Tonk Boys: Talking NJCAA Baseball with Jonathan Monk, Northern Oklahoma College-Tonkawa | Ep. 118

What You'll Learn in This Episode

Host Ross Hawley sits down with Jonathan Monk, head baseball coach at Northern Oklahoma College-Tonkawa, the NJCAA Division II program whose players and fans know it as the Tonk Boys. At 26, Monk is entering his second season as head coach and his fourth year in the program, which has won at about a 63% clip over the last five years.

This conversation explains how junior college baseball works right now: what Division II scholarships cover, how the program recruits high school seniors and transfers, how a JUCO season builds reps, and what it takes to move on to a four-year school. Monk also explains how NOC-Tonkawa uses analytics and how families can tell whether a coaching staff is the right fit.

The highlights:

• What changes when an assistant becomes a head coach, and why budgets matter at this level
• How NJCAA Division II scholarships differ from Division I
• Why Monk calls NOC-Tonkawa a launching pad for four-year baseball, not a stop
• What he looks for on the recruiting trail, and why he talks about belief instead of buy-in
• Recruiting timelines for high school seniors and junior college sophomores
• How Full Swing and launch-angle targets fit into hitter development
• Advice for parents, players facing a redshirt year, and youth coaches throwing BP

From Assistant to Head Coach at 26

Becoming a head coach was always the goal, and Monk credits the coaches who mentored him for getting him there early. He says the biggest adjustment was not baseball. It was the administrative work. His first season as head coach meant learning on the fly. This summer he reviewed the whole job, not just the baseball side, and looked for the places he could improve.

His advice for assistants preparing for the move is to be a sponge in every room. At a junior college there is usually no director of operations watching the budget, so a head coach has to know where the money goes and be financially responsible for what he brings into the program. Baseball, administration, and finances are the three areas he says every future head coach should learn.

What NJCAA Division II Means

At the NJCAA level, the difference between divisions is mostly about what scholarship money can cover. Division I junior colleges can pay for tuition, fees, books, meals, and housing. Division II programs like NOC-Tonkawa can cover only tuition, fees, and books, so even a player on a full scholarship pays for his own housing and meals.

On the field, Monk sees little difference. Junior college baseball is competitive in every division, and his team approaches every opponent as another junior college program that happens to be in a different division.

A Launching Pad, Not a Stop

Every NOC-Tonkawa recruit hears the same expectation: spend a year or two winning and developing, then go play four-year baseball. Professional baseball can come after that.

"I don't like calling this place a stop in people's career. Our expectation is you're coming here for a year or two, you're going to win, you're going to develop — and then we're going to go play four-year baseball. We're going to be that launching pad."

Supreme Confidence in Everything

Losing is not acceptable in the program, and the team is expected to learn from it. Two years ago, NOC-Tonkawa won 28 straight games before losing just before conference play. The players were angry and determined not to let it happen again, and that team went on to win 50 games.

Monk borrows coach Matt Deggs's definition of attitude: supreme confidence in everything you do, and you expect to win. At NOC-Tonkawa, that applies in the classroom, on the mound, in the batter's box, and even at the poker games in the dorms. The goal is to be the best at the little things, pitch to pitch.

Recruiting Winners: Hustle, No Fear, and Belief

On the road, Monk starts with what takes no talent: hustle. He wants players who run hard, play without fear, and leave a mistake behind. A hitter who strikes out with the bases loaded should be thinking about getting three outs for his pitcher, not carrying the at-bat to his position. A player also should not change how he plays because four-year coaches and pro scouts are in the stands. NOC-Tonkawa has played four such fall tournaments this year.

"We don't use the term buy-in. If you believe in something, you're going to own it all the way through your time here."

Older Rosters and Finding Your Separator

Four-year rosters keep getting older. Before arriving at NOC-Tonkawa in the fall of 2023, Monk was at Sam Houston State when it played in the WAC, a league full of transfers and fourth- and fifth-year players. Through the transfer portal, a junior college player now has to be better than whoever a four-year school could sign instead.

That is why Monk keeps asking players about their separator. It might be speed, power, or a plus slider. One NOC-Tonkawa pitcher was not the hardest thrower on the staff, but his cutter put him among the top two in the country in strikeouts per nine innings. Nothing is guaranteed. In Monk's four years, only two or three players have not moved on to a four-year program. With roster limits and eligibility changes on the way, standing out matters more than ever.

The Recruiting Calendar and Getting on the Radar

NOC-Tonkawa builds each class from high school seniors, junior college transfers, and four-year transfers. In the summer, the staff focuses on transfers to fill out the roster and watches rising seniors. From August through about January, it signs most of its high school class. In the spring, it looks for players who slipped through the cracks or improved over the winter.

For seniors who are still uncommitted, Monk's message is simple: you do not need to be committed by early October. NOC-Tonkawa does not put deadlines on its offers. The staff checks in instead. He has watched recent classes commit as late as July, or the week before school starts in August.

Players interested in NOC-Tonkawa can email Monk at [email protected] or send a direct message to him or the program on X. He reads both every day. A high school coach's input carries real weight because he sees a player more than anyone, and a summer coach's opinion matters too. One recommendation stands out:

"When an opposing coach calls me about you, and they're saying how good a player you are — that carries a lot of value with us."

Reps, Weight Room, and Summer Ball

Junior college baseball is built for development. In the fall, NOC-Tonkawa gets 14 dates against outside competition and turns most of them into doubleheaders, for roughly 20 to 25 games. Players also lift three days a week and spend two days on mobility and recovery. The spring schedule has 56 games, and Monk calls that a minimum because the team expects a long postseason run.

Summer ball is expected for hitters, with a target of about 100 at-bats to stay sharp. For pitchers, it depends on the workload. A pitcher who threw 15 innings in the spring will work in the summer, especially in the second half. A Friday night starter who threw 75 to 80 or more innings has earned time to let his arm reset.

How the Tonk Boys Use Analytics

NOC-Tonkawa already sees TrackMan data at Prep Baseball scout days. During a Five Tool tournament in Melissa, Texas, the team also tried Full Swing at a hitting facility in Southlake. Monk was impressed that it records pitcher and hitter data at the same time and replays video of each swing on a monitor, and the program is adding it.

Monk did not know much about analytics when they first became popular. Now he sees the numbers as a way to show players what the coaches mean. A swing that feels loud in the cage might leave the bat at 85 mph and end up as a fly out to left. The program aims for a launch angle of 15 to 25 degrees and exit velocities around 90 mph or higher. A 45-degree launch at 82 mph will not get it done.

A listener named Sammy asked for tips on throwing BP and hitting fungos. Monk admits his two assistants throw better BP than he does. His advice is to keep working at it and not be afraid to look rough in front of the kids. Bad BP and missed fungos happen, and players should see coaches keep going.

Roster Turnover and Commitment Timing

Recruiting is the lifeline of any junior college program because so much of the roster turns over every year. On NOC-Tonkawa's recruiting board, blue marks a player who will be moving on, which explains why a position might be wide open. Transfer conversations pick up around the November and December exit meetings. The staff also plans for freshmen who could be ready to leave after one year.

Sophomores do not need to commit in the fall either. A handful will, but most of last year's NOC-Tonkawa players committed in the spring. Unless a player is an obvious choice, four-year schools are still building their lists in the fall, and the spring season is his chance to prove what he is worth.

Choosing Coaches, and a Word for Parents

When choosing a program, Monk tells players to look for a staff that matches their beliefs and will be there day to day. Relationships are what matter most at NOC-Tonkawa. His two assistants live in the dorms with the players. Monk and his pitching coach live across the street from the field. If a player calls at 2 a.m., Monk will be there.

For parents, the question at every age is whether the player is still having fun. Monk asks it about his nephew in Little League, and it still applies once college baseball starts to feel like a job.

"Don't rush him through a decision just because mom and dad love a school. That doesn't mean the kid's going to love it. He needs to go where he feels like he's got the best opportunity."

Year-One Playing Time and What the Best Players Share

Playing as a freshman builds confidence. Monk is honest that not every freshman will play. He describes a junior college redshirt year as a free pass because it does not use a year of eligibility. A redshirt player can get stronger in the weight room and make up the missed at-bats in summer ball. The staff will support him and also tell him the truth about whether he is ready.

The players who go furthest are outliers in their own ways, and all of them have a high motor. Kamden Edge, a right-hander from Boswell, Oklahoma, was athletic and threw hard, so the staff taught him how to pitch, and the Kansas City Royals drafted him. Landen Johnson, a 6-foot-4 first baseman, learned to drive changeups to the opposite field after pitchers stopped giving him fastballs. After one season at NOC-Tonkawa, he led NCAA Division I in RBIs at High Point. Monk ties that motor directly to loving the game every day, through the highs and the lows.

Walkout Song and a Final Word

Monk is a big country music fan, and his walkout song would be "That Lonesome Song" by Jamey Johnson. During BP, his own playlist mixes country, rock, and rap. One assistant plays only country. Indoors, players control the music as long as it is clean.

His advice for the next generation is to accept that baseball is hard and failure is part of it.

"Baseball is a hard sport. You're going to fail, and fail often. Can you have fun, love the game, and find a way to get better day by day?"

Episode Timestamps

Tap any timestamp to jump the player straight to that moment.

• 0:37 — Introducing NOC-Tonkawa head coach Jonathan Monk
• 0:56 — How the Tonk Boys brand started
• 2:02 — A 26-year-old college head coach, and the jump from assistant
• 4:20 — Advice for assistants preparing to lead a program
• 5:25 — What NJCAA Division II means for scholarships
• 7:51 — A launching pad to four-year baseball, not a stop
• 9:10 — Winning at a 63% clip, and the 28-game streak
• 10:41 — Supreme confidence, from the classroom to the poker table
• 12:02 — What stands out on the recruiting trail, and belief over buy-in
• 14:20 — Older rosters, the portal, and finding your separator
• 18:47 — The recruiting cycle for high school seniors
• 20:42 — No deadlines: advice for uncommitted seniors this fall
• 22:09 — How to get on Coach Monk's radar, and what a coach's call is worth
• 24:33 — Junior college reps, from fall doubleheaders to a 56-game minimum
• 26:06 — Summer ball plans for hitters and pitchers
• 27:19 — Analytics: TrackMan, Full Swing, and launch angle
• 31:56 — A listener asks for tips on throwing BP and hitting fungos
• 33:27 — When fall evaluations turn into roster decisions
• 35:33 — When junior college sophomores can expect to commit
• 37:25 — Finding the right coaches, and a staff that lives next door
• 39:23 — Advice for parents: let them enjoy the process
• 41:38 — Why playing in year one matters, and handling a redshirt year
• 43:41 — What the players who go furthest have in common
• 45:47 — Walkout song and the BP playlist
• 47:17 — Advice for the next generation: embrace the hard days

---

Jonathan Monk is the head baseball coach at Northern Oklahoma College-Tonkawa. Follow him on X at @jonathanmonk26. Subscribe to the Baseball Forward Podcast for more conversations with the players, coaches, and leaders elevating the next generation of the game.