The Chargers fired both Offensive Coordinator Joe Lombardi, and Quarterbacks Coach Shane Day on Tuesday morning. Losing both the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach most certainly means an entire scheme change for the Charger's offense. Here is a potential candidate to lead the Charger's offensive playcalling next season.
Todd Monken History
Todd Monken has been coaching for about 30 years, most of which remained in the college ranks. During Monken’s early coaching career as a graduate assistant, he met and coached with Brian Kelly at Grand Valley State in 1989. He continued his degree path and became a graduate assistant with Notre Dame from 1991-1992 under respected head coach Lou Holtz.
From 1993 to 1999, Monken coached wide receivers at Eastern Michigan, and was elevated to offensive coordinator during his final two seasons. At EMU, Monken was able to help develop his first successful college quarterback, Charlie Batch. Batch had two seasons passing for over 3,000 yards during his sophomore and senior seasons (his junior season lasted two games before a season ending injury) and Batch became a longtime backup in Pittsburgh in the NFL.
From 2001-2002, Monken coached running backs and wide receivers at Louisiana Tech. He accepted a position with Oklahoma State the following season as the teams Wide Receivers and Passing Game Coordinator. During his three seasons with the Cowboys, Monken was responsible for developing Josh Fields into a quality collegiate quarterback who could have had a shot in the NFL . Fields opted for a career in Major League Baseball where he was selected 18th-overall by the Chicago White Sox.
Monken was subsequently hired to the same position with LSU under Les Miles in 2005 and 2006, turning JaMarcus Russell into the 1st-overall pick in the 2007 NFL Draft. In 2007, Monken received his first opportunity coaching in the NFL with the Jacksonville Jaguars under Jack Del Rio where he remained for four seasons as their wide receivers coach. He returned to Oklahoma State as the Offensive Coordinator after Del Rio and his coaching staff were fired.
In 2016, Monken became the Wide Receivers coach and was promoted the following season to offensive coordinator by Dirk Koetter for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was then hired as the offensive coordinator in 2019 by Freddie Kitchens of the Cleveland Browns. Kitchens was let go with the rest of Kitchens coaching staff and Monken accepted a role as Offensive Coordinator with the Georgia Bulldogs where he has remained since.
Case For Todd Monken
Monken has a track record of developing players and pulling out the most of their abilities, even if coaches at the next level are not able to do so. Case in point: Charlie Batch, Luke McCown, and JaMarcus Russell.
Charlie Batch was drafted in 2nd round of 1998 NFL draft without a major skill position player, or even finishing better than 6 wins during his collegiate career. He still managed to have a 14-year NFL career with a Todd Monkin foundation put in place. Monken was also able to work with Luke McCown while at Louisiana tech, again without any major offensive talent on their roster, and McCown went on to have a 14-year career in the NFL as well.
While at LSU, Monken helped turn JaMarcus Russell into a Davey O’Brian Award Finalist and Manning Award recipient. Russell became the 1st-Overall Pick by the Oakland Raiders in the 2007 NFL Draft. Batch and McCown went on to have very long successful careers as backups in the NFL, and the JaMarcus Russell story proves that Monken is able to do things in quarterbacks that NFL coaches could not.
Monken was primarily a wide receivers coach and he helped develop a good handful over his collegiate career. At LSU, he helped Dwayne Bowe and Craig “Buster” Davis become first-round draft picks. Monken found success in helping to develop QB Josh Fields as Oklahoma States Passing Coordinator, but more impressive was his own protégé WR Rashaun Woods, whose 1,367 yards - 15 touchdown season made him a 1st-Round Draft Pick by the San Francisco 49ers.
Most recently, Monken has turned Georgia’s offense into a juggernaut capable of churning out NFL talent at multiple positions year in and year out. His list of NFL talent since taking over as offensive coordinator includes Zamir White, James Cook, George Pickens, Tre McKitty, Jamaree Salyer, Trey Hill, and Ben Cleveland. Sitting in the wakes is Stetson Bennett, Darnell Washington, Brock Bowers, Broderick Jones, and Kenny McIntosh.
Case Against
During 1993-1999, the Eastern Michigan football team didn’t exactly dominate the MAC conference. This was very early in Monken’s coaching career but it is notable considering the length of time he remained on the coaching staff finding little success. Also noticeable, Monken has never been a head coach in his 30-year career even having found success in the later half of that history.
Monken also was not overly successful during his stints in the NFL. During his time with the Jaguars, it was Maurice Jones-Drew that was the engine of their offense. As their wide receivers coach, the Jaguars failed to find a single 1,000 yard receiver in the four years Monken remained on the coaching staff. During the 2016-2018 seasons with the Buccaneers, Jamesis Winston was laughable. Mike Evans might have been an All-Pro level talent, but the rest of the offense struggled and finished with a 9-7 and 5-11 record while he was offensive coordinator. The 2019 Cleveland Browns finished 6-10, though the Browns took enormous steps forward from what they were previously.
Bottom Line
Todd Monken is the type of coach you want to have on the Chargers roster because of the wealth of experience he has, especially at coaching multiple positions. Monken has held the title of wide receivers coach, running backs coach, quarterbacks coach, passing game coordinator, and most importantly, offensive coordinator. That makes him a very well rounded with knowledge of multiple positions which can elevate the entire offense.
He has recently won multiple college football national championships at Georgia, and his college coaching experience has shown his ability to be a winner. While his NFL experience has not been overly successful, his NFL teams have not been bottom feeders either. Monken’s main draw is the ability to pull out the best in his players. He just needs to find a team with the right tools in the NFL, and he can coach a team to the Super Bowl.
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