ATHENS, Ga. — Todd Monken has a brilliant offensive mind. He also has a witty, sarcastic mind, and one of the jokes he cracked six weeks ago was about Mike Bobo’s return to Georgia and how Kirby Smart pitched the idea to him: “I knew he was going to join the staff would whether I agree with it or not. It does not matter. So he made it seem like it was my choice, but it really wasn’t.”
That got the media contingent laughing, but with the news of Monken joining the Baltimore Ravens and Bobo stepping into his (old) role as offensive coordinator for Georgia, it’s worth remembering what Monken said next. He mentioned how Bobo displayed a “lack of ego” in his role as an analyst, designed playing cards “like a 22-year-old” and was generally invaluable.
“And having guys like that who check their ego and have to put up with my ass every day and who I am and bring extreme value to our employees,” Monken said. “I’m thrilled that Mike is here and I hope he stays here for a long time.”
Yes. So, about that…
What’s old is new again, with Bobo’s promotion to offensive coordinator being announced within an hour of the Ravens announcing the hiring of Monken on Tuesday. There were two other options for Smart to replace Monken, and each had their advantages but also their disadvantages:
• Look outside the program. Smart may have been doing that quietly behind the scenes, just as he teamed up with Monken after the 2019 season for a job that was still technically held by James Coley. But home run staff might not have been available: Look at the trouble Nick Saban had finding a new offensive coordinator before landing on Tommy Rees, who has been troubled at Notre Dame in recent years. And now Notre Dame is struggling to find a replacement for Rees.
• Promote Buster Faulkner, who has been an analyst at Monken for the past three years after serving as offensive coordinator at Southern Miss. While Faulkner was intriguing because of his youth and the unknown that comes with perceived rising stars, he was also never called a game in the SEC. There was some thought that he would be trained as Monken’s eventual successor, but when Faulkner accepted the job as Georgia Tech’s offensive coordinator, it indicated that he knew he wouldn’t get the job immediately if Monken left.
Todd Monken was Georgia’s offensive coordinator for three seasons and helped lead the Bulldogs to two national titles. (Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
Bobo, on the other hand, is neither the brilliant choice nor the NFL’s nurtured coordinator who comes to Athens with his new ideas. Bobo is the safe, trusted choice, which could make him a perfect choice.
There’s more talent there than Bobo had during his first stint and a lot more than Bobo had in South Carolina in 2020 or Auburn in 2021. He should also have better defense to lean on than the possible exception of a year in Georgia (2011, which failed to sustain his success) at any point in his career.
Despite this, it will be difficult to replace Monken. He’s brilliant as a play-caller on Saturdays and puts together an offense Sunday through Friday. The results speak for themselves: last year he led an offensive averaging 41.1 points, the second-highest in Georgian history.
First up is 41.3 in the 2014 season under Bobo.
Monken also led an offensive in Georgia that has ranked fourth nationally for each of the past two years, the second-highest offensive run in Georgia. First best in 2012 under Bobo.
Snark aside, that’s not to say Georgia has upgraded. But it also hasn’t necessarily been downgraded just because Bobo’s last two stints in the SEC haven’t gone well. Or because some fans still have reservations about Bobo’s early years at Georgia before he grew into the position and became a top coach. For some reason he’s thought to have been a run-first coordinator, but Georgia passed the ball 57 percent of the time in 2011 and 2012, then was run-heavy 50-50 in 2013 and then in 2014 when it had the triumvirate of Todd Gurley, Nick Chubb, and Sony Michel.
Were there game bugs during the Bobo era? Sure, and feel free to not give Gurley the ball at the goal-line 2014 vs. South Carolina (unless you want to point out that Georgia actually scored on a goal-line pass earlier in the game) or not tip the ball that End of the 2012 SEC championship game (unless you want to point out that it took an unusual event for that to backfire).
The other hit some have on Bobo is the perception that he hasn’t done well since leaving Georgia and that so much has changed with the game since then. Some of that is legitimate to worry about: South Carolina’s offense ranked 10th in the SEC in yards per game in 2020, and Auburn’s was 11th the next year. But Auburn was a mess under Bryan Harsin that year, and both were Bobo’s freshmen. Even Monken was slower to get out of the gate in Georgia, only improving Georgia’s yards-per-play ranking from six to five in 2020.
GO DEEPER
The Ravens hire Todd Monken as offensive coordinator
But offense wasn’t the problem for Bobo when he was Colorado State’s head coach from 2015-19. The team has been in the top three in yards per game at Mountain West in all but one of Bobo’s seasons. And if anyone thinks the game has slipped past Bobo (aged 48), they assume they’ve kind of watched Monken’s offense for the past year and said, ‘That’s nice, but I’ll do things my way do if I become the play-caller.”
Unlikely.
A simplified way of summing up the exchange: Georgia demotes slightly on the field but demotes off it. Bobo has always been one of the best and most energetic recruiters on Mark Richt’s staff, and one of his most recent accomplishments was leading the way when he received a signing from five-star quarterback Jacob Eason. Behind the scenes, Bobo is also a sticky guy, someone who knows and gets along with almost everyone in the building. It’s no coincidence that chaos ensued among the coaching staff when he left in 2015.
This time the dynamic is different. The head coach is one of Bobo’s best friends, and he has the administration’s full financial support. One of the co-defensive coordinators is also a good friend and former teammate. Everyone gets along, but everyone is also comfortable in their role and their place in their careers: Bobo and Will Muschamp did the head coaching thing, and while they’d jump at the chance to do it again, they’re not looking for it next thing .
GO DEEPER
The wit and wisdom of Todd Monken from Georgia: ‘Hope I kept my end of the bargain’
“Mike Bobo’s heart beats for Georgia. Will Muschamp’s heart beats for Georgia,” Monken said ahead of the Peach Bowl. “I’m a vagabond. I love Georgia. But I wasn’t born (here), I wasn’t, and that’s okay. That doesn’t mean I don’t give the University of Georgia everything I can. But her heart is here.”
Is heart enough? Does good suitability make Bobo the right employee? There are no guarantees. But in the position Georgia is in now – more talent, more financial backing, everything in place that has resulted in back-to-back national titles – the confident attitude seems like the right one.
(Top Photo by Mike Bobo: Perry McIntyre/UGA Athletics)