As Montana State’s athletic administration carefully searches for the school’s next head football coach, upstairs at Brick Breeden Fieldhouse a collection of MSU assistant coaches continue to pick up the pieces.
MSU Athletics Director Peter Fields
On November 23, Rob Ash was fired after nine seasons at the helm for the Bobcats. MSU athletic director Peter Fields said all 10 of Ash’s assistants would remain employed at Montana State until the head vacancy was filled. Each will be granted an interview with the next head coach.
A hire is expected some time next week. Fields gave himself a 10 to 14-day timeline to have a coach in place. Meanwhile, the current and likely former Bobcat coaches are still working on maintaining the program Ash and the group spent nine years building.
“Everyone that is here doesn’t want to leave this place in a bad spot,” Montana State defensive coordinator Kane Ioane said the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. “We want to leave it in great position to be successful.”
For Ioane, the firing was “a shock” but something he always understood was a possibility, even if your boss has won more games than any Bobcat head coach before. It also signals the beginning of a potential break from a place where Ioane has come of age. Ioane, a Hall of Fame player, has spent the last 16 football seasons in Bozeman either as a player or a coach.
“For me, it’s easier because I’m still a Bobcat whether I’m employed as a football coach here or not, being an alum and a guy who wants the best for this program no matter what the situation,” Ioane said. “It’s a little easier for me to go out and recruit guys to this place because I know how special this place is. You still are conflicted regardless because you could still potentially recruit to a place you are not going to be at but you have to put your head down and go to work.”
MSU defensive coordinator Kane Ioane
Defensive line coach Bo Beck spent all nine of Ash’s seasons mentoring talented groups that produced five All-America selections and a pair of Buck Buchanan Award winners. For the last three seasons, Beck has also served as the title of recruiting coordinator, a position he still holds until notified otherwise.
“It’s not hard to stay motivated because I look at my guys like (redshirt freshman defensive tackle) Tucker Yates and some of the young guys and they don’t deserve the blunt of this,” Beck said. “What they deserve is someone out there working hard to recruit for them and for the program. It’s not anything for me personally but I care about those guys in the locker room so I’m going to keep grinding and doing my best to give it to them because they deserve it.”
Beck, Ioane, running backs coach Michael Pitre and linebackers coach Jody Owens are on the road recruiting. Cornerbacks coach Michael Rider, special teams coordinator, tight ends coach Daniel DaPrato offensive line coach Jason Eck and wide receivers coach Cody Kempt are in the football offices recruiting and helping manage the program. Fields pegged offensive coordinator Tim Cramsey as the “point man” for players and coaches, although an interim tag was not attached. Cramsey is also in Bozeman helping the staff.
Kempt said the staff that remains in town have been doing everything they can to make sure the remaining Bobcat players are attending 6 a.m. workouts, study tables and attending class. Montana State’s semester ends next week.
“We want to make sure the players finish strong this semester,” Kempt said.
MSU offensive coordinator Tim Cramsey with quarterback group
Ash and his staff were in the midst of a meeting discussing recruiting and ways to improve for 2016 after a disappointing 2015. The recently completed season began with Montana State harboring Big Sky Conference title expectations. It ended with a 54-35 home loss to rival Montana, a defeat that stamped MSU’s first losing season since 2001. MSU finished 5-6 as Ash dropped to 2-7 in his career against the Griz.
During the meeting, Ash left abruptly. He returned with the news of his termination.
“I think 5-6 is a reality check,” Ioane said. “That was the part we were really going to build on with this staff. We were hoping to use it for momentum and motivation into winter conditioning and recruiting. Are these the guys who can take us to the heights we want to go to? You use 5-6 as a motivating factor throughout everything.”
For more than half the staff — Jamie Marshall, Pitre, Kempt, Rider, Owens and Beck — Rob Ash is the only coach they’ve ever known, heightening the uncertainty of the future. Cramsey is a coveted commodity elsewhere and his name is swirling as a candidate for multiple openings. Offensive line coach Jason Eck has had nine coaching stops since 1999.
Ioane is the outlier, a Bobcat for all of his adult life and the lone member remaining from Mike Kramer’s staff. During the off-season, Ash promoted the longtime linebackers coach to defensive coordinator, a title he shared with Marshall.
“The most frustrating part for me is I don’t feel like I had a chance to put my stamp on this place defensively,” Ioane said. “The situation I was put in was not the easiest. That is frustrating and that’s what is eating at me a little bit.
MSU co-defensive coordinator Jamie Marshall
“We’ve been entrenched defensively with the same culture. When you make a change, you have to make a change within that culture and that mindset and I don’t think I really got a chance to really do that.”
Ioane has had other opportunities — namely a chance to join Kramer’s staff at Idaho State a few years ago — and he may need to explore his connections and broaden his horizons to stay in the business.
“I think I have to at this point,” Ioane said. “As much as I love to be here and coach the Bobcats — this is my home, where my heart is — but in reality as a professional, it may be the best thing for me to move on and part ways at this point. I have to look at my options when the time comes and weigh them one way or the other.”
During the press conference to announce Ash’s firing, Fields said he felt Montana State should “be a top 10 program” perennially. He said he wants the team to be in the mix as a national contender frequently.
“If we are going to have the standards and expectations of being a top 10 team, playing for national championships year in and year out, playing for conference championships years in and year out — which I believe we can do — then we have to have that sort of effort in everything we are doing,” Ioane said. “The guys we bring here have to understand those expectations and we cannot allow them to fall short of that in anything we are doing.
“We didn’t get the full 100 percent effort in everything we are doing at all times and that part will change. It will have to change in order to reach the goals we all want to have for Montana State.”
Beck rose from inexperienced coach to a leader of one of the nation’s most productive groups. Dane Fletcher transformed himself from partial scholarship player to Big Sky Defensive MVP and NFL talent under Beck’s watch. Dan Ogden proved to be an unlikely All-America. Zach Minter dominated the Big Sky and made a run in the NFL before landing in the Canadian Football League. Caleb Schreibeis went from walk-on to Buck Buchanan winner 2012. Brad Daly left the program only to return and make it back-to-back Bucks for the Bobcats. The prowess of the defensive line helped MSU win Big Sky championships in 2010, 2011 and 2012.
MSU defensive line coach/recruiting coordinator Bo Beck
“We have to get some more discipline in the program. That comes from starting to work hard,” Beck said last week. “There was some entitlement that settled in. Kids thought you just win here, that you do it without putting the work in. A little of that crept in. That’s my opinion.”
Over the last three season, MSU has posted a 16-16 record against Division I opponents.
“This place should be a monster,” Beck said “We can’t ever be satisfied and this program shouldn’t be. With the resources and everything here, it should be really, really good all the time. The people shouldn’t be satisfied that the facilities are good enough right now either. They have to keep cranking and building and doing whatever they can to get better. In my heart, it boils in my gut. When we hit No. 1 in the country (in 2011), we should’ve stayed there. That’s where this place belongs.”
Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
