Brian Armstrong is heading to the Mountain West.
On Sunday evening, Skyline Sports confirmed with two sources that Armstrong, Montana State’s heralded offensive line coach, has taken the same position at Fresno State.
Ashley Washburn of MTN Sports reported the news first on Twitter on Monday evening.
Armstrong, a 49-year-old from Helena who played college football at Montana Western in Dillon, has spent the last three seasons as the offensive line coach and run game coordinator at Montana State. Last season, Montana State entered the campaign with only one returning starter (sophomore center Justus Perkins) and a potentiall starting offensive line with just one junior (Cole Sain) with the rest of the unit made up of freshmen and sophomores.
Armstrong helped mentor the offensive line to one of the breakout seasons in program history. Last year, Montana State rushed for a program single-season record 4,366 yards and averaged 6.5 yards per carry, each the top totals in the Football Championship Subdivision. MSU also put forth top 10 rushing attacks in 2019 and 2021 while four Bobcats achieved All-American status. Sophomore Rush Reimer was a third-team All-American this past season after Lewis Kidd, now with the New Orleans Saints, was a first-team selection in 2021 and Mitch Brott was a second-team pick in 2019.
Armstrong led the Bobcat offensive line for most of his seven seasons at MSU. He was hired by Jeff Choate ahead of the 2016 season. The former Rocky Mountain College head coach was the offensive coordinator at MSU in 2017. In 2018, he coached tight ends. He moved back to offensive line in 2019 and has been the run game coordinator the last four seasons.
Armstrong replaces Saga Tuitele, who left Fresno State to become the offensive line coach at Arizona State this off season. Tuitele made $229,000 last season according to public records reports.
This story will be updated.
