The 2019 Army Black Knights football team represented the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...

as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

in the

2019 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2019 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the highest level of college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in 2019. The regular season began on August 24, 2019, and ende ...

. The Black Knights were led by sixth-year head coach

Jeff Monken Jeffrey Michael Monken (born April 15, 1967) is an American football coach. He is currently the head football coach at the United States Military Academy, a position he has held since the 2014 season. Monken previously served as the head football ...

and played their home games at

Michie Stadium Michie Stadium is an outdoor football stadium on the campus of the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York. The home field for the Army Black Knights, it opened in 1924 and has a current seating capacity of 38,000. The stadium sits at t ...

. Due to playing an away game at

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

and the NCAA's "Hawaii Exemption", the Black Knights played a 13-game regular season in 2019. They finished the season with a record of 5–8, finishing in third place for the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy following losses to

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...

and

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

, and missing out on a

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivi ...

for the first time since the 2015 season.

Previous season

The Black Knights finished the 2018 season with a record of 11–2 and finished ranked No. 19 in the

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broad ...

and No. 20 in the Coaches' Poll. They won the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy for a second year in a row (first time ever), defeated archrival Navy for the third year in a row (first time since 1992-1996 seasons), played in and won their third straight bowl game (first time ever), finished with consecutive 10-win seasons (first time ever), finished with a second straight unbeaten record (6–0) at home to extend their home winning streak to 13 in a row, won the Lambert Trophy (first time since 1958), and finished with their first 11-win season ever. Quarterback Kelvin Hopkins Jr. tied the academy records for total number of rushing touchdowns (17) and total number of touchdowns responsible for (23), as well as becoming the first Army player to rush and pass for over 1,000 yards each in a single season (1,017 and 1,026 respectively). Coach Monken was awarded the George Munger Collegiate Coach of the Year Award by the Maxwell Football Club, the Vince Lombardi College Football Coach of the Year Award by the Lombardi Foundation, and the President's Award by the

Touchdown Club of Columbus The Touchdown Club of Columbus was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1956 by Sam B. Nicola at the request of state auditor James A. Rhodes, who later became governor of the state. Nicola served as the club's president until his death in 1993. More th ...

Preseason

Offseason

Defensive coordinator Jay Bateman announced in December 2018 that he would be leaving to become the co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach at

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

under newly hired coach Mack Brown. Weeks later, head

football strength Football strength is a training regime, considered the most complex physical quality to be developed by an athlete. The training regime, exercises used, how the exercises are performed, and the types of equipment all play important roles in achie ...

and conditioning coach Brian Hess was announced as joining Bateman at North Carolina. Assistant football strength and conditioning coach Maurice Sims would also leave for North Carolina within the month. Safeties coach John Loose, after serving as the interim defensive coordinator for the 2018 Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl victory over

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

, was announced as the full-time replacement at defensive coordinator on January 10, 2019. On January 14, 2019, Army West Point announced a new multi-year contract extension for head coach Jeff Monken through the 2024 season. On the same day Army beat writer for the

Times Herald-Record The ''Times Herald-Record'', often referred to as ''The Record'' or ''Middletown Record'' in its coverage area, is a daily newspaper published in Middletown, New York, covering the northwest suburbs of New York City. It covers Orange, Sullivan ...

, Sal Interdonato, broke the news that Kansas Wesleyan head coach

Matt Drinkall Matt Drinkall is an American football coach currently serving as the co–Offensive coordinator and offensive line coach with the Army Black Knights of the United States Military Academy. He is currently in his second year on staff, having spent ...

had joined the Army football staff as an offensive analyst. On January 18, Interdonato revealed that defensive line coach Chad Wilt had taken the same position with the

Cincinnati Bearcats The Cincinnati Bearcats are the athletic teams that represent the University of Cincinnati. Though they will move to the Big 12 Conference (XII) the teams are currently a part of the American Athletic Conference (The American), which from 1979 ...

. On January 31, the West Point athletics department announced that Matt Hachmann would be joining the football staff as the outside linebackers coach. He had spent the past two years as the linebackers coach at Stony Brook, and before that eight years as defensive coordinator at

Towson Towson () is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 55,197 as of the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Baltimore County and the second-most populous unincorp ...

. Because of his posting as linebackers coach, several defensive assistant coaches changed positions of responsibility. Coach Daryl Dixon, the former outside linebackers coach, is now responsible for cornerbacks, and Coach Christian-Young, the former cornerbacks coach, is now responsible for safeties. Additionally, assistant strength and conditioning coach Conor Hughes was promoted to head football strength and conditioning coach. On February 5, Coach Monken's last assistant coach position was filled with the announcement of the hire of Kevin Lewis as defensive line coach. Lewis had spent the previous five seasons as the defensive line coach at William & Mary On February 19 it was announced that Rusty Whitt and GC Yerry had been hired to serve as the two assistant football strength and conditioning coaches, filling out the remaining open positions on Monken's staff. Whitt joined the staff after serving as the head football strength and conditioning coach at

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

from 2016−2018, while Yerry joined after serving as the director of athletic performance at Stony Brook, also from 2016−2018. On March 19, the West Point athletics department announced that Jim Collins would join the staff as the new Director of Player Personnel. Collins brings 25 years of head coaching experience at the Division II and Division III levels, including tenures as the head coach at the

University of Dubuque The University of Dubuque (UD) is a private Presbyterian university in Dubuque, Iowa. About 2,200 students attend the university. History The University of Dubuque has had a long history in Dubuque since its founding in 1852. Early years Th ...

from 1994−1996, Capital University (OH) from 1997−2007, and most recently at Saginaw Valley State from 2008−2018. The Black Knights began their spring football session on March 7 and concluded it on April 12 with the annual Black and Gold Spring Game, where the Black team completed a fourth quarter comeback to win 35−28 in overtime. Following the conclusion of spring ball, rising firsties Kelvin Hopkins Jr. and

Elijah Riley Elijah Riley (born June 12, 1998) is an American football strong safety for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). He was signed by the Philadelphia Eagles as an undrafted free agent in 2020 following his college footbal ...

were named team captains in addition to returning 2018 captain

Cole Christiansen Cole Christiansen (born July 30, 1997) is an American football linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Army. Early life and high school Christiansen grew up on a horse farm in Su ...

. The Black Knights' fall camp began on August 1 and consisted of 14 practices, finishing on August 17 with an intrasquad scrimmage in Michie Stadium. Following the completion of camp, the Black Knights shifted their preparation to their Week 1 matchup with Rice. During August, the Black Knights received votes for the preseason AP and Coaches Polls, just missing out on starting within the Top 25 for the first time since

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

. They received a total of 94 points in the AP Poll and 91 points in the Coaches Poll, placing 2nd and 5th respectively in each poll's 'Also Receiving Votes' category.

Award watch lists

Listed in the order that they were released.

Personnel

Coaching staff

# Tucker Waugh also served as the wide receivers coach at Army from 2000 to 2004. # John Loose also served as the linebackers coach at Army from 1992 to 1999. # Scott Swanson also served as an Assistant Strength & Conditioning coach at Army from 1995 to 1996. :Source:

Roster

The Army football roster for the Week 1 game versus Rice (as of August 26, 2019):

Depth chart

The Army football depth chart for the 120th Army-Navy Game (as of December 9, 2019): Depth Chart 2019
''True Freshman''
Double Position : *

Schedule

Rankings

Game summaries

Rice

At Michigan

At UTSA

Morgan State

Tulane

At Western Kentucky

At Georgia State

San Jose State

At Air Force

UMass

VMI

At Hawaii

Vs. Navy

Footnotes

References

{{Army Black Knights football navbox

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

Army Black Knights football seasons

Army Black Knights football The Army Black Knights football team, previously known as the Army Cadets, represents the United States Military Academy in college football. Army is a Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) member of the NCAA. The Black Knights play home ...