For as much as college football seems like a completely different entity operating in a completely different universe than yesteryear, it still looks very much the same to Joe Glenn.
These days, Glenn and his wife, Michelle, reside in Eagle, Idaho. In retirement, their days are mostly spent chasing grandchildren.
“We retired and went down to Arizona and we liked it, but I don’t think you can golf everyday. In fact, I was getting worse, not better,” the 73-year-old quipped on Wednesday.
It’s been 51 years since Glenn wrapped up his college playing career for the Coyotes of South Dakota. It’s been more than 20 years since Glenn lead Montana to its most recent national championship. And it’s been since November of 2015 that Glenn last coached in a college game.
And while it’s sort of surprising that Northern Colorado has had next to no success since Glenn led them to back-to-back Division II national championships in 1996 and 1997, the rise of fellow former Division II powers like North Dakota State, South Dakota State, and his alma mater of USD seemed equally unlikely 20 years ago while he was still coaching a Griz program in the midst of one of Division I’s most consistent runs.
Saturday, South Dakota plays at Montana. Glenn will watch his alma mater take on a team in a town where he experienced his greatest glory. And when Glenn looks at Montana, he sees the same head coach that followed him when he left for Wyoming following the 2002 season: Bobby Hauck.
When he looks at South Dakota, he still sees a team with strong quarterback play (Cameron Champ has started 17 games just a few weeks into his sophomore year) and a cerebral head coach in Bob Nielson.
And when Glenn looks at the FCS along with the region both Montana and South Dakota occupy, he still sees the same juggernaut standing in everybody’s way: the Bison of North Dakota.
“When I played, the (North Central Conference) was tough, a real good league and whoever won our league were national,” said Glenn, who played both quarterback and wide receiver during his time playing in Vermillion. “And it was North Dakota State almost every single year, year in an year out. The doggone Bison have always been too much.”
Glenn’s sophomore year in 1969, the Coyotes finished 9-1 and finished eighth in the nation in Division II.
“Guess who won?” Glenn said.
“They’ve had it rolling since the early 1960s. And they really got it rolling now.”
Between 2000 and 2009, Montana won 119 games, more than any Division I team ever had during a single decade. More than Texas, more than USC, more than Nebraska, more than Miami.
UM also played for the Division I/AA or FCS championship in 2000, 2001, 2004, 2008 and 2009. Glenn and Hauck were the only two coaches Montana had during that 10-year run, a spurt that included Big Sky Conference championships all 10 seasons, playoff runs all 10 seasons and heartbreaking endings in all but one of those 10 seasons.
Glenn helped UM earn a 13-6 triumph over Furman in the 2001 Division I-AA title game to earn the first (and second-to-last) national championship won by a Big Sky Conference team during the 21st century. That win avenged a national title game loss to Georgia Southern the year prior. It also marked UM’s second national title in its fourth title game appearance in the last seven years.
“That national championship was very, very special,” Glenn reflected. “The players were hungry. The fans were hungry. The administration wanted another championship. Our guys tuned it up and got it running. There was a lot of really close wins during that stretch but that’s what happens when you are playing the best teams in the nation.”
Hauck would make it seven title game appearances in 15 years. But he fell short against James Madison in 2004, Richmond in 2008 and Villanova in 2009.
“When I first took over (in 2003), that was a long time ago, but I was an alum so I obviously paid attention to what was going on,” Hauck said. “Everything was external so it was all new to me when I walked in the door. All I remember was being really busy and having a lot to do to get ready for the first game.
“This is a great place. There’s a lot of good places around the country but this is certainly one of the top places in all of college football.”
North Dakota State won the North Central Conference 26 times between 1925 and 1994. NDSU did not win another conference championship until it won the Great West in 2006 two years after moving up to Division I.
In 2010, the Bison made the FCS playoffs for the first time, posting an upset win over Montana State in Bozeman to oust the Big Sky champions. The following year, the Bison won the Missouri Valley Football Conference for the first time. They’ve won it every autumn since, claiming 10 consecutive conference titles and winning nine of the last 10 FCS national titles.
“We caught them at the very end of their D-II run when I was at Northern Colorado, won a few national championships that they didn’t, but during my career as a player and a young coach, they were the cock of the walk,” Glenn said.
When Hauck took over at Montana, the Grizzlies seemed like the team that would attain the level of invincibility that NDSU has. UM plays at Washington-Grizzly Stadium, one of the premier small-school venues in the country. The Treasure State is obsessed with college football. The Griz have a rival in the Bobcats that forces each to keep pace in the constant arms race for fans, facilities and fine athletes.
Yet Montana has not won the Big Sky since 2011, and if you include the vacated title stripped from the Griz 11 years ago, its been since Hauck’s last season of his first tenure in 2009 since Montana hoisted a league championship trophy.
Glenn left following the 2002 season sporting a 39-6 record from his three seasons at Montana, including a 20-2 mark in Big Sky play. He spent 2003 until 2008 at Wyoming, posting a 30-41 mark while leading the Pokes.
He didn’t coach for five years, then resurfaced at his alma mater, leading the Coyotes from 2012 to 2015. He went 12-34 at USD, yet still finished his head coaching career with exactly 200 wins.
Only 95 head coaches have won that many. The only other two coaches with exactly 200 wins? Darrell Mudra — who led North Dakota State to its first-ever national title in 1963 before going on to coach at Arizona, Western Illinois, Florida State, Eastern Illinois and Northern Iowa — and Jim Sweeney, who coached at Montana State from 1963-1967 (MSU’s first five seasons in the Big Sky) before spending eigh seasons at Washington State and 20 more at Fresno State.
All four of the Dakota schools have been Division I for less than 20 years. South Dakota had the hardest time gaining traction. Since Nielson took over ahead of the 2016 season, USD has two playoff appearances, including last season. Nielson is 29-35 early in his seventh season leading the Coyotes.
“They are funding their programs, building facilities, pouring money into their programs and that’s the lifeblood of it,” Hauck said. “They are really well funded and they can do what they need to do to give themselves a chance.”
The worlds collide again on Saturday at Washington-Grizzly Stadium. One of Glenn’s best memories as a player was beating the Grizzlies in a game played in Great Falls his senior year in 1971 – “And that was when Jack Swarthout was the Griz coach and he didn’t lose many games,” Glenn said.
Montana and South Dakota have played 19 times entering Saturday’s matchup, but this one will be just the sixth since 1999. The Griz are 13-6 overall against the Coyotes, including 5-0 in games played in Missoula. The last time the two teams played came in 2019 when Montana posted a 31-17 win over UDS in the DakotaDome.
Glenn said he’ll watch the game and admire the game day atmosphere in Missoula. Hauck knows the alma mater of his predecessor will give the Griz a stout challenge on Saturday while Glenn watches from a state away.
“Joe is a great guy who did a great job at Montana and his entire career and is a great friend,” Hauck said. “I was always a big fan of his.
“We are well-aware this is a really good football team coming in,” Hauck said. “They are really well coached. They have some national recognition. It’s been a few years since we played them but we are expecting a great challenge.”
Photos by Brooks Nuanez, Blake Hempstead and attributed. All Rights Reserved.
