The Baltimore Ravens officially introduced new offensive coordinator Todd Monken on Tuesday in an introductory press conference. Monken won out during an interview process that spanned 14 candidates and 21 total interviews, as the team cast a wide net.
Baltimore head coach John Harbaugh elaborated on the process by which the team settled on Monken to be their next offensive coordinator during an opening statement at the press conference. Harbaugh made it clear that an inside connection helped put the hire in motion.
“It started with a call that I got from my sister, Joani Crean, and [former University of Georgia head basketball coach] Tom Crean. When Tom was at Georgia the last couple years, Joani and Tom got to know Todd and his wife, Terri, and they got to be friends and spent a lot of time together. Joani just tells me, ‘You’ve got to talk to Todd Monken. He’s amazing, his wife’s amazing. He’s a great coach; we’ve seen what he’s done here at Georgia.’ I got on the phone with Tom [and] Tom reiterated that – how much he respected Todd. That really got me thinking in that direction…So, we reached out and had a chance to talk to Todd, I think on the phone first and then the Zoom meeting, just talking ball really. [We were] talking background – we’re both kind of from the Midwest originally, so we know a lot of the same people, and I had known Todd from afar. I had watched him coach; we’ve coached against each other. Then just talking ball, and [it was clear] how really great, how extensive his knowledge is, how broad his knowledge is, how adaptable he is, how versatile he is in terms of what he’s able to do with his X’s and O’s and his scheme stuff.”
While Monken certainly must have blown Harbaugh and the Ravens’ front office away throughout in his interviews, this anecdote from Baltimore’s head coach should give fans some insight into the process that took place to make this move possible. Time will tell if this hire will prove to pay dividends in the way some experts are predicting with Monken at the helm of the Ravens’ offense in 2023, but if it does, Baltimore will have Harbaugh’s sister to thank for nudging the team in his direction.