Remembering when Tennessee football received Todd Monken's résumé in 2017 coaching search | Toppmeyer

Todd Monken only ever left college football because he had a “once in a lifetime opportunity” to become the Tampa Bay Bucs offensive coordinator, but a chance to coach the Tennessee Vols could take Monken from the NFL to the SEC.

That’s according to an email Monken’s agent, Patrick Strong of Balch Sports, sent to John Currie in November 2017.

Monken’s résumé back then included a nine-win season as Southern Miss’ coach after various assistant coaching stints, including as Mike Gundy’s offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State.

“He was one of the fastest rising coaches in the country when he left Southern Miss for the NFL,” Strong wrote in his email to Currie, with Monken’s résumé attached.

I was covering the Vols as the Knoxville News Sentinel’s beat writer at the time, and I’m unaware of Monken receiving a serious sniff for the Tennessee job. Monken did, however, return to the college game when Georgia's Kirby Smart hired him as his offensive coordinator ahead of the 2020 season.

All Monken, 56, has done at Georgia is arm the Bulldogs with one of the nation’s most prolific offenses.

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Georgia’s defense receives much of the acclaim, but Monken’s offense fueled the Bulldogs to victories in the SEC Championship and the Peach Bowl, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the national championship game between No. 1 Georgia (14-0) and No. 3 TCU (13-1) becomes a high-scoring affair.

Monken’s three seasons at Southern Miss remain his only head coaching stint, but he's been a boon for Georgia. Under Monken’s tutelage, Stetson Bennett IV went from former walk-on to Heisman Trophy finalist.

While doing column research recently, I was reminded of just how many names from across the coaching community were included in the dossier of documents Tennessee released a few months after its wayward 2017 coaching search, in response to a public records request.

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And, wouldn’t you know it, both teams in Monday’s national championship have a thin connection to Currie’s search that lost its compass and got Currie fired before the Vols hired a coach.

The TCU connection?

Horned Frogs coach Sonny Dykes was listed as a reference on the résumé of then-North Texas coach Seth Littrell, whom Strong also floated to Currie.

Dykes was a TCU offensive analyst in 2017 under Gary Patterson after California had fired Dykes the previous season. Dykes would become SMU’s coach days after the Vols’ search finally concluded with the hiring of Jeremy Pruitt.

Currie didn’t seriously consider Littrell and thus didn’t need Dykes’ reference, so his connection to Tennessee's search was unremarkable other than as a footnote depicting how big of a net a coaching search casts, particular one as circuitous as Tennessee’s became.

An agent shopping his client's résumé to a school with an opening isn’t uncommon.

Currie’s emails included pitches from agents for several coaches of varying qualifications. Among them, a 27-page pitch for Frank Wilson emailed by agent Pete Roussel of the Coaches Consulting Group. Talk about shooting from deep. Wilson had a .500 record through his first two seasons at Texas-San Antonio. He’d be fired after Year 4, and he now coaches LSU’s running backs.

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Strong floated five résumés to Currie.

Three of his suggestions – Littrell, Bryan Harsin and Mike Bobo – either were later fired from their job or their next job. Another, West Virginia’s Neal Brown, will enter next season on the hot seat.

And the fifth was Monken, who was recognized among the nation’s top coordinators as a Broyles Award finalist this season. In truth, he’s been a top offensive mind for some time.

A decade ago, Oklahoma State averaged 47.2 points per game in two seasons with Monken as offensive coordinator. Georgia’s offense ranks fourth nationally in yards per play – just like it did last year.

“It’s been great,” Monken told reporters last month in regards to working for Smart. “It’s been everything he said it would be when he hired me. He said, ‘I’ll let you do what you want to do.’"

Five years after Monken’s agent shopped his résumé to Tennessee, Monken jokes that his window for head coaching jobs may be closed.

“No one wants my old ass,” Monken quipped before the Peach Bowl.

Maybe, but Monken’s chops as an offensive leader are unquestioned. They’ll be on display again Monday in California.

Blake Toppmeyer is an SEC Columnist for the USA TODAY Network. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY NETWORK: Tennessee football got Todd Monken résumé 5 years ago. Vols passed