Jeff Monken sits in a brown, overstuffed leather chair just inside the door to his office at West Point. He is turned toward the Lusk Reservoir, a body of water that serves as a trivia question for incoming plebes. On command, one might be forced to tell a superior officer that, when the water is flowing over the spillway, there are 78 million gallons there. Before the football stadium was built almost a century ago, plebes know, it was 92.2 million gallons.
Coaching football at Army has obvious challenges, but Monken often chooses to focus on the silver linings. For example, his undersized roster is going to hurl itself full force against any opponent, like they did during a game in 2018 when the Black Knights nearly beat an Oklahoma team led by future No. 1 NFL draft pick Kyler Murray.
His expectations are clearly outlined: Beat the Naval Academy and Air Force (an objective he solidifies by having their logos placed on urinal scent cakes in the public restroom near the coaches’ suite). And everyone under his command has the mentality to be prepared for anything, be it white-knuckle cadet field training against active soldiers at Camp Buckner (legitimate, full-fledged war games the Black Knights players have to participate in), or a piece of West Point minutia about that pond next to their field.
