Todd Monken

Monken was born in Wheaton, Illinois, to Bob and Jo Ellen Monken. He grew up in a prominent football coaching family; his father was a longtime high school coach at Lake Park High School in Roselle, Illinois. His brother, Ted Monken, has served as a high school head coach and defensive coordinator in Illinois, and his cousin, Jeff Monken, became the head coach of the Army West Point football program.

Monken is married to Terri Monken, and the couple has a son named Travis.

Monken attended Wheaton North High School, where he played quarterback and was a shortstop on the baseball team. He initially committed to Western Illinois University as a walk-on in 1985 before transferring to the College of DuPage, where he played baseball as an outfielder. In the fall of 1986, he transferred to Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, to play quarterback for the Prairie Fire football team under head coach Randy Oberembt.

During his sophomore season at Knox, Monken served as the primary backup to starting quarterback Bob Monroe. In 1987, the coaching staff implemented a unique time-share system where Monroe played the first and third quarters and Monken played the second and fourth quarters. Because Monroe threw left-handed and Monken threw right-handed, the rotation presented unusual preparation difficulties for opposing defenses. Monken threw for 1,430 yards and 14 touchdowns in his halved junior season.

As a full-time starter in 1988, Monken led Knox to a 5-4 record and set school records that included a 41-completion, 462-yard game against Cornell College and a 64-attempt game against Illinois College. He completed 218 passes for 2,400 yards and 23 touchdowns on the year, earning First Team All-Midwest Conference and Pizza Hut First Team NCAA Division III All-American selections. Monken also earned all-conference honours in baseball during his junior and senior seasons. He graduated from Knox with a bachelor's degree in economics and later earned a master's degree in education leadership from Grand Valley State University, earning induction into the Knox College Athletic Hall of Fame.

Monken began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Grand Valley State from 1989 to 1990 under Tom Beck, working alongside defensive coordinator Brian Kelly. He followed Beck to Notre Dame as a graduate assistant from 1991 to 1992 before earning his first full-time role at Eastern Michigan in 1993 under Ron Cooper. At Eastern Michigan, Monken coached defensive backs before transitioning to wide receivers and eventually taking over as offensive coordinator in 1998. He later served as running backs and wide receivers coach at Louisiana Tech under Jack Bicknell Jr., helping the Bulldogs capture the Western Athletic Conference title in 2001.

In 2002, Monken joined Les Miles's staff at Oklahoma State as passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach, overseeing the development of consensus All-American Rashaun Woods. He followed Miles to LSU in 2005, where he spent two seasons directing a receiving corps featuring Dwayne Bowe, Early Doucet, and Craig Davis. Monken returned to Oklahoma State in 2011 as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach under Mike Gundy. In his first year back, the Cowboys finished second nationally in scoring with 48.7 points per game, won the Big 12 championship, and defeated Stanford in the 2012 Fiesta Bowl while quarterback Brandon Weeden and wide receiver Justin Blackmon developed into first-round NFL draft selections.

Monken secured his first collegiate head coaching job in December 2012 at Southern Miss, inheriting a program coming off an 0-12 campaign. After rebuilding the roster through a 1-11 first season and a 3-9 second season, he engineered a 9-5 campaign in 2015. The Golden Eagles won the Conference USA West Division, advanced to the Heart of Dallas Bowl, and saw quarterback Nick Mullens establish school passing records. Monken was named the 2015 Conference USA Coach of the Year for the turnaround.

In January 2020, Monken returned to college football as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the University of Georgia under Kirby Smart. His scheme helped guide Georgia to back-to-back College Football Playoff national championships in the 2021 and 2022 seasons, compiling a combined 29-1 record across both campaigns. The 2022 championship run concluded with a 65-7 victory over TCU in the title game.

Monken entered the professional ranks in 2007 as the wide receivers coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars, where he coached through the 2010 season and helped Reggie Williams set a franchise record with 10 touchdown receptions in 2007. In January 2016, he returned to the NFL as the offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers under head coach Dirk Koetter. In 2018, Monken's offense paced the NFL in passing yards with 5,125 and set franchise single-season records in total offensive yards, passing touchdowns, and total points while wide receiver Mike Evans posted consecutive Pro Bowl campaigns.

Monken spent the 2019 season as the offensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns under head coach Freddie Kitchens. During that season, running back Nick Chubb rushed for 1,494 yards to earn a Pro Bowl berth, while Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham Jr. both surpassed 1,000 receiving yards. Monken then joined the Baltimore Ravens as offensive coordinator in February 2023 under John Harbaugh. In his first season with Baltimore, quarterback Lamar Jackson won the NFL MVP award as the Ravens secured the top seed in the AFC and reached the AFC Championship Game. In 2024, the Ravens became the first team in NFL history to record at least 4,000 passing yards and 3,000 rushing yards in the same season, setting a franchise single-season record with 7,224 total yards.

On January 28, 2026, Monken was hired as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns.