| Cleveland Browns | |
|---|---|
| Title | Head coach |
| Personal information | |
| Born | February 5, 1966 Wheaton, Illinois, U.S. |
| Career information | |
| High school | Wheaton North (Wheaton, Illinois) |
| College | Knox (IL) (1986–1988) |
| Position | Quarterback |
| Career history | |
| |
| Awards and highlights | |
| |
| Head coaching record | |
| Regular season | NFL: 0–0 (–) |
| Career | NFL: 0–0 (–) NCAA: 13–26 (.333) |
| Coaching profile at Pro Football Reference | |
Todd Robert Monken (born February 5, 1966) is an American professional football coach and former quarterback who is the head coach for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the head coach at the University of Southern Mississippi from 2013 to 2015. Monken played college football at Knox College, in Galesburg, Illinois from 1986 to 1988.
Monken was born in Wheaton, Illinois. His father, Bob Monken, was a high school football coach in Illinois. He attended high school in Wheaton, when his father was an assistant coach at Lake Park High School in Roselle, Illinois. After graduation from high school in 1985, Monken enrolled at the Knox College and played quarterback for the Old Siwash, starting for two seasons, in addition he played on the baseball team. As a senior in 1988, he was named All-Midwest Conference South Division First Team and NCAA Division III All-American.
From 1989 to 1992, Monken was a graduate assistant coach at Grand Valley State University, and the University of Notre Dame under Tom Beck. In 1993, he joined the Eastern Michigan University football staff as a defensive backs coach under Ron Cooper, whom Monken worked with at Notre Dame. When Cooper left, he stayed on under the new coaching staff, eventually being elevated to offensive coordinator in 1998. Monken took a job at Louisiana Tech University as the wide receivers coach in 2000, before moving onto the same position at the Oklahoma State University in 2002. He followed head coach Les Miles to Louisiana State University in 2005 and 2006, he moved to the NFL in 2007, where he led the Jacksonville Jaguars wide receivers for four seasons. Monken returned to the college ranks in 2011 as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for two seasons.
Monken accepted the job as head football coach for the University of Southern Mississippi in 2013. Monken led the team to three consecutive improved seasons, culminating at a Conference USA Championship Game berth in 2015, where the Golden Eagles lost 28–45 to the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers.
On January 24, 2016, Monken left Southern Miss to return to the NFL, joining the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as their offensive coordinator. In 2019, he joined the Cleveland Browns as their offensive coordinator, when Freddie Kitchens was dismissed after a single season, Monken was named the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the University of Georgia, helping lead the team to consecutive berths in the College Football Playoff in the 2021 and 2022 season, winning back-to-back national championships in 2022 and 2022: the school's first since 1980. He then returned to the NFL as the offensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens from 2023 to 2025.
On January 28, 2026, Monken was named the head coach of the Cleveland Browns.
Born in Wheaton, Illinois, on February 5, 1966, Monken is the son of Jo Ellen (née Stewart) and Bob Monken. [1] Both Todd and his brothers Tony and Ted were born in Wheaton, while his father was a football coach at nearby Lake Park High School in Roselle. [2] Todd and his brothers attended Wheaton North High School, [3] where he played quarterback as well as shortstop on the Falcons baseball team.
In February 1985, Monken committed to play football for Bruce Craddock's Western Illinois Leathernecks football team as a preferred walk-on. [4] With the arrival of Paul Singer the same season for Western Illinois, Monken decided it would be best if he left Western Illinois, and transferred [5] to the College of DuPage, where he played as an outfielder for the College of DuPage in the spring of 1986. [4]
In the fall of 1986, Monken transferred to play football for Randy Oberembt's Knox Old Siwash football team. [6] As a sophomore in 1986 Monken, age 20, was a backup to quarterback Bob Monroe who had broken Knox's single season record with 2,365 yards of total offense in 1985. [7] In the 1986 season, Monroe started all 8 games, and was an All-Midwest Conference selection and an Honorable Mention All-American, while Monken backed him up and completed eleven of twenty-eight passes for 97 yards in limited action. [7]
In the spring of 1987, Monken was in a competition for Knox's starting quarterback job. Three-year starter Bob Monroe and Monken battled, and the coaching staff designed a time-share at the position due to both of their great play, with Monroe playing the first and third quarter, while Monken would play the second and fourth quarters. [4] With Monroe being left-handed and Monken being right-handed, their unique shared playing time also came with confusion for other teams to scheme against defensively. [4] [8] Monken completed 107 of 195 passes for 1,430 yards, fourteen touchdowns and six interceptions during his halved 1987 season. [4] [7]
In 1988, his final season at Knox, Monken started all 9 games at quarterback for Knox Old Siwash football team that compiled an 5–4 record, lost to Monmouth College in the 1988 Midwest Conference South Division. [9] In the fifth game of the season, Monken led Knox to a 30–27 victory over Cornell College. Monken completed 41 of 62 passes for 462 yards and four touchdowns. Setting a record that still stands for most completions in a game for the Old Siwash. [7] In the seventh game of the season, he broke his own Knox school record with 64 passing attempts, in a 30–37 defeat to Illinois College. [7]
For the season, Monken completed 218 of 358 passes for 2,400 yards, 23 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions. [7] His 23 passing touchdowns set a Knox season record that still stands. He also finished lead the country in pass attempts, completions, and completion percentage. [10] Monken won numerous honors in 1988 including the following:
Monken was also on the Knox baseball team, being named All-Midwest Conference as a junior and senior in 1987 and 1988 respectively. [15] [16]
While attending Knox, he was a member of the Xi Chapter of Beta Theta Pi. He earned a bachelor's degree in economics from Knox and a master's degree in education leadership from Grand Valley State University. [13]
| Season | Games | Passing | Rushing | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Record | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Avg | TD | INT | Rtg | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | |
Knox Old Siwash | |||||||||||||||
| 1986 | 3 | 0 | 0–0 | 11 | 28 | 39.3 | 97 | 3.5 | 1 | 0 | 37.3 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 |
| 1987 | 9 | 0 | 0–0 | 107 | 195 | 54.9 | 1,430 | 7.3 | 14 | 6 | 134.0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 |
| 1988 | 9 | 9 | 5–4 | 218 | 358 | 60.9 | 2,400 | 6.7 | 23 | 11 | 132.3 | 0 | -166 | – | 0 |
| Career | 21 | 9 | 5–4 | 336 | 581 | 57.8 | 3,927 | 6.8 | 38 | 17 | 130.3 | 0 | -166 | – | 0 |
Monken got his start in coaching at Grand Valley State as a graduate assistant under head coach, Tom Beck. [18] During his two years at Grand Valley (1989–1990), Monken coached with defensive coordinator, Brian Kelly. [19] When Beck moved to Notre Dame as offensive coordinator in 1991, Monken also joined the staff as a graduate assistant. [20]
When Notre Dame assistant coach Ron Cooper was named the head coach of the Eastern Michigan football program, he hired Monken to join his staff as a full-time assistant, earning $28,000 a year. [21] Monken's role with the Eagles in 1993 and 1994 was as the defensive backs coach, helping tutor players like Vashone Adams and Ron Rice. In 1995, when Cooper moved on to coach at Louisville, new Eastern Michigan head coach Rick Rasnick kept Monken on staff but moved him to the offensive side of the ball, where he coached wide receivers. [22] Under Monken the receivers saw several records broken, the first one by Steve Clay for receiving yards in a single season with 999, earning First Team All-Mid-American Conference (MAC). [23] Clay's big season also allowed him to leave the career leader in receiver yards as well. The following year, Ontario Pryor broke Clay's record for single-season receiving yards with 1,031. [23] Monken was promoted to offensive coordinator in 1998, and served in that position until 1999.
In 2007, Monken was hired by the Jacksonville Jaguars to be their wide receivers coach. He was there until he returned to Oklahoma State in 2010 for two seasons.
In his second stint at Oklahoma State, Monken tutored Justin Blackmon into one of the best receivers in college football. Mike Gundy introduced Monken as the next offensive coordinator tasked with keeping one of the nation's best offenses as potent as it has been in recent years. Gundy stated, “Todd is a really good fit for what we need. He’s been in the Big 12 and SEC and he’s coached at places that have won at a high level. He’s an experienced, intelligent coach who will be able to come in and help us pick up where we left off. We’re excited to have him join our staff.” [24]
On December 10, 2012, it was reported that Monken accepted the position as head coach of the Southern Miss football team. [25] He was hired to replace Ellis Johnson after an 0–12 season. [25] Monken guided the program to an impressive turn-around in his third season there (2015), finishing with a 9–5 record and playing in the Heart of Dallas Bowl. For his efforts, Monken was named Conference USA Coach of the Year.
On January 24, 2016, Monken was hired by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to be their offensive coordinator. [26] After head coach Dirk Koetter was fired after the 2018 season, Monken was not retained on new head coach Bruce Arians' staff.
On January 14, 2019, Monken was hired by the Cleveland Browns to be their offensive coordinator under new head coach Freddie Kitchens. [27]
On January 17, 2020, Monken was hired by the Georgia Bulldogs to be their offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach under head coach, Kirby Smart. [28] He was part of the Bulldogs' coaching staff that won the National Championship over Alabama in the 2021 season. [29] Monken won his second championship as part of the Georgia coaching staff when they defeated TCU 65–7 in the National Championship. [30]
On February 14, 2023, the Baltimore Ravens hired Monken as their offensive coordinator after the departure of Greg Roman. [31]
In his first season as Baltimore's offensive coordinator, the Ravens went 13–4 and achieved the AFC's top seed in the 2023-24 NFL playoffs. However, the Ravens eventually lost to the Kansas City Chiefs by a final score of 17–10 in the AFC Championship Game. Monken was widely criticized by NFL fans and analysts for abandoning the team's top-ranked rushing attack during the team's season-ending loss to Kansas City. [32] [33] [34]
On January 27, 2025, the Ravens signed Monken to a contract extension. [35]
On January 28, 2026, Monken was hired as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns. [36]
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southern Miss Golden Eagles (Conference USA)(2013–2015) | |||||||||
| 2013 | Southern Miss | 1–11 | 1–7 | T–5th (East) | |||||
| 2014 | Southern Miss | 3–9 | 1–7 | 6th (West) | |||||
| 2015 | Southern Miss | 9–5 | 7–1 | 1st (West) | L Heart of Dallas | ||||
| Southern Miss: | 13–25 | 9–15 | |||||||
| Total: | 13–25 | ||||||||
| National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth | |||||||||
| Team | Year | Regular season | Postseason | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Won | Lost | Ties | Win % | Finish | Won | Lost | Win % | Result | ||
| CLE | 2026 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | TBD in AFC North | — | — | — | — |
| Total | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | – | |||
Monken and his wife, Terri, have a son, Travis. [13] Monken is a cousin of Army head coach Jeff Monken. His younger brother, Ted, is the former head football coach for St. Charles East High School and West Chicago Community High School, and current defensive coordinator at Glenbard South High School. [37]