By The Baltimore Ravens have a new offensive coordinator in Todd Monken, who is leaving Georgia to join John Harbaugh’s staff.
The 57-year-old Monken has spent eight seasons in the NFL, coaching for the Jacksonville Jaguars (2007-10), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2016-18) and Cleveland Browns (2019). He has spent the last three seasons as OC and QBs coach for Kirby Smart at UGA.
Monken was the WRs coach for the Jags before taking the OC job at Oklahoma St. under Mike Gundy for two seasons in 2011 and ’12. He became the Southern Miss head coach for three years from 2013-15, leading the Golden Eagles to a 9-win season and an appearance in the Heart of Dallas Bowl in his third year at the helm. However, he stepped down in January of 2016 to become the Bucs’ OC.
Monken was fired along with the rest of Freddie Kitchens’ staff just hours after finishing the ’19 campaign with a 6-10 record. On Jan. 17 of 2020, Smart hired Monken to join him in Athens and replace James Coley as OC.
UGA averaged 32.3 points per game in Monken’s first year, finishing 8-2 straight up and 4-6 against the spread. The Bulldogs beat Cincinnati by a 24-21 count in the Peach Bowl and finished with a No. 7 ranking nationally.
In 2021, the Bulldogs ended a 41-year national championship drought, beating Alabama 33-18 in the College Football Playoff finals. Under Monken’s tutelage, QB Stetson Bennett became a star after initially joining the program as a walk-on. UGA averaged 38.6 PPG.
In 2022, Georgia repeated as national champs, trouncing TCU 65-7 in the CFP finals. The Bulldogs were ranked fourth nationally in scoring, averaging 41.1 PPG.
With Monken leaving, Smart wasted no time in naming his replacement by promoting Mike Bobo.
The 48-year-old Bobo was UGA’s starting QB in 1996 and ’97. He finished his playing career with 6,334 career passing yards and a 38/26 touchdown-to-interception ratio.
Bobo served as Mark Richt’s QBs coach from 2001-2006 before becoming OC in 2007. He was OC for eight seasons before leaving to become the head coach at Colorado St. in 2015. Bobo took the Rams to three straight bowl games and finished 7-6 in each of his first three years in Ft. Collins.
However, after going 3-9 in 2018 and 4-8 in 2019, Bobo and CSU mutually agreed to part ways.
On Dec. 10 of 2019, Bobo was named South Carolina’s OC by then-HC Will Muschamp, who played with Smart and Bobo at UGA in the ’90s. Bobo went 0-3 as interim HC after Muschamp was fired with three games remaining. New South Carolina HC Shane Beamer retained Bobo as OC, but he decided to leave Columbia soon after to become Bryan Harsin’s OC at Auburn in 2021.
Harsin fired Bobo after a four-overtime home loss to Alabama in the 2021 regular-season finale. Bobo then joined Smart’s staff at his alma mater as an offensive analyst this past season. Muschamp is now UGA’s DC and Bobo is the OC, as Georgia aims to win a third consecutive national title in 2023.
In Bobo’s only season at South Carolina, the Gamecocks averaged only 23.5 PPG. In 2021 at Auburn, the Tigers averaged 28.3 PPG.
