Army coach Jeff Monken has filled the two openings on his staff with established coaches.
Former Kennesaw State interim head coach Chandler Burks and former Cincinnati co-defensive coordinator/defensive line coach Nate Fuqua have joined Army’s staff.
Burks, Kennesaw State’s quarterbacks coach for the last five years and the Owls’ co-offensive coordinator in 2024, will coach Army’s tight ends. Cheston Blackshear, who coached Army’s tight ends in his first season in 2024, will switch to the offensive line, joining Mike Viti.
Burks’ hiring reunites the former Kennesaw State quarterback with Army offensive coordinator Cody Worley. Worley coached Burks at Kennesaw State. Burks was the Big South player of year in 2017 and 2018 under Worley’s direction as quarterbacks coach. He was the runnerup for the Walter Payton Award in 2018, rushing for 29 touchdowns.
Burks was Kennesaw State’s interim head coach for the team’s last three games in 2024 after Brian Bohannon was let go.
Fuqua comes to West Point after two seasons at Cincinnati. He played nose tackle for Army defensive coordinator Nate Woody at Wofford in the early 2000s. Fuqua’s coaching career spans 20 years including six seasons at Georgia State (2017-2022) as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach and the previous 12 seasons at Wofford.
“Nate is a coaching veteran, who has years of defensive coordinator experience, allowing him to make an immediate impact in the development of our young men and on the defensive side of the ball,” Monken said in a statement. “Chandler has a wide variety of experiences from his playing career and coaching career at Kennesaw that will add a lot of knowledge and perspective to our team.”
The opening were created when Army offensive line coach Matt Drinkall was hired as Central Michigan head coach last month. Drinkall hired Army defensive line coach Sean Cronin as his defensive coordinator at Central Michigan.
