Todd Monken NFL rumors the price of championships for Georgia football

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Todd Monken NFL rumors the price of championships for Georgia football

Georgia’s offense was already going to look different in 2023. Gone is Stetson Bennett, who started 27 of Georgia’s past 30 games over the last two championship seasons. The Bulldogs will have a new quarterback next season, whether it be Carson Beck, Brock Vandagriff or Gunner Stockton.

“Those three guys will get to battle it out. And they’ll learn a lot,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said after the national championship game. “Coach Monken does an unbelievable job in that room. And he did an unbelievable job with Stetson.”

But now it seems like Monken may not be around for that job with Georgia’s quarterbacks. Monken reportedly interviewed for the Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator job last week and is set to do so with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this week.

Given the work Monken has done with the Georgia offense, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that NFL teams are interested in what Monken can cook up. Georgia’s offense statistically improved every season under Monken, peaking in 2022 as the Bulldogs averaged 41.1 points per game and 501.1 yards per game.

Related: Georgia football offensive future in flux with Todd Monken pondering next move

Monken has never been a coach to spend a long time in one place, as just once in his coaching career has he spent more than three seasons in one role. That came when he served as the wide receivers coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2007 through 2010.

But just because Monken is interviewing elsewhere does not yet mean that he is leaving Athens. Monken was out recruiting for Georgia last week, visiting 2024 quarterbacks Dylan Raiola and Ryan Puglisi. He also saw 2023 tight end target Walker Lyons last week as well.

Monken later quipped that he doesn’t have much control as far as what gets reported in the media, and that very much seems to be the case as Georgia heads toward National Signing Day while NFL teams aim to fill their offensive coordinator openings. There’s a legitimate interest in what Monken is going to do, at both the college and pro levels.

For Smart though, this is nothing new. It’s becoming a new normal at Georgia when it comes to replacing assistant coaches. Georgia had to replace four assistants after the 2021 championship run. In his seven seasons at Georgia, Smart has had to replace a coordinator four times already. Three of those changes were made because the previous coordinator left for a better or higher-paying job.

The exception came following the 2019 season when he replaced James Coley with Monken. Coley had been promoted as the sole offensive coordinator just one season before to after Jim Chaney left to get a pay raise as Tennessee’s offensive coordinator.

For the most part, Smart has done an excellent job when it comes to replacing his coordinators. When Lanning left for the Oregon head coaching job, Glenn Schumann and Will Muschamp took up co-defensive coordinator titles. While the defense did struggle at the end of the season, the unit once again played a key part in winning Georgia another championship.

Related: ESPN says Georgia could have the best offensive and defensive player in college football for 2023 season

Whether it comes next week or next year, at some point Smart will replace Monken. That’s the nature of being a championship-winning program. Other programs are going to want to hire your coaches and it is up to you to keep innovating and finding new hires.