MISSOULA — Bobby Hauck hosted his first staff meeting of 2018 on Wednesday afternoon at the Adams Center on the UM campus.
In the meeting, a collection of known commodities joined the former and new Griz head football coach. Shortly after Hauck’s hiring on December 1 to return for a second stint leading his alma mater, Montana announces the retention of offensive line coach Chad Germer, recruiting coordinator and running backs coach Justin Green and safeties coach Shann Schillinger.
Germer coached for Hauck at Montana during his last of seven seasons in his first stint at UM in 2009 before following Hauck to Las Vegas to coach at UNLV. Green and Schillinger were both All-Big Sky players and NFL Draft picks for the Griz, helping Hauck and Montana claim seven straight Big Sky Conference titles between 2003 and 2009.
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Several other attendants of the meeting are new faces around the Montana football offices, or at least ones that haven’t wandered the Adams Center for quite some time. Several more confirmed members of Hauck’s staff have yet to arrive in Missoula.
Three sources also confirmed that Brent Pease, a Montana alum who was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings from UM in 1987, will return to his alma mater to serve as an offensive assistant. It is yet to be determined if Pease will coach wide receivers, quarterbacks or tight ends.
Pease played for four NFL teams before became the first quarterback selected in the World League of American Football draft by the Birmingham Fire. During his three years playing overseas, he was able to spend his off-seasons as an assistant at Montana from 1991-1993 and in a similar role in 1994 and 1995. Pease helped mentor former Montana quarterback Dave Dickenson, the Walter Payton Award winner who led UM to its first national championship in 1995.
Pease served as Mick Dennehy’s offensive coordinator from 1996 until 1998 before heading to Northern Arizona with defensive coordinator Jerome Souers as the OC. He joined Guy Morriss’s staff at Kentucky after two seasons at NAU and has coached in the FBS ranks ever since. The Moscow, Idaho native has made stops at Baylor (2003-2005), Boise State (2006-2011), Florida (2012-13), Washington (2014-15) and most recently the last two seasons at UTEP.
He served as the OC for Baylor for all three seasons in Waco, for the 2011 season at Boise State, both years he worked on Will Muschamps’ staff at Florida and for the 2016 season and three games of 2017 before he was fired at UTEP.
New Montana defensive assistant Barry Sacks/ by San Jose State athletics
Skyline Sports confirmed with two unattached sources that Sacks, who played linebacker for the Griz from 1977 until 1979, is returning to his alma mater. It is yet to be determined if Sacks will coach defensive line, which he coached for the Division II Jacks, or linebackers.
After finishing up his college career and earning his degree in 1980 from Montana, Sacks coached high school football around the Northwest, including a two-year stop in Butte to coach at Central Catholic High. In 1986, Sacks hooked up with Missoula native and college coaching legend Pokey Allen at Boise State. Sacks spent all seven seasons with Allen coaching the then-Division II Vikings, then spent from 1993 until 1996 with Allen at Boise State. The Broncos advanced to the Division I-AA national championship game in 1994, two seasons before BSU moved up to the FBS.
Allen died in 1996 from cancer. Sacks landed at Adams State for the 1997 season. In 1998, Dave Baldwin hired Sacks at San Jose State. Sacks went to Nevada in 2002 and spent the next 10 seasons on Chris Ault’s staff. Sacks coached at New Mexico for the 2014 and 2015 seasons before returning to San Jose State. He spent just one season at Humbold State in Northern California.
The hirings of Pease and Sacks has not been made official by Montana as of press time.
Kent Baer/ contributed
Wednesday evening, Skyline Sports also confirmed that Kent Baer has emerged as a leading candidate for Montana’s defensive coordinator position. The hiring for Hauck’s defensive coordinator position could be finalized before UM hosts its next round of official recruiting visits January 13 and 14.
Hauck initially offered the DC position to San Diego State linebackers coach Zach Arnett. Hauck spent the last three seasons on Rocky Long’s staff at SDSU. Aztec’s defensive coordinator Danny Gonzalez has been hired as Herm Edwards’ defensive play-caller at Arizona State. Arnett, who played linebacker for Long at New Mexico, is in the mix for the SDSU job.
Baer is a veteran play-caller who most recently served as Tony Sanchez’s defensive coordinator at UNLV from 2015 until his dismissal following last season. The 66-year-old has also called defenses at Idaho (1986), Cal (1987-91), Arizona State (1992-1994), Stanford (1995-2001), Notre Dame (2002-2004), Washington (2005-2007), San Jose State (2008-2012) and Colorado (2013-2014).
The former Utah State linebacker worked for Keith Gilbertson in Moscow, Bruce Snyder in Berkley and Tempe, Tyrone Willingham in Palo Alto, South Bend and Seattle and Mike MacIntyre in San Jose, then Boulder.
Baer’s career began coaching the Yokouska Seahawks of the U.S. Navy from 1973-1976. He then coached linebackers and served as the DC at his alma mater from 1977 until 1985.
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Kyle Sample contributed to the reporting of this story. Photos attributed. All Rights Reserved.
Colter Nuanez is the co-founder and senior writer for Skyline Sports. After spending six years in the newspaper industry with stops at the Missoulian, the Ellensburg Daily Record and the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, the former Washington Newspaper Association Sportswriter of the Year and University of Montana Journalism School graduate ('09) has cultivated a deep passion for sports journalism during his 13-year career covering the Big Sky Conference. In August of 2014, Colter and brother Brooks merged their passions of writing and art to found Skyline Sports.
