When Jeff Choate took over as the head coach at Montana State, the Bobcats were certainly facing a rebuild, but success had come fairly often under previous head coach Rob Ash, as well as under Ash’s predecessor, Mike Kramer.
Kramer endured an 0-11 season in 2000 only to share Big Sky Conference titles in 2002, 2003 and 2005 before his abrupt firing the following spring. Enter Ash, a veteran coach who had spent the previous 16 seasons at Drake, a non-scholarship team in Iowa who Ash helped usher into the Pioneer Football League before taking over at Montana State. Ash had great successes — he led the Bobcats to three straight Big Sky Conference championships between 2010 and 2012 along with another FCS playoff berth in 2014 — as well as great shortcomings, notably the 2015 season that resulted in his dismissal because of a complete erosion of a once-fearsome defense.
Choate took over a program that had lost its direction and had seen its talent start to slip. But Montana State had 13 straight winning seasons between 2002 and 2015, including making the playoffs seven times during that span. Still, Choate decided to bulldoze the roster and reestablish the foundation of the MSU football program by revitalizing toughness, renewing dominance in the relentless rivalry with the Montana Grizzlies and refusing to back down to anyone that told the Bobcats that rising to the ranks of the FCS elite was just possible in a tiny cow town in Southwest Montana.
Although Choate went 29-24 during his four seasons as the head coach at Montana State, four consecutive wins over the Griz looms large when it comes to defining his legacy. Externally, it ignited the fan base and their fundraising efforts. Internally, it helped give Choate plenty of rope when it came to affirming the vision he put forth ahead of what ended up a 4-7 finish in his first campaign in 2016.
By 2018, Choate was using one of the greatest athletes in FCS history (Troy Andersen) to quarterback his team to a playoff victory, MSU’s first since 2012 and just the fourth of the 21st century for the program.
(Kramer led MSU to a 31-13 win over Furman in the 2006 playoffs while Ash posted a playoff win in 2011 (26-25 over New Hampshire) and in 2012 (16-10 over Stony Brook).)
By 2019, Choate’s defense looked like a unit that could hold its own in the old Pac-12, his offense looked like the bruising, physical run-heavy attack he envisioned and the Bobcats started to soar. A 48-14 win over Montana put an undeniable exclamation point on the notion that Choate was, indeed, the Griz Slayer. And a pair of playoff wins over UAlbany and Austin Peay helped vault the Bobcats into the Final Four of the FCS Playoffs for the first in 37 years.
“Our fans, certainly there’s the history with and appreciation for Coach Choate, and rightfully so,” Vigen said. “And I think that’s a story for the fans. I think at the same time, I think our fans really appreciate these opportunities to play FBS teams and to play a Mountain West team, to play a former foe in the Big Sky. I think those things add to it, along with all the connections on their coaching staff.”
Then came COVID, then came the Big Sky not playing during the 2020 season. Then came Choate’s candidacy at Boise State, a job he seemed perfectly suited for after spending time with the Broncos on Chris Petersen’s staff during the Broncos’ initial rise to the ranks of the FBS elite during the mid-2000s.
Not landing the Boise State head job seemed to trigger Choate. Shortly after, he was on the move for the ninth time in his career. He took a job as the co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Texas on Steve Sarkisian’s staff, where he reunited with former Boise State defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski, who was also at Montana State on Kramer’s staff from 2000-2005 before joining Petersen’s staff in Boise the following year.
In 2024, Choate finally landed his Mountain West head coaching job. And on Saturday, he welcomes in his former team to Reno.
“This whole thing has felt very similar to me as Montana State,” Choate said on Monday. “The difference is we weren’t able to beat UNLV Year 1 and Year 2 but we had those victories against Montana.
“The talent level needed to be elevated. The investment level needed to increase. The culture and the winning mindset needed to be instilled. And I feel like this is the first team I’ve had here that I feel like has some legitimate player-led elements, which was a hallmark of the teams I coached later in my time at Montana State. I feel like we are heading in a better direction but we played one game.
To hear Choate talk about the rebuilds he faced in Bozeman and the one he’s in the midst of in Reno sounds both like the re-instituting of a successful blueprint and Choate downplaying the challenges he faces. Nevada has plenty of football tradition — Chris Ault led the Wolf Pack to 234 wins, four Big Sky Conference titles, three Big West Titles, two WAC titles, nine FCS playoff wins and two bowl victories over 28 seasons and 36 years — but UNR has had six winning seasons since Ault retired following a 7-6 campaign in 2012. Four of those winning campaigns came in succession as Jay Norvell led the Wolf Pack to four straight bowl games between 2018 and 2021 before becoming the first coach in Mountain West history to bolt for a job within the same league when he left for Colorado State.
When Choate left MSU ahead of the 2021 season, one of the first names to surface as a potential replacement was Ken Wilson, like Choate, a fiery former Pac-12 defensive assistant with a reputation as a solid recruiter. Instead, Montana State hired Brent Vigen, which has played out about as good as anyone could have wanted — Vigen enters Saturday’s game at Nevada with a 63-12 record.
Nevada hired Wilson for two completely unsuccessful seasons; the Wolf Pack went 2-10 for two years in a row, making Choate’s rebuild, in some ways at least, much steeper than at Montana State.
“Every single place is different,” Choate said. “There’s some commonalities. We are both land-grant institutions. We are both the oldest institutions in the state. We are both Tier 1 Carnegie institutions for research, STEM schools, and the student body population is in the ballpark. Northern Nevada is a lot like Southwest Montana. From that standpoint, it feels very much like home to me.
“The differences are this is a place where Coach Ash had had some more recent success than that program had had and I think the fanbase was a little more engaged, although it was not nearly as engaged as it is now when I took over in Bozeman. I think those elements are different. I think you find out what your sweet spot is in recruiting, what a Nevada guy looks like compared to what a Bobcat guy looks like and those things are certainly different.”
The parallels, at least in terms of modern-day program success, are accurate. Montana State made the playoffs 7 times in 12 seasons beginning in 2002 before Choate’s arrival. The Wolf Pack qualified for bowl games 14 times between 2005 and 2021, winning five of those.
Since Choate took over, wins have been hard to come by. In Year 1, Nevada went 3-10 with wins over Eastern Washington, Oregon State, and Troy. In 2025, UNR went 3-9 with wins over Sac State, San Jose State and Wyoming.
The Wolf Pack are off to a 1-0 start this season after last week’s 49-14 win over Western Kentucky. Now Choate welcomes his old squad to town in the form of the No. 1 team in the Football Championship Subdivision. Montana State is riding a 16-game winning streak and has established itself as one of the premier powers in the Western United States.
“If Montana State and Western Kentucky played, No. 1, I’m rooting for the Bobcats and No. 2, I’m pretty sure they are a better football team,” Choate said. “I think that said everything you need to know about what I think of this (Montana State) group and what we are going to have to do to prepare to get a win on Saturday.”
Choate certainly helped lay the foundation, but Vigen has elevated it. Now Choate is tasked with fending off an FCS team with FBS likenings who are favored by 5.5 points on their way to Mackay Stadium at 7:30 p.m. PST Saturday night.
“They have our full attention, trust me,” Choate said. “You have a team that’s won 16 games in a row. They’ve scored 105 points in their first two games. They won a national championship. They roll everybody so bad, their starters hardly play. They have depth on their roster because their young guys are getting more opportunities to compete. They are healthier because their old guys aren’t taking any snaps. Trust me when I tell you that the Wolf Pack is not overlooking the Bobcats. They have our full attention.”
