Something did change when Monken took over. He’s obviously an excellent coach and that matters. But he also got Army to make some concessions for football players.
http://www.espn.com/college-footbal...nights-striving-beat-navy-turn-program-around
...In truth, the demands of being a cadet nip away in a thousand different ways at what it takes to remain elite and competitive at college football's highest level. As such, three years ago, under General Caslen's guidance and Monken's urging, Army set down the long, hard road of introspection. It began to make changes.
"The institution has taken this seriously," Pete Dawkins says. "It's made some significant adjustments -- interestingly, similar to the ones that the Naval Academy made a number of years ago."
The first order of business: reconsidering football players' summers. Cadets spend the bulk of each summer in military training, right in the heart of the season. They're on the rifle range. They learn how to fire mortars. They take on night patrols. And they return for football training camp, oftentimes, with stress fractures and 20 fewer pounds from the physical exertion. Army not only adjusted the timing -- football players now head out for military training as soon as the spring semester ends -- but also accelerated the training schedule to three-and-a-half weeks.
The Army has adapted to Army football in other ways too. The football players take part in Beast Barracks but do so in fewer days. They no longer make the 12-mile march from Camp Buckner to West Point that marks the end of basic training and official beginning of cadet tenure with the larger cadet corps.
Gaylord Greene is quick to point out that these are not concessions but modifications. The football players are cadets and must meet all cadet requirements -- but now in a new time frame more conducive to winning football. Those changes, however small, are not nearly so vital as what Army's newfound willingness to embrace those changes portends: a 21st-century approach to major college football.
