Why Army's Jeff Monken Was Named 'Safest College Football Coach'

Army is coming off the best season in program history.

After joining the American Athletic Conference for their inaugural campaign last year, they ran over their opponents and won their first-ever conference title.

It's another high note in the tenure of head coach Jeff Monken, who continues to prove that he's one of the best coaches in the sport regardless of being at a military academy and not one of the marquee programs in the Big Ten or SEC.

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Because of his sustained success at Army, it wasn't a surprise to see CBS Sports list him as the "safest college football coach" when it comes to his job security.

But why exactly is that the case?

Tom Fornelli of CBS Sports laid out the reasons in a deep-dive piece, highlighting exactly why the Black Knights are going to keep him around for as long as they possibly can.

"It's easy to forget now, but the Army program Monken inherited was in poor shape. Life had not improved much after Army left C-USA and returned to being Independent. In 1996, two years before joining C-USA, the program went 10-2 under Bob Sutton. From 1997 to 2013, the program never won more than seven games in a single season ... While Army wouldn't win 10 games again until last year, Monken's teams have won at least eight games in six of his 11 seasons. They'd won eight or more games only six times between 1966 and 2015," he wrote.

That is a remarkable string of success put together by Monken, and it's one that Army understands doesn't come around very often.

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In the new era of college football, the fact Army joined one of the best Group of 5 conferences and immediately won the championship over the likes of NIL-rich Memphis and red-hot Tulane is a testament to what he's built in West Point.

Monken should be the coach at Army for as long as he wants.

And a whole lot of winning will continue to happen on the field with him as head coach.

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