The 2019 Army Black Knights football team represented the
United States Military Academy
The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...
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 Pennsylvania, United States
* Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...
in the
2019 NCAA Division I FBS football season
The 2019 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the 150th season of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at its highest level of competition, the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). ...
. The Black Knights were led by sixth-year head coach
Jeff Monken
Jeffrey Michael Monken (born April 15, 1967) is an American college football coach. He is the head football coach at the Army Black Knights football, United States Military Academy, a position he has held since 2014. Monken previously served as ...
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 seating capacity of 30,000 for the 2024 and 2025 seasons. ...
. Due to playing an away game at
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
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
The Commander-in-Chief's Trophy (CIC Trophy) is awarded to each season's winner of the American college football series among the teams of the U.S. Military Academy ( Army Black Knights), the U.S. Naval Academy ( Navy Midshipmen), and the U ...
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 army aviati ...
and
Navy
A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...
, and missing out on a
bowl game
In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...
for the first time since the
2015 season.
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 U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...
under newly hired coach
Mack Brown
William Mack Brown (born August 27, 1951) is an American former college football coach. Brown most recently coached at the University of North Carolina, where he had two stints, first from 1988 until 1997, and again from 2019 until his firing ...
. Weeks later, head
football strength 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 List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
, 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 an American daily newspaper published in Middletown, New York, covering the northwest suburbs of New York City. It covers Orange, ...
, Sal Interdonato, broke the news that
Kansas Wesleyan head coach
Matt Drinkall 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 college sports, athletic teams that represent the University of Cincinnati. The teams compete in the NCAA's Division I and the Football Bowl Subdivision as members of the Big 12 Conference. The Bearcats were pr ...
.
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 area, unincorporated community and a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 59,533 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is t ...
. 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, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the flagship institution of the five- ...
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
Adri ...
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 were named team captains in addition to returning 2018 captain
Cole Christiansen.
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 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...
. 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, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...
Army Black Knights football seasons
Army Black Knights football
The Army Black Knights football team, historically known as the Army Cadets, represents the United States Military Academy in college football. The Black Knights team competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Ath ...