Tennessee cancels 2022 game with Army, coach Jeff Monken brushes it off

WEST POINT – As an independent school, Army has the opportunity to schedule football opponents from a myriad of college conferences, something coach Jeff Monken truly embraces.

So he wasn’t overly bothered when the University of Tennessee canceled the 2022 matchup set for Neyland Stadium in Knoxville.

“Tennessee’s got to do whatever (they) think is best for their program,’’ Monken said at the Thursday press conference. “That’s just the way it is. … It’s just part of the business, it’s part of college football. I didn’t think twice about it.’’

The original contract to play on Sept. 22 was finalized in 2016, which was the third season under Monken and the breakout year for Army as the Black Knights went to bowl games in 2016, 2017 and 2018, plus 2020.

According to the Knoxville News Sentinel, Army was replaced on the Volunteers’ schedule with Akron, which will actually cost the UT Athletics Department about $100,000 for the switch. Tennessee was going to pay West Point $1.4 million to play, and Akron has signed on for just $1 million – a savings of $400,000 – but the contract buyout is a $500,000 payment to West Point.

The buyout plan was put into action by former athletic director Phillip Fulmer and former head coach Jeremy Pruitt, according to the News Sentinel.

“We're going to play whoever is on the schedule and do our best,’’ Monken said.

Tennessee officials didn’t offer reasons for the switch. Monken speculated that many schools find it hard to play a triple-option offense in the midst of a schedule with schools that don’t employ it.

“For some teams (Army) just doesn't fit the schedule for whatever reason,’’ Monken said. “I think a lot of it has to do with the offense. I'll tell you, we play against this offense twice a year (Navy and Air Force) and it's a pain in the butt. So I can understand if you're in the middle of a season and you're looking at playing us, you got to kind of change gears a little bit and that's not always easy to do.’’

West Point officials are now tasked with finding Army a replacement game to complete a 12-game schedule. According to the website FBschedules.com, Army will open 2022 at Coastal Carolina (Sept. 3) and host Texas San Antonio (Sept. 10) before the current open date. The remainder of the schedule calls for Louisiana Monroe (Sept. 24), Georgia State (Oct. 1), Colgate (Oct. 15) and Connecticut (Nov. 19) at home; Wake Forest (Oct. 8), Troy (Nov. 12) and Massachusetts (Nov. 26) on the road; and, neutral-site games with Air Force (Nov. 5 in Arlington, Texas) and Navy (Dec. 10 in Philadelphia).

“We'll work hard to find another opponent to replace that game,’’ Monken said. “Our athletic department does a great job – (athletic director) Mike Buddie does a tremendous job leading this department and he'll work on it.’’

The COVID pandemic prompted the replacement of nine opponents on Army’s original 2020 schedule, which included Bucknell, Rice, Oklahoma, Miami (Ohio), Princeton, Eastern Michigan, Buffalo, Massachusetts and Connecticut. In the few weeks before the start of the season, former associate athletic director Bob Beretta re-wrote the schedule with the addition of Middle Tennessee, Louisiana Monroe, Cincinnati, Abilene Christian, The Citadel, Texas San Antonio, Mercer and Georgia Southern. Only Tulane, Navy and Air Force remained the same.

Monken doesn’t expect a problem in filling the void.

“I think playing Army and playing at a place like West Point or having a storied program like West Point travel to a school is desirable for a lot of teams,’’ he said.

Tennessee is 1-1 under new coach Josh Heupel. Army is 3-0 to open 2021.

Army and Tennessee have met eight times previously. Army won the debut meeting in 1923 at West Point, a year before Michie Stadium was ready for play. The Vols won meetings in 1965, 1966, 1970, 1973 and 1978 (all in Tennessee except 1973). The teams played a very physical and memorable 24-24 tie in Knoxville in 1984, the year Army went on to the Cherry Bowl. Two years later, Army won 25-21 at West Point.

The glory years of Tennessee football – under the guidance of Fulmer (1993-2007) – are long past. The Vols have finished in the AP Top 25 only twice since then (No. 22 in 2015 and 2016) and have played in four bowl games since 2011.

Upcoming Power 5 Conference games are set with Syracuse and LSU in 2023; Syracuse and Wake Forest (both at West Point) in 2024 and 2026; Kansas State, Syracuse and Wake Forest in 2025; Boston College in 2028; and Missouri in 2029 and 2033. There’s also been reports of a potential Nov. 2024 game with Notre Dame.

Army lost home games with Oklahoma and Brigham Young due to COVID re-scheduling in 2020.

kmcmillan@th-record.com

Twitter: @KenMcMillanTHR