During a fall camp filled with new ideals as the Bobcats try to recapture their identity, Kane Ioane is the one ingredient that remains the same.
If you are watching Montana State practice from the railing that borders Dyche Field on the MSU campus, you’re sure to get a full dose of Ioane’s steady, insistent coaching style. His linebackers group is the one in plain view with the position groups spread out across the grass. From the days of Mike Kramer rebuilding a program around Ioane’s bravado and formidable football talent as a player to Rob Ash winning three Big Sky Conference championships thanks in part to the linebackers Ioane has mentored, the one consistent this time of year for nearly two decades at MSU has been a young man who continues to serve as a pillar of the program.
[restrict paid=”true”]
Ioane came to Montana State as striking safety from Billings Skyview. He broke into the starting lineup as a true freshman but MSU endured an 0-11 season in Kramer’s first year at the helm. By 2002, the Bobcats earned a win over Montana in Missoula, snapping their dreaded “Streak” of 16 straight losses to the hated rivals. By 2003, Ioane was a consensus All-America and the Big Sky Conference Defensive Player of the Year.
“Play in and play out, Kane Ioane is the best player to ever put on a Bobcat uniform,” said Sonny Holland, the former MSU player and head coach who is widely considered the greatest Bobcat of all time, during Friday night’s inaugural Montana Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony in which both Holland and Ioane were honored as contributors. “No question.”
After a brief stint with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Ioane joined Kramer’s staff as a graduate assistant. When Kramer was fired in the spring of 2007, Ash kept Ioane on his staff. By 2009, he was MSU’s full-time linebackers coach. Before last season, at the age of 33, Ash promoted Ioane to co-defensive coordinator.
Last season was a trying one for all the Bobcats, particularly Ioane, a fierce competitor who struggled to accept MSU’s defensive downfalls. Montana State gave up points and yards in bunches, resulting in MSU’s first losing season since Ioane’s sophomore season in 2001. The 5-6 finish resulted in Ash’s firing.
Ioane was retained once again. He is no longer the defensive coordinator, something that eats at him not because of the demotion but because he feels he could’ve made a difference with a few years leading under his belt. But first-year Jeff Choate named Ioane his associate head coach and retained him to coach linebackers.
“You may not see it every day out here but I lean on him a lot,” Choate said earlier this week as MSU endures its first week of fall camp. “He’s been around this program for a long time. He understands the inner workings of this organization and Bozeman in particular. As an assistant head coach, I lean on him a lot. I bounce ideas off of him every day and that’s maybe you don’t see out here on the field but that’s certainly been a really valuable asset to me.”
The most noticeable difference a week into Choate’s first fall camp is the demanding nature of the new head coach’s style. Practices have been filled with rebuilding fundamentals, emphasizing conditioning and trying to evoke the toughness that defined the Bobcats for generations.
Ioane, for one, feels reinvigorated by the change.
“It’s definitely different,” Ioane said following MSU’s first practice in pads last week. “This matches my personality, that’s for sure. It matches up exactly with how I played the game of football, how I want our players to play the game of football and in turn, it will result in a lot of success on our side of the ball.”
When Ash was fired two days after MSU’s 54-35 loss to Montana, Ioane and the rest the staff found themselves in a holding pattern. Many, including Ioane, stayed on the recruiting trail while they waited to see if they’d be retained. Ultimately, Choate kept just running backs coach Michael Pitre and Ioane.
“It was a whirlwind initially through the hiring, January, recruiting, spring ball and into the summer as far as getting ourselves acclimated to everything, getting our foundation built as far as our culture and what we wanted,” Ioane said. “Now we are back into fall camp coaching football, coaching it the way we want it, coaching these guys the way we want to coach them.
“We are trying to emphasize our core values of character, accountability and toughness. Toughness has been a real key thing throughout fall camp. It’s been missing so this has been awesome and what we’ve needed, especially on our side of the ball.”
Fletcher Collins, a senior who is the front-runner to start at middle linebacker this fall, has played for Ioane for five years after walking on out of Seattle Prep. He said Ioane’s fundamental, directed coaching style remains the same.
“He’s still super intense,” Collins said. “He’s still Coach Ioane, a great coach. He’s been here killing it for 17 years. He’s just the same guy, high intensity, keeping us going, making sure we are running to the ball.”
Blake Braun, currently MSU’s No. 1 at Will linebacker, is in his fourth season playing for Ioane. While the tactics remain the same, Braun sees a new attitude in his coach.
“Seems like Coach Ioane, he’s loosening up a little bit and coaching how he wants to coach,” Braun said. “He’s out there, loose, being himself. He’s not getting held back anymore.”
Lukas McCarthy is one of two junior college linebackers – his twin brother, Jakob the other – who is competing in Ioane’s group this fall. He is acclimating well to Ioane’s style.
“He tells it how it is,” McCarthy said. “If we are doing it bad, he lets us know. He’s not going to sugar coat anything. He’s a great coach.”
On Friday night, Ioane was one of three former Bobcats enshrined in the newly created Montana Football Hall of Fame. Ioane went in as a contributor for his work as a coach, a career that has included six Big Sky titles between playing and coaching and the production of All-America linebackers like Bobby Daly and Jody Owens. Because he is in the midst of fall camp, Ioane wasn’t able to attend the inaugural induction banquet. Instead, he sent a video acceptance speech saying he “felt selfish for receiving such a high honor because football is the ultimate team sport so I couldn’t have done anything without my teammates, my fellow coaches or the tremendous young men who have played for us at Montana State.”
Holland gave the first speech on a night when 13 legends were enshrined. He praised the influence Montana State had on his life and gave credit to Ioane for “getting the Bobcats back on track” as a player and for his mentorship as a coach.
“The true measure of a coach is when the head coach leaves and a new head coach comes in. If he keeps that guy, you know he’s one heck of a coach,” Holland said. “I know Kane is.”
[/restrict]Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
