How Joani and Tom Crean got the ball rolling for Todd Monken for Ravens' job

Before John Harbaugh reached out to Todd Monken by phone about his open offensive coordinator job with the Baltimore Ravens which led to a Zoom meeting and finally an in-person interview, the NFL head coach’s sister put in a good word for the highly-regarded Georgia play-caller.

Joani Crean, wife of former Georgia men’s basketball coach Tom Crean, became friends with Todd and his wife Terri during their time in Athens.

“Joani just tells me, ‘You’ve got to talk to Todd Monken,’” John Harbaugh said at Moken’s introductory news conference Tuesday afternoon that was streamed on the Ravens website. “'He’s amazing. His wife’s amazing. He’s a great coach. We’ve seen what he’s done here at Georgia.'”

Tom Crean, Georgia’s coach from 2018-2022, told Harbaugh “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.”

Monken, whose hire was announced a week earlier and who began working in Baltimore last Wednesday, said the challenge of coaching against “the best in the world,” appealed to him after three seasons at Georgia as offensive coordinator when he helped lead the Bulldogs to back-to-back national titles.

“If I was going to do it, it was going to be somewhere that was parallel to Georgia,” Monken said. “Part of the reason I went to Georgia, one of the main reasons, was because of culture. Head coach, winning, really good on defense. Obviously, trying to find a way to do it better on offense. I thought that was a parallel that I thought fit me.”

Monken and Harbaugh both have Midwest roots and knew some of the same people in football circles.

Harbaugh praised Monken’s ability “to move in different kind of systems, different types of football, different personnel groups, run game, pass game, protections, RPOs, quarterback driven stuff, downhill run game, play-action stuff tied to it,” he said. “All the stuff we’re kind of looking for.”

Monken said going back to the NFL—he also interviewed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers—“was something that I really wanted to do and that I’ve always wanted to do. That doesn’t mean I’m not grateful for Kirby Smart and the coaches I worked with there. I get way too much credit for our success. I came in there and the culture was already set. The players were already recruited. The staff that we put together was tremendous in terms of our success, but this was what was next. And you can’t be two places at once. That’s just the way it is sometimes in life.”

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Todd Monken and John Harbaugh connected through sister's UGA connection