Byron Hout coached one of the Big Sky’s best defensive lines. Can he fix one that that has struggled mightily?

Byron Hout knows what he’s talking about when it comes to defensive line play — from the particularities of technique to the split-second rush of actually playing the position.

“Up front, especially inside, you’re getting bullets flying at you from all directions, and they’re only, you know, six inches away from your face,” Hout said. “You have a short amount of time to react.”

Hout is, famously, the Boise State player punched by Oregon running back LeGarrette Blount after a 2009 game. That elides the rest of his playing career for the Broncos, for whom he started and earned all-Mountain West honors at defensive end in 2010 and 2011 for a team that lost two games in those two years.

Hout’s coaching career has been similarly successful. After graduate assistant stints at Washington State and Boise State, he took the D-line coach job at Montana State in 2016. In the four years after, the Bobcats finished no lower than fourth in the conference in total defense; defensive linemen Zach Wright, Tucker Yates, Bryce Sterk, Tyrone Fa’anono and Chase Benson received all-conference recognition; and, after two bottom-three finishes in his first two years, MSU finished fifth in the conference in sacks in 2018 and third in 2019.

Photos by Brooks Nuanez and Jason Bacaj. All Rights Reserved.