Andy Thompson’s experience in Missoula as a Montana Grizzly laid the foundation for the rest of his life.
Thompson crossed paths with a string of coaches who would influence his life, from Mick Dennehy to Joe Glenn to Bobby Hauck. During his time as a linebacker at UM, he played in two national championship games, helping the Griz claim the 2001 national title. Thompson played for six position coaches and made numerous friends. He even met his wife, Mikal, a Missoula native, during his time in the Garden City.
Thompson has spent the last 12 seasons as an assistant on Jerome Souers’ staff at Northern Arizona, squaring off with his alma mater each fall. Thompson coached NAU running backs in 2005 and 2006, linebackers and special teams in 2007 and 2008 and has been NAU’s defensive coordinator since 2009. Thompson’s Lumberjacks host Montana on Saturday evening.
[restrict paid=”true”]“No, it doesn’t feel different at this point,” Thompson said. “It’s always something that is a great experience and I still have a lot of family in Montana with my wife’s family still living there. We get up to Missoula once a year and sometimes twice. You don’t want to go back there and hear about how you lost. So I’m always very motivated to get our guys to play their best and get a win.”
When reminiscing about his time at UM, Thompson reference former Griz like All-American offensive lineman Dylan McFarland, stud defensive linemen like Chris Connors and John Cahill, towering offensive tackle John Skinner, wide receiver Dane Oliver and fellow linebacker Brent Meyers as guys he still keeps up with. The experience they shared helped Thompson want to make football a part of his life after his playing days ended.
“The people I was around — I had some lifelong friends I played with at Montana,” Thompson said. “We had a bunch of great guys who had a great time playing together. I could go on a long list of guys who really helped me enjoy the game and who also helped me want to continue on and be a part of it since I had such a great experience with the players and coaches there at Montana.”
Thompson hosted Montana running backs coach Justin Green on Green’s recruiting trip to Missoula more than a decade ago. Green went on to become an NFL Draft pick after a standout career for the Griz. Oliver is now the head coach at Missoula Sentinel and has produced Division I talent consistently, most recently in the Roberts brothers. Ben was a senior on last year’s Griz while Mitch is a senior at Sentinel this season and will join UM next fall. Most of his other teammates have gone on to careers in other areas.
“Almost all of those guys are very successful because of the core values we learned at the University of Montana,” Thompson said.
Aside from Green, Thompson is the most heavily entrenched in the Big Sky of any of his former teammates. Two weeks ago, NAU posted a 20-14 win over Montana State in Bozeman.
“A lot of guys still follow the Griz and they still follow me,” Thompson said. “I got quite a few texts from guys when we beat Montana State. They are still pretty excited about football in the Big Sky, how we are doing, and they still all love the Griz.”
Northern Arizona’s coaching staff has deep ties to Montana. Souers spent 10 years as an assistant on Don Read’s staff, then two more on Dennehy’s staff. Souers was Montana’s defensive coordinator for the Grizzlies’ 1995 national championship team and the 1996 Division I-AA runner-up.
NAU wide receivers coach Aaron Pflugrad was born in Missoula in 1988. Souers was in his third season as the defensive backs coach for the Griz while Aaron’s father, Robin was in his third season as an offensive assistant on Read’s staff. The Pflugrads lived in Missoula until Robin took a job as the wide receivers coach at Arizona State before the 1995 season.
“I remember Missoula really fondly,” Pflugrad said. ‘We still go back once a year and go up to Flathead Lake. My fondest memory is when we went up to Flathead one summer and (former UM offensive line) Coach (Bob) Beers was taking me around. We were riding jetskis. We went back down and hiked the M. Great community as far as the support from the fans and I really love Missoula.”
Robin coached at Arizona State until 2000 before moving to Washignton State for the net five seasons. He coached wide receivers at Oregon from 2006 until 2008 while Aaron started at Pullman High and then in his one season at Sheldon High in Eugene before earning a scholarship to Oregon. The younger Pflugrad caught 23 passes and a touchdown in two seasons playing for the Ducks before transferring to Arizona State for the 2010 and 2011 seasons. At ASU, he started 16 games and caught 73 passes for nearly 1,000 yards and seven touchdowns.
Meanwhile, Robin climbed the ladder at Montana. After leaving Oregon, he coached wide receivers during Bobby Hauck’s last season in 2009. He took over for Hauck in 2010 and led Montana to the semifinals of the FCS playoffs in 2011. He was named the Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year and helped Montana to its 13th Big Sky title in 14 seasons. In the off-season he as abruptly fired amid a cloud of controversy stemming from the campus-wide rape scandal included the trial and eventual acquittal of former quarterback Jordan Johnson.
Although Aaron Pflugrad never played or coached at Montana, Griz week brings a different feeling even if he’s cautious to admit or embrace it.
“You always get feelings watching them on film and seeing the stadium,” Pflugrad said. “That’s where I was born and my dad had a chance to go back. It’s a phenomenal place.
“It’s something where we prepare as hard as we possibly can every single week. Sometimes if you let that personal stuff get involved, you get over amped and over hyped for the matchup. I let that happen to me when I was at ASU and we went back to play from Oregon after I transferred. It’s about keeping focused.”
Souers had a bear of a time against the Grizzlies for the first 14 years of his career at NAU, losing to his former employer every matchup. But NAU broke through in 2012, handing Montana its first homecoming loss in a generation in Missoula. The following season, NAU beat Montana in Flagstaff. The two schools didn’t play in 2014 and Montana got the upper hand back last season with a 23-14 win in Missoula. NAU will look for its third straight win this season and its third in four outings against UM at Walkup Skydome on Saturday evening.
“It’s been 19 years and a lot has gone by in that time,” Souers said. “It was a great experience for me the 12 years I was there and I still have a lot of friends in Missoula. They were very good to me and my family and I’ll never forget that. I’ve been here at NAU longer than I was there and this is home for me. I have great respect for the program and the players and the way they have been able to be competitive year in and year out. I think that speaks for the athletic department, the community and the state itself the way they back the football program.”
[/restrict]Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
