Tim Cramsey is worried about his sons. Montana State’s offensive coordinator considers MSU quarterback Dakota Prukop one of the three.
On Monday at noon, Montana State athletic director Peter Fields announced the school would part ways with head football coach Rob Ash after nine seasons. Fields did not appoint an interim head coach but did say that Cramsey would be the “point man” for the program.
[restrict paid=”true”]“We have to keep doing our jobs,” Cramsey said. “We still do have jobs here. We still owe this program, most importantly the players in the program to continue putting our foot forward in the recruiting process and the kids we do have committed to stay.”
On Monday afternoon, Cramsey reacted to the news that his second head coach had been fired. After nine seasons coaching at New Hampshire, his alma mater, Cramsey spent the 2012 season at Florida International working under head coach Mario Cristobal. The staff was fired after on season. Monday, Cramsey expressed concern for his family, as well as for his players.
“I need to get a job. I have a three-year-old and one-year-old son that need to have income,” Cramsey said. “We have to keep these kids going to class. This is a big time in the semester for them with their exams coming up. We have to keep them going to class, we have to keep at their workouts, we have to keep them focused on everything we need to do.
“It’s a miserable situation. When a head coach gets fired, an entire staff gets fired. When they bring a new head coach in, that guy has his people. I keep brining it up but we need to get a job, have a job for my wife and two kids. The uncertainty is very nerve wracking right now.”
The Montana State coaching staff was in a meeting discussing recruiting and the next steps for the program when Ash stepped out. He returned to tell the staff of his termination. Ash addressed the team at noon.
“It’s nerve wracking, it’s scary but it’s the business we are in and if you don’t perform, you get fired,” Cramsey said. “People out there who sign petitions to fire and start all these things to fire and go on message boards and say, ‘Let’s fire this guy, let’s fire that guy, let’s get rid of this guy,’ sometimes they forget there is a three-year-old boy and a one-year-old boy who need their dad to have a job.”
Cramsey is one of several now-former Montana State coaches with young families. Co-defensive coordinator Jamie Marshall, offensive line coach Jason Eck, running backs coach Michael Pitre and wide receivers coach Cody Kempt all have small children as well.
Cramsey said Montana State’s players were “very disappointed.” Cramsey has not hesitated in talking about his strong relationship with Prukop, Montana State’s All-Big Sky junior quarterback. Cramsey confirmed on Monday that Prukop is on track to graduate from Montana State in December. Once graduated, Prukop is eligible to transfer to any school to pursue a graduate degree.
“I talk to Dakota every single day and I talked to him very in depth today about what went on,” Cramsey said. “I am trying to keep him focused on continuing to move forward in his career.
“Dakota and I have a very good relationship. I have two real sons and now Dakota. We have a very good relationship.”
Prukop fast-tracked his graduation in order to provide himself freedom heading into his final year of eligibility.
Cramsey said he’s spoken with many other players and advised them to focus on the rest of the academic semester and wait for the process of replacing the coaching staff to play out.
“We told the players to not make any rash decisions,” Cramsey said. “Someone is going to come in here and coach this program and you need to buy into the guy who comes in to coach this program. They are going to get a good coach in here. These guys have to buy into that. There’s some guys who don’t want to play for other coaches. When it’s all said and done, if you stay here, you are going to at some point.”
On Monday’s press conference, Fields said he wants to have a coach in place. He said MSU would conduct a thorough, national coaching search. Ash is the second coach Fields has fired. Ash was the first he hired. Fields fired Mike Kramer in 2007.
“Hiring is not an exact science,” Fields said. “Hiring is a feel. You can talk to people. You can do things. When you hire somebody, you don’t hire them with the expectation you are going to terminate them. We work really hard and we are diligent with what we are doing. We need to continue to do diligence with that and get the best person we can get. That’s the piece. It’s not an exact science. We will work really hard at it.”
Fields said he told the MSU assistants that each will be able to apply for jobs on the staff of the future head coach but the hiring would be up to the discretion of whoever takes over for Ash. Each assistant will be paid through National Signing Day in February if they do not find work elsewhere and are expected to continue to work on recruiting. Montana State currently has verbal commitments from 10 prep prospects.
“That will be part of the evaluation (for the assistants) is how they handle this,” Fields said. “If the new person comes in and finds out the assistant was doing something underhandedly, they make the decision for the new head coach rather than the head coach making the decision.”
“We have to keep moving forward in recruiting,” Cramsey said. “That goes through myself and through Bo Beck, who is still the recruiting coordinator here.”
There is at least one known applicant for the job: Cramsey. He said his wife, Amy, loves Bozeman. Cramsey’s offense scored a school record 496 points in 2014. This season, MSU averaged Big Sky bests 41.9 points and 520 yards per game this season.
“The program is not in a good spot,” Cramsey said. “We are a 5-6 team that is not in the playoffs. That’s unacceptable.”
“But the sky is the limit for this program. It should be an elite program in the country. With the resources we have, the stadium we have, it should be one of the elite programs in the country.
“Bobcat Nation is awesome. Given that opportunity, I will put my best foot forward. If not, I have to find income for my sons, Brock and Brice.”
[/restrict]Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
