On Monday, Montana State athletic director Peter Fields shook up the coaching world in the Big Sky Conference by firing head football coach Rob Ash. Here is a look at the names that will surface as candidates for the opening.
In a press conference, Fields said he would have a new coach in place in 10 to 14 days. On Wednesday, a source with knowledge of the situation confirmed that Fields will announce a hiring by Friday, December 4.
“I’m going to broaden the search,” Fields said. “I’m going to go find the person who is the best for the criteria that I laid out about the institution. That’s one thing I’ve seen over the past. If the person doesn’t fit the institution, they may be a really good coach but it doesn’t work well.”
Former Montana State offensive line coach Jason McEndoo’s name surfaced instantly as a potential candidate. On Wednesday, McEndoo told Skyline Sports he would not apply for the job.
Southern Utah head coach Ed Lamb’s name has been bounced around as well. On Wednesday evening, Lamb told Skyline Sports he has not heard from or contacted Montana State.
Ash’s contract designated a baseline salary $256,038 with the ability to make as much as $446,038 annually including bonuses.
LEADING CANDIDATES
Matt Lubick — Lubick, currently the wide receivers coach at Oregon, has risen to the top of the search according to two sources close to the situation.
Fields has already been praised for a hiring of an Oregon assistant. He hired Brian Fish as the head coach of the men’s basketball team. Fields is known to have strong connections to a few top-level administrators at Oregon who highly recommend Lubick.
The 43-year-old Lubick was born in Bozeman when his father, Sonny Lubick, was an assistant at Montana State. Sonny Lubick was the head coach at Montana State from 1978 until 1981 before his termination. He parlayed his release into an incredibly successful career that included serving as the defensive coordinator at Miami from 1989 until 1992, winning two national titles. In 1993, Sonny took over as the head coach at Colorado State, a position he held until 2007.
Matt Lubick, a former standout at Montana Western in Dillon, has made stops at Colorado State (graduate assistant, 1995), Cal State Northridge (defensive backs, 1996), San Jose State (wide receivers, 1997-1998), Oregon State (DBs, 1999-2000), Colorado State (wide receivers, 2001-2004), Ole Miss (wide receivers, 2005-06), Arizona State (wide receivers 2007-2009) and Duke (wide receivers 2010-2012) before joining Mark Helfrich’s staff as the passing coordinator and wide receivers coach in Eugene before the 2013 season.
Lubick is also thought of as the potential heir apparent as Helfrich’s offensive coordinator if current OC Scott Frost is to move on. Frost has been in hot water as of late due to his comments about the scrutiny the Ducks have endured this season.
Frost likely will not move on (his choice or not) until after Oregon’s bowl game. Therefore, the timing for Lubick to make a move could be just right.
Current Salary: $325,000. Scott Frost salary: $400,000.
Tim Cramsey — Montana State’s now-former offensive coordinator is the one known internal applicant at this point in the process. Cramsey has been open in his desire to apply. But he also has said he needs to find a coaching position as soon as possible to support his wife and two young children.
Cramsey’s ace in the hole may be his connection to Dakota Prukop. Montana State’s junior quarterback will graduate in December and essentially become a free agent with the ability to transfer where ever he wants if he so desires. Prukop has stated on the record that he does not want to play for any other coach than Cramsey.
In Cramsey’s spread option attack, Prukop piled up 3,822 yards of total offense (347.5 yards per game) and accounted for a school-record 38 total touchdowns (28 passing, 10 rushing). The Bobcats averaged a Big Sky-best 41.9 points per game, the fifth-best mark in the FCS. MSU averaged 520 yards of total offense, best in the league and third nationally. Last season, MSU scored a school-record 496 points under Cramsey’s direction.
Cramsey has a strong connection to Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly because of their time at New Hampshire. Many believe Kelly is on the hot seat in Philly. Mario Cristobal, Cramsey’s former boss at Florida International, is believed to be a front runner for the University of Miami opening. And Cramsey also has a strong connection to Jay Norvell, the offensive coordinator at Texas.
Kelly has been rumored as a potential candidate for the Southern Cal job. Prukop’s grandfather, Al, played at USC in the mid-1950s. Prukop’s father, Tim, coached at USC in the mid-1990s.
Current Salary: $90,000.
Jeff Choate — Three different unattached sources said Choate was among the first names mentioned when the MSU job first came open. Choate has Montana connections — he played linebacker at Montana Western in Dillon and his parents still live in Beaverhead County.
After spending the second half of the 1990s coaching high school football in Idaho, Choate started to climb the ladder, beginning at Utah State and Eastern Illinois before joining Chris Peterson’s staff at Boise State in 2006. Choate coached running backs from 2006-2008 and linebackers from 2009 until 2011, all the while serving as Boise State’s special teams coordinator. In 2012, he left to coach linebackers on Mike Leach’s staff at Washington State. He spent 2013 coaching linbackers on Will Muschamp’s staff at Florida. He rejoined Peterson and defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski at Washington before last season. Kwiatkowski served as Montana State’s defensive coordinator between 2000-20005.
Choate helped mentor Hau’oli Kikaha and Danny Shelton, each first-team All-Americas for the Huskies.
Current salary: $345,000.
Brent Pease — One source close to the situation said the former Montana Grizzlies quarterback has said on several occasions that either Montana or Montana State would be a “dream job.”
Pease is currently on Peterson’s staff at Washington as well. He’s risen to great heights during his coaching career. He was Montana’s offensive coordinator between 1996 and 1998 before moving on to Northern Arizona for two years. He spent 2001 and 2002, he was the OC at Kentucky before spending the next three years as the offensive coordinator at Baylor. He joined Peterson’s staff at Boise State in 2006 as the wide receivers coach and spent the next five seasons in that role. He was BSU’s offensive coordinator in 2011 before assuming the same role at Florida in 2012 and 2013. He’s been in Seattle for the last two seasons.
Pease still has close friends in Montana and one source said he is keen on returning even if it means taking a slight pay cut. Pease is expected to apply for the opening despite his Grizzly ties.
Current salary: $345,000.
Brian Wright — The former Montana State offensive coordinator has confirmed interest in the Bobcat head coaching job. It remains to be seen if Fields will hire someone with any Ash ties whatsoever.
Wright was the Bobcats’ offensive coordinator in 2010 and 2011, helping former MSU quarterback DeNarius McGhee earn Big Sky MVP honors in 2010 and helping the Bobcats win the Big Sky title in 2011. Wright spent 2001 until 2009 as an assistant at Youngstown State, including the latter five seasons as the offensive coordinator.
Wright left Montana State in 2012 to join the staff at Florida Atlantic as Carl Pelini replaced Howard Schnellenberger in Boca Raton. When Pelini was fired midway through the 2013 season, Wright took the reigns as the interim head coach for four games. He guided the Owls to four straight wins. Charlie Partridge, who played for Rob Ash at Drake, took the FAU head coaching job following the 2013 season. He retained Wright as his offensive coordinator and associate head coach.
If Wright returned to Bozeman, one source said McGhee would be a part of the coaching staff in some capacity. McGhee was a graduate assistant at FIU under Wright. He is a graduate assistant at North Carolina State currently.
Current salary: $156,600
POTENTIAL CANDIDATES
John Wristen — Since 2011, Colorado State-Pueblo has lost just a single game in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. That loss came during 2014’s national championship season to Colorado School of Mines when current Montana head coach Bob Stitt was at the helm for the Orediggers.
Over the last five seasons, Wristen has led CSUP to 59-5 record that includes an 8-3 record in the playoffs, so it makes sense that Wristen’s name pops up every time a Big Sky job opens up. He build his alma mater into a national power after the school formerly known as Southern Colorado brought back football in 2008.
But the first thing that appears when you Google Wristen’s name is references to his tainted past. In 2000, he was arrested on domestic violence charges while the running backs coach at Colorado.
Current salary: $100,000.
Bobby Hauck — Hauck’s name might be a shock to some Bobcat fans but one source said the former Montana head coach is certainly interested and another said a small group of MSU players have suggested his name to Fields and the search committee.
In seven years at Montana, Hauck led the Grizzlies to an 80-17 record that included a 47-6 mark against the Big Sky and league titles all seven seasons. The Griz played in the national title game in 2004, 2008 and 2009, losing each. He took the head coaching job at UNLV in 2010, a position he held for five seasons.
During the off-season, Hauck resigned at UNLV to put his name in for the opening in Missoula. When he did not get it, he ended up as the special teams coach at San Diego State.
It remains to be seen if Fields would hire someone who so openly disliked the Bobcats at one point. But Hauck is from Big Timber, less than an hour east of Bozeman.
Current salary: $150,000.
Bobby Daly — The former Bobcat linebacker is certainly not ready to be a head coach. The Helena native knows it. The second-generation Bobcat will apply for the job in an effort to get his name out there as a potential assistant on any potential staff.
The former walk-on led the Big Sky Conference in tackles for two straight years, earning All-Big Sky honors three times and consensus All-America honors as a junior in 2007. Daly played three years of arena football before returning to Bozeman to train at 4800 Gym and coaching linebackers at Bozeman High. Daly coached MSU starting middle linebacker Grant Collins in high school.
Daly has spent the last two seasons as the director of football operations on Paul Petrino’s staff at Idaho.
Current salary: $38,000
LONGSHOTS
Dennis Erickson — The former Montana State quarterback has strong Big Sky ties. He spends his off seasons in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. He is still coaching as the running backs coach at University of Utah.
Erickson served as an assistant at MSU in 1969 and from 1971 until 1973. He coached at Idaho in 1974 and 1975 before joining former MSU head coach Jim Sweeney’s staff at Fresno State. He returned to the Big Sky in 1982 for his first head coaching job at Idaho. Erickson reached the height of his coaching fame as the head coach at Miami, where he won two national championships. He spent four seasons as the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks and two more as the head coach for the San Francisco 49ers.
Erickson was the head coach at Arizona State for five seasons before taking a job on Kyle Whittingham’s staff at Udah in 2013. Erickson has won two FBS national titles, one Big Sky title, three Big East titles and two Pac 10 crowns.
Phillip Fulmer — One source mentioned Fulmer’s name right away and at first, it seemed outlandish. But Fulmer has a home on Flathead Lake in Northwestern Montana. And he’s been involved in FCS football for the last three years.
Fulmer is currently working as a special assistant to East Tennessee State athletic director Richard Sanders. ETSU reinstated its football program last year after cancelling it in 2003. The Buccaneers played at Montana State as an FCS independent in 2015, losing 63-7.
Fulmer is a Tennessee native so its unlikely he would want to move West full-time for a job he has little connection to.
Dale Lennon — Lennon is still the head coach at Southern Illinois but the Salukis just finished 3-8. Several outlets have reported that Lennon has been on the hot seat since last season’s 6-6 finish. After back-to-back Missouri Valley titles his first two seasons at SIU in 2008 and 2009, he is 31-37 over the last six seasons, including 21-27 against MVC competition.
After five North Central Conference championships and the 2001 Division II national title in nine seasons as the head coach at North Dakota, Lennon was a finalist for Montana State’s opening. Fields reportedly offered the job to Lennon, who said no. Jerry Kill, SIU’s head coach at the time, was also a finalist. When Kill instead took the Northern Illinois head job, Lennon decided to go to Southern Illinois instead of coming to MSU.
Current salary: $220,788
Pete Kwiatkowski — Kwiatkowski has Big Sky and MSU ties — he served as Mike Kramer’s defensive coordinator for six of Kramer’s seven seasons at Montana State — but he’s been hooked in with Peterson for a decade.
At Washington, the Boise State alum that won 1987 Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year is having success and making good money. He would have to take a significant pay cut and leave a premier institution.
Current salary: $485,004
Paul Petrino — The Butte native is still the head coach at Idaho. But five wins in three years is sure to land anyone on the hot seat.
Petrino hasn’t coached in the Big Sky since he left Idaho for Utah State in 1995. His career included stops at Southern Miss, Louisville, the Atlanta Falcons, and Arkansas with his brother, Bobby. He also coached at Illinois (offensive coordinator, 2010-11) and Arkansas (OC, 2012) before taking the Idaho job. The 48-year-old played quarterback for his father, Bob Petrino, at Carroll College in Helena.
Current salary: $425,000
Jim Michalczik — The Arizona offensive line coach coached the same position at Montana State on Cliff Hysell’s staff between 1992 and 1998.
Michalczik has been away from Montana for nearly two decades, finding success as the offensive line coach for the Oakland Raiders in 2009 and 2010 before serving as Cal’s offensive coordinator for the next three seasons.
Michalczik was a popular member of Hysell’s staff so his name surfaced quickly as a potential candidate. As of this time, there is no confirmation from any source if Michalczik has been contacted or will apply for the job.
Current salary:$273,400.
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