The long, extensive search for the Baltimore Ravens’ new offensive coordinator officially came to an end on Valentines Day when the team announced the hire of former Georgia offensive coordinator Todd Monken. One week later, head coach John Harbaugh formally introduced Monken as the newest member of his staff.
Fans waited anxiously for the team to settle on the right candidate after the Ravens’ playoff loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in January led to a mutual parting of ways with former offensive coordinator Greg Roman. Harbaugh explained in his opening statement at the introductory press conference why the process took so long, and ultimately how the team decided that Monken was the ideal fit.
“We made a decision to throw a big net out there, and when you do that – when you cast a big net – it’s a big undertaking. It comes with challenges; there are a lot of calls, there are a lot of conversations, there is a lot of information gathering. A lot of people in the building helped us with that…We got to know a lot of people; we got to know their stats, their families, their backgrounds, all those kinds of things. We had Zoom meetings with everybody on a first level, then we had in-person meetings with a pretty big group of guys that were here at the building, and I really enjoyed that. It gets emotional; this is a career opportunity for a lot of coaches, and you kind of go through that with them.”
Certainly this wasn’t Monken’s first time around the block in the hiring process of an NFL team, though his three-year stint at the University of Georgia between 2020 and 2023 represented the longest timespan he had been out of the NFL since 2015.
A consummate professional with the resume to back up his reputation, Monken could prove to be a slam-dunk hire for the Ravens at the most crucial position on the coaching staff that they needed to fill in the 2023 offseason.