Former Cincinnati Bearcat, prep coach Mike Daniels joining Army staff

Mike Daniels has played college football, coached at the collegiate level and tutored some of the top prep prospects in talent-rich Ohio in recent years.

Now the former Cincinnati Bearcats player is making a major move back to the collegiate ranks.

Daniels this week told FootballScoop he has accepted the director of on-campus recruiting position for Jeff Monken's Army West Point Black Knights football program. He is expected to start on Monken's staff within the next two weeks after spending the previous four years as head coach at his prep alma mater, Princeton High School (Cincinnati).

Among Daniels' duties for the Black Knights will be coordinating both official and unofficial visits – once the NCAA lifts its current, pandemic-related recruiting hiatus – as well as the gameday itinerary and interaction for prospective recruits and their coaches and family members.

Though it's an off-the-field role for Daniels, it is a step back into college football.

In addition to his work as a prep coach, Daniels previously was on staff at FCS program Kennesaw State and also served from 2009-11 as the running backs coach and academic coordinator at the University at Buffalo.

He had been a finalist for the vacant running backs coaching position on Luke Fickell's Cincinnati staff earlier this year and also had been mentioned in the mix for additional Group of Five opportunities during this cycle.

In joining Monken at Army, Daniels goes to a program that's experienced a renaissance under the former Georgia Southern head coach.

Army has won at least eight games in four of its past five seasons, including a 9-3 mark in 2020 when it swept rivals Air Force and Navy.

In December, Daniels was nominated by peers for FootballScoop's inaugural 2020-21 Minority Coaches Watch List.