Brian Armstrong inherited a once stable group that has been in flux recently.
Montana State’s new offensive line coach will be the Bobcats’ third offensive line coach in three seasons as new head coach Jeff Choate assumes control of the program. Jason McEndoo built up the longest tenure of any assistant coach in Montana State history by spending 12 largely successful seasons tutoring the Bobcat offensive line. After the 2014 season, McEndoo left to take an assistant spot on Mike Gundy’s staff at Oklahoma State. Jason Eck coached the Bobcat offensive line in 2015 before he and the majority of Rob Ash’s staff, along with Ash, were let go on November 23.
Armstrong inherits a group that loses four senior starters, including All-America left tackle John Weidenaar, a four-year starter, and All-Big Sky Conference center Joel Horn, a two-year starter. Armstrong’s 2016 group will include seniors guard J.P. Flynn and center Doug Hanson. Flynn, a three-time All-Big Sky selection, suffered a severe knee injury that required surgery in MSU’s 54-35 loss to Montana to end the season. Hanson has never started a game.
Armstrong has built a strong reputation as an in-state recruiter and an offensive line mentor during his last nine seasons at Rocky Mountain College in Billings. Armstrong has served the last seven seasons as the Bears’ head coach. He compiled a 37-41 record, including guiding Rocky to the NAIA playoffs, the Bears’ first appearance in the post season since 1999. Armstrong twice earned Frontier Conference Coach of the Year (2010, 2013). He served as Rocky’s offensive coordinator for the duration of his tenure and ends his time in Billings as the second-winniest coach in school history.
Armstrong becomes the second straight Rocky coach to jump to the Big Sky. David Reeves left Billings to join Jerome Souers’ coaching staff at Northern Arizona in 2009.
On Thursday, Armstrong met with Skyline Sports and the Bozeman media to discuss his transition and the future ahead.
Ted Dawson, KBZK: Coach, let me ask you a question for our Billings guys. Why did you leave Rocky?
Brian Armstrong: “Jeff Choate. I’ve known Coach Choate for a long time. I have a lot of belief in him as a football coach and him as a guy. And it’s a great opportunity for me personally and professionally as well, I’m not going to lie about that. But I really believe in what Jeff is trying to build here, what we are trying to build here. That’s the biggest reason I’m here.”
Armstrong, like Choate, is a Montana Western alum. Armstrong was an All-America offensive lineman and standout wrestler for the Dawgs in the mid-1990s. Choate played linebacker at Western before an injury ended his career. He served as a student assistant during Armstrong’s first few years in Dillon. The two served as graduate assistants on Mick Dennehy’s staff at Utah State in the early 2000s.
Dawson: What do you expect from Jeff Choate? What do you expect from Montana State football?
Armstrong: “I know his vision would be to be very disciplined, hard-working, blue-collar guys. He’s a very blue-collar guy himself. He got to where he was at by working hard. He was not given anything. Having to take some chances and when he gets the opportunity, he makes the most of them. I have no doubt that he will do that here as well and I’m excited to be a part of it.”
Dawson: What kind of offense will you be running here?
Armstrong: “That’s a good question. I’ll have to ask Coach (Courtney) Messingham (new offensive coordinator) when he gets here. We will all have to see what we have personnel-wise I think and build off the strengths we have there. But I don’t think we will be reinventing the wheel, for sure.”
Skyline: Several of the new coaches have spoken over the last few weeks very similarly, saying they really believe in what Jeff has to offer. Why is that? What is the sense of belief? Where does that come from?
Armstrong: “Shoot, the first time I met Jeff was in 1992 and I was a chubby freshman at Western Montana College. We stayed in touch. We were on the same staff at Utah State. That’s really where I was around him and had an idea of what a coach was supposed to be.
“Impressed with him in so many ways, the energy he brings. The biggest thing is the relationship he has with his players. Last fall, we took my son (Michael) down to the University of Washington, went to a game. Walking through the locker room, watching how he interacts with the players, it’s easy to tell the respect those players had for him, not only his position but throughout the team.Jason
“Again, the job he did on special teams (Choate coached safeties and special teams in 2003 and 2004) at Utah State, he’s a special guy. He’s an excellent leader, he’s got a plan, he’s got a vision and he brings a lot of energy to the table. He makes people feel good about him.”
Skyline: You’ve been a head coach for a while. He’s never been a college head coach? Several guys on the staff that have been head coaches on the staff. What will that dynamic be like? Do you think you can help him?
Armstrong: “He’s been a high school head coach (in Challis, Twin Falls and Post Falls, Idaho). I can bring, as other guys on staff do, a certain perspective but shoot, he’s been around the block a time or two so he has an idea of what he wants to do. Sounding board would maybe be a good word for it.”
Parker Gabriel, Bozeman Chronicle: Have you got a chance to evaluate personnel at all?
Armstrong: Not much. I’ve watched a little bit. I’ve known Coach McEndoo for years and years and years. We’ve talked some. I have an idea of what’s here. Again, terminology-wise, in terms of specific offensive line play, I think we are very similar in that aspect. I don’t know how it changed last year with Coach Eck. I’m excited about it.
“The Montana kids I know because I’ve recruited some of them and I’m familiar with them. Not in depth for sure.”
Montana State returns a group of 13 offensive linemen next season, including eight from Montana. Once Flynn returns to full health, the initial depth chart will likely include junior Dylan Mahoney at left tackle, Flynn at left guard, Doug Hanson at center, junior Monte Folsom at right guard and junior Caleb Gillis at right tackle. Sophomore Wade Webster and redshirt freshman Mitch Brott could also challenge for playing time.
For years, McEndoo helped host a Big Man camp at Rocky Mountain College with Armstrong. Many of the current Bobcats attended. Folsom and Gillis are from Dillon. Brott is from Billings. MSU also has a group of redshirt freshmen from Montana: Kash Perry (Utica), Colin Hammock (Missoula), Justin Rock Above (Billings), Bryan Wilkes (Great Falls).
Redshirt freshmen Jake McFetridge and sophomore Garrett Gregg remain on the roster.
Russ Reed, NBC Montana: So have you met with the guys yet?
Armstrong: “I’ve met a few of them and the ones I haven’t met, I’ve called on the phone and introduced myself and chatted them up a little bit and continued to build those relationships. Some of the guys I know better than others.
“Mitch Brott is a Billings guys. I know him. Some of the Dillon guys I know. J.P. is still around, I’ve talked to him several times. Some of them not face to face but I’ve had a few conversations.”
Reed: What message were you trying to deliver to those guys?
Armstrong: “The main thing is how excited I am to be here, how excited I am to be a Bobcat and how excited I am to coach them, to pick their brains. For some of those guys, I’m going to be their third offensive line coach in three years. That’s not easy for them either. So letting them know everything is going to be ok. I think we have a great room it sounds like, talking with Coach McEndoo and talking with a few players. I think we have a great group of guys.
“Offensive linemen are notoriously the best people on the face of the earth anyway. Give them a sandwich and coach them up and they will be happy forever. I don’t think much will change. I think we have a good group.”
Greg Rachac, Billings Gazette: What is going to be your approach coaching the offensive line?
Armstrong: “I think No. 1, there is a certain mentality you need to have. I was telling one of our guys the other day, you could probably take everyone in the room, Coach Armstrong included, and I don’t think anybody…We all ended up playing offensive line. As a little guy in Helena, I had the stripe of doom when you step on the scale and if you are over 100 pounds, you get the stripe, which means you don’t get to line up in the backfield. It’s safe to say that none of those guys grew up thinking, ‘I can not wait to play offensive line.’ But yet we all end up there.
“With that mindset is a unique individual and they are very giving, people pleasers, notoriously hard workers, low ego, high output guys. I’m excited about that.
“No. 1, we need to be physical. I don’t care what kind of offense you run, you need to be able to run the football. So that’s where we are going to start with that mindset that we need to get hip to hip and move some people if we want to run the ball down hill. We will work from there.”
Rachac: Is the challenge greater having to replace four seniors?
Weidenaar started a school-record 49 straight games at left tackle. Joel Horn started 24 straight games at center. Kyle Godecke broke into the lineup as a redshirt freshman and started 28 games overall. Alex Eekhoff broke into the lineup as a sophomore and started all 13 games as a junior at right tackle before a shoulder injury limited his senior season.
Armstrong: “(Laughs) I should’ve asked a few more questions before I took the job. No, I think that there is obviously some challenge there when you are replacing four starters and the one starter coming back (Flynn) is injured and is going to miss a decent amount of time between now and next fall. I don’t know any different. All I know is what we have in the room now so we will put together the best unit we can moving forward.”
Rob Jesselson, ABC/Fox: Coach Choate has mentioned how he wants to own the state. What do you think it says about him the way he’s kind of assembled the staff as far as going and looking at other local programs and grabbing coaches from around the state?
Armstrong: “I think he has a lot of pride in the state of Montana. He’s always considered himself a Montana guy. He wasn’t raised here. He was raised in north Idaho. He is married to a Montana girl. I know, shoot, even way back when he was at Western Montana College and definitely when we were at Utah State, we would always talk about the state of Montana. We would load up and bring coaches and come back to the state of Montana and play golf and take in the sights. It’s a great place and he takes great pride in the state of Montana, always had. I’m sure that’s about to be ratcheted up about 10 notches now. I think that’s what he is about.”
Skyline: Recruiting wise, have they talked to you about where you will be recruiting mainly?
Armstrong: “No, not really but I’m assuming some part of Montana for sure. That part, I couldn’t say definitively. It would just be a conjecture on my part. But we will get that mapped out here as soon as everyone gets here.”
Skyline: What do you think will be the biggest transition coming from the Frontier Conference to the Big Sky Conference?
Armstrong: “We have better athletes I think for sure. I think ball is ball. Some of the best coaches I know are high school coaches. I’m not going to wake up on Friday morning and paint the field. That will be nice. The thing I’m looking forward to is being able to be a position coach again and to have my own room and be able to build great relationships with 15, 16, 17 guys. When you are responsible for 120, that gets watered down somewhat. I’m excited to take a step back and really focus on the offensive line and get those guys coached up.”
Rachac: Have you been out on the road yet?
Armstrong: A little bit this week visiting a couple of guys who are committed and contacting a few in-state guys and letting them know they haven’t been lost in the shuffle. We are in the process of getting things squared away here.”
Rachac: Was it a difficult thing to tell your players are Rocky you are leaving?
Armstrong: “It’s always a difficult thing. As a player, I’ve been through it. Shoot, I had three coaches at my time at Western. I learned something from all three of those guy. I know Rocky will hire a great guy and continue to move forward and be better for it.”