receivers coaching track and got his first gig as an offensive coordinator at a big-time program.

In Todd's first season as the play-caller, the Cowboys averaged a mind-blowing 48.7 points per game with Brandon Weeden at quarterback, Justin Blackmon at wide receiver, and an Air Raid offense at their fingertips. This time, calling plays went a lot better.

In 2013, Monken took his first and only head coaching job at Southern Mississippi, where he inherited an 0-12 program and turned them around into a bowl game participant in three seasons. But he didn't like all the extra non-football headaches that came with it, so he resigned to go back to the NFL.

In 2016, Monken reunited with Koetter, then the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, as his offensive coordinator. Their offense was pretty good the first two years (18th in yards, then ninth the year following). When Koetter handed off play-calling duties to Monken in 2018, it took off.

In the first game that season, the Bucs traveled to New Orleans to face the rival Saints. Ryan Fitzpatrick, a 35-year-old journeyman, threw for 417 yards and four touchdowns in a 48-40 Week 1 win.

"That's a very tough place to win," Koetter said. "It was bombs away that day. Monk lit them up."

In Fitzpatrick's next two games, he threw for 402 and 411 yards. It was the revival of "Fitzmagic" and birth of Monken's NFL notoriety.

The NFL landscape was floored by the Bucs' offensive explosion. The Ringer’s Robert Mays broke down how Monken had “unleashed” Bucs receivers Mike Evans, DeSean Jackson and Chris Godwin, and built trust with his quarterback by creating clear windows that Fitzpatrick had no hesitation ripping passes into even well before there was separation.

Fitzpatrick's gunslinger style and Monken's aggressive play-calling were a hit. Tampa Bay led the NFL in passing and finished third in total offense, setting single-season club records in each category.

"He was obviously ready for the moment," Fitzpatrick said. "A lot of his background is in that Air Raid offense and throwing the ball all over. It's the absence of fear – the absence of fear as a play-caller and having the absence of fear at quarterback. It's not being afraid to give guys chances.

"I think the biggest thing I enjoyed about him was the empowerment that he gives the quarterback and the confidence. As a quarterback that had been in the league for a few years – that was Year 13 or 14 for me – you can tell if the play-caller has confidence in you when the plays are coming in. That was a big thing for me. I always knew that Todd trusted me, that he believed in me, and that came across through the headset."

Despite the Bucs' prolific 2018 offense, their defense struggled mightily and they finished 5-11. Koetter was fired following the last game, and incoming Bucs coach Bruce Arians didn't retain Monken.

So in 2019, Monken went to the Cleveland Browns to be their offensive coordinator under first-year head coach Freddie Kitchens. However, Kitchens retained play-calling duties, and he didn't give it up, even as the offense sputtered.

After a 6-10 finish, Kitchens was fired after just one year and Todd was again a free agent, unsure of whether he would get another shot in the NFL. It's the only one-year stop on Monken's extensive resume. The regret from the Cleveland experience stuck with Monken, but he learned from it just like he did from years of success at other places.

Beckham was with Monken that year in Cleveland, and he saw the toll it took on him.

"Cleveland may not have went the way he expected, but he went to Georgia and had a lot of success," Beckham said. "I feel like it's a 'Stella Got Her Groove Back' kind of thing. That gave him a lot of confidence to be the coach he is today. Now he's perfect for this opportunity. I think he knows what he has and what he's capable of doing."

At Georgia, Monken knew Head Coach Kirby Smart had a loaded defense, and if he could lift the offense, the school could break its 41-year championship drought. Sure enough, they won the national title in Monken's second year with an offense that ranked in the top 10 in points per game (38.6). Then they won it again last season, this time with an offense that scored the most points and piled up the most net yards in the country.

Georgia's offense looked very different from the "Air Raid" Todd ran at Oklahoma State and Tampa Bay. Georgia ran the ball more than it threw it, and the tight ends were heavily featured in play-action attacks. No player topped 1,000 receiving yards. He continued to evolve, showing his ability to marry his scheme with the strengths of his players.

Monken views his coaching career to this point as a tapestry. He took a little from here, there, and everywhere and wove it all together.

"It's a big-ass coaching tree," Monken said. "I wouldn't be where I'm at without a lot of people. It started with my father and my family, and the foundation of your belief system. And that grows. Then you're the subject of who you get around.

"Every step, you learn, even when it doesn't go the way you hope. There are things you can do better and things you'll never do again when you get a second opportunity. I'm better today than I was yesterday. I'm certainly better than I was three or four years ago, in a lot of ways."

'I'm Using the F-Word a Little Too Much'

Labor Day weekend is the final break for NFL players and coaches, one last hurrah with the family after the grind of training camp and before the start of the regular season.

On Saturday, Monken gave himself a little break. On a typical day, he's out the door by 6:05 a.m. On a day off, he left for the Under Armour Performance Center at 6:30.

"Work is always there," Terri said. "He's always looking at film, drawing up plays, writing up notes on what to do better. He's always trying to come up with sayings or words to reach the players. I don't want to say obsessed, but he's all-in. If there's 24 hours in the day, we're going to try to squeeze out 24 hours and five minutes."

Todd carries a notebook around with him, just in case inspiration strikes. If his son Travis is in town from college and they go out to dinner, someone walks away with a play scribbled on a napkin.

"It's crazy how much time he puts into it, just to make sure he's getting the best product to the players so he can put them in the best opportunity to win," said Travis, who was at Ravens OTAs and minicamp, helping out wherever he could, learning, and getting some time with dad.

"He's kept his juice. He loves it out there. He's always out there yelling and screaming, trying to get everyone involved."

As is the case for a lot of NFL coaches, family time – especially in the season – is extremely limited. The routine when Travis was a kid was for he and dad to watch "The Simpsons" on Wednesday nights together. Other than sometimes watching TV in bed, Todd has no hobbies, Terri said.

"When normal families come home and talk about their days, we just talk about football," Travis said. "That's really what our days are. It's how to beat Cover-3, what are we doing here, what happens when this guy does that. It's always talking ball, trying to get better."

That's how Monken stays ahead of the game. He's constantly thinking, researching, talking. It's an endless search for more wrinkles to add to his offense because if you don't, the opponent can catch up quickly.

In 2019, Greg Roman and the Ravens took the league by storm with a revolutionary run-heavy scheme centered around Jackson's extraordinary running talent. Behind the league's highest-scoring offense, the Ravens went 14-2 and broke numerous rushing records. Jackson was named the unanimous MVP and Roman was the AP Assistant Coach of the Year. That was only four years ago.

Now Roman is gone and Monken has ushered in a very different scheme. The revolution came and went. Now it's an offensive evolution in Baltimore.

"One thing we believe here is you have to keep things moving. The fundamentals don't ever really change, but the methods, the schemes, the Xs and Os, they've always got to be evolving because you're competing," Head Coach John Harbaugh said. "One thing I appreciate about Todd is he brings that philosophy to the table. He's not locked into a system. I like the fact that he's always looking for the next play."

One offensive mind that Harbaugh and Monken both admire is Kansas City Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid. Reid is known for getting plays from anywhere, even attending high school games to find new wrinkles. He recently told a story about getting a touchdown play from a janitor.

"What parts of the business do you enjoy?" Monken said. "If you really enjoy creativity and watching film, you're not pigeonholed into one system. To me, that keeps it fresh. If you have lots of things you like outside of football, well, there's only 24 hours in the day. So what do you do with your free time? Do you watch film?

During training camp, Jackson saw some routes on social media that he liked and sent it to Quarterbacks Coach Tee Martin, who relayed the message to Monken. Monken put them into practice.

"It made me feel good. Coach listens to me," Jackson said. "Coach is basically just giving us the keys to the offense. I'm loving it."

Fitzpatrick said the empowerment that Monken gives his players shows itself in the classroom and on gameday. It's not talking about one thing and doing another.

"It's not being conservative," Fitzpatrick said. "It's following through on some of those things you talk about during the week, whether it's taking a shot on first or second down. Or it's using the input that a quarterback gives you and throwing that into a play-call. Even though it's a tiny thing, for a quarterback to feel some ownership into the things they're doing, I think it makes it work that much better and makes you want to be that much more successful."

That outlook is something Monken learned from Koetter, who empowered him years ago as a first-time NFL coach, and then again as a first-time NFL offensive coordinator.

"It seems pretty normal that the guy in charge has a big say in what we do and how we do it. His career is on the line and how we have success is on the line," Monken said. "I think the more you empower people – it's not just the quarterback – the more you empower people, your coaches, your staff, people that work for you, the more you empower them to me, you're going to get more out of them."

But while listening to your players is an important part of the job, Monken knows what he likes and what he doesn't. And he's not afraid to let his players know. There's a reason why Monken's voice always sounds hoarse.

"He's not a guy that's going to tell you what you want to hear," Koetter said. "He's a straight shooter. Players want to be coached, but they also want to be told the truth."

"He pushes guys. He's demanding," Jeff Monken said. "But he still makes people very comfortable around him. Even though he's trying to get more out of you or tell you he's not happy with the performance, he tells you in a way that makes you want to do better, and do better for him because you like him."

Ravens players echo that sentiment. Given their time together in Cleveland, Beckham knows the way Monken ticks.

"He doesn't sugarcoat things," Beckham said. "I've had private conversations with him like, 'Hey, anything that needs to be said, let's say it.' Because I can respect a man telling me what it is. I have a lot of respect for Coach."

During practices this summer, Monken was often the loudest and most demonstrative person on the field. One day, reporters were stunned watching him stomp out the exact depth he wanted from a receiver's route after he ran it wrong. It's a major departure from Roman's more reserved demeanor.

"He's going to get on us," Jackson said. "Coach wants us to be great. He's trying to figure out the players, figure out our mindset, how we think and stuff like that. He wants the best for us and he wants to win."

Jackson chuckled talking about how loud Monken is in the meeting room, even first thing in the morning.

"I'm like, 'It's early.' He has his blood flowing," Jackson said. "In the meeting rooms, he's going to have you laughing, but he's dead serious about what he's saying. It means a lot just for him to have that going on in our offense. Everybody has to be dialed in, know what coach is thinking."

But just like his schemes and playbook continue to evolve, so does the way Monken interacts with players.

"I wouldn't say that I always handled it the right way at other stops," Monken said, a reference to Cleveland. "I promised myself that if I ever got another chance in the NFL, I would do it differently."

As he has with the other coaching influences in his life, Monken is learning from Harbaugh, a master at managing relationships who brings a boundless energy to the job, attacking it with "an enthusiasm unknown to mankind," a phrase instilled in Harbaugh from his father. They're both coach's kids, both products of their upbringing.

Monken has been around more abrasive coaching styles, which fit his no-nonsense approach. Though he has equally high standards, Harbaugh goes about it differently.

"I've gotten a lot better at it," Monken said. "I think it helps when you work for a guy like Coach. How he approaches them makes it easy for you to approach it that way. The head coach is fired up. If he's crazed, you're going to be a little more crazed."

Harbaugh has been impressed by his hire. Asked what has stood out most about Monken since his arrival, Harbaugh said his energy and coaching the details.

"He's very detail-oriented in all the little things and expects the guys to execute at a high level," Harbaugh said. "To me, that's what great coaches do."

'He's Going to Go For It'

So what's Monken's offense going to look like this season?

Like his "Air Raid" days at Oklahoma State and Tampa Bay, it's going to utilize more 11 personnel with three-wide receiver sets featuring Beckham, Rashod Bateman and Flowers.

Monken's Ravens offense is also going to pound the rock with J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards, just like his outfits did in Cleveland and at Georgia. It's going to get mismatches for Andrews and the tight ends. It's going to have a faster pace. It's going to take more shots down the field. It's going to have fewer scripted quarterback runs (but still some).

Monken doesn't like the perception that it's "his" offense. It's the Ravens' offense, with his flavor. It will be a blend of what Baltimore has done before, with input from the Ravens' coaches and players, and infused with Monken's spices that he's collected from all his stops.

But there's no doubt that it will look and feel different from what fans have seen the past several years, and perhaps ever, in Baltimore.

"He's going to go for it," Jeff Monken said. "He's very aggressive with the way he coaches, but he's not reckless. He's going to take calculated chances at things that he believes in."

Monken feels fortunate to be working with a quarterback as talented as Jackson, happy to have been delivered so many "fun little toys," as he described Flowers this summer, and blessed to be part of the Ravens' well-run organization.

"I wasn't leaving Georgia just for any job. This is an elite place," he said. "We have everything we need to be successful, from top to bottom, including the players. I said that to them today. That makes you come to work and say, 'What did I do to deserve this?'"

Monken's offense was lights out in Tampa Bay, but the defense was one of the worst in the league. In Cleveland, he didn't get to call the plays. At Georgia, when he had the offensive reins, talented players, and an elite defense, two national championships ensued. Monken now has the same in Baltimore.

Monken doesn't feel pressure. He's been too many places, coached too long for that. But he knows the job description.

"We're in the entertainment business. The moment we're not entertaining, you stop getting paid," he said. "That's just the way this works. I try not to take that for granted. The moment you do, to me, you're not on the cutting edge. You're not trying to do it better than they do it."

Monken is passionate about winning. Anybody that's seen the videos of him in the Georgia coaches' booth knows that.

"Any emotions come from moments that are important," Monken said. "When you don't really care, those emotions don't come out. It's just a hobby. But when it's a passion, when it's everything you put into it, it comes out."

There will be a lot of attention on the Ravens' offense this season. There will be plenty of dissection and opinions about Monken's scheme and play-calling after every game. That's just the way it works.

"Inevitably, installing a new offense with some new receivers being brought in, there's going to be some growing pains," predicted Fitzpatrick, who will be in the analyst booth for Amazon Prime Video when the Ravens play the Bengals on "Thursday Night Football" in Week 11.

"The Ravens have a good defense and the ultimate get-out-of-jail-free card, which is when things break down, Lamar's going to be able to get them out of trouble. Whether it's scrambling around and throwing the ball downfield, or scrambling around and making great runs, those things are going to buy a little bit of patience and they'll be able to still have success as this team is learning and growing in this new offense. But when you look at their offense and adding Odell and adding Zay Flowers and getting healthier, this is a very scary offense."

Monken's family will be watching, and they'll have their input, too.

"I keep waiting for the headset," Terri said. "Poor guy, I'll get him after a game and I'm always going to ask, 'Why not here? Why didn't you do this play? Why up the middle again?' He's like, 'Can't you just say I'm great and great win, and not dissect it?' I'm like, 'Well you do, so what do you think I'm used to?'"

"They're going to love playing for him," Jeff said. "The city of Baltimore and Ravens fans are going to love the offense. It will be fun to watch, entertaining to watch, but it's also going to be very productive."

Most importantly, Ravens players feel confident.

"I love him," Dobbins said. "I think it's going to be a very good year with him. You'll see."

"We have a great coach," added Jackson. "I like him a lot. He's fun to be around, a smart guy – very smart. We just have to execute for him."