Big Sky Conference

Stitt, Jensen become Bobcats, reunite at Texas State

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Gresch Jensen and Bob Stitt both saw their careers as Griz effectively end in Bobcat Stadium at the hands of the Bobcats. Now the former Montana quarterback and head coach will reunite as Bobcats and play at Bobcat Stadium quite a bit more often.

On December 5, Stitt was officially hired as new Texas State head coach Jake Spavital’s offensive coordinator. On Tuesday, Jensen announced he too would become a Texas State Bobcat. The FBS team in the Sun Belt Conference plays its home games at Bobcat Stadium.

Stitt, who was fired as the head coach at Montana following a 31-23 loss at Montana State to cap a second straight season without a spot in the FCS playoffs, spent the last campaign as an offensive analyst for Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State. Jensen, a Freshman All-American after making seven starts and throwing 20 touchdowns for the 2017 Grizzlies, spent last season at Fullerton College.

Jensen drummed up plenty of scuttle surrounding his decision over the last two months. Idaho State, who’s offensive coordinator Mike Ferriter was the passing game coordinator on Stitt’s staff, recruited Jensen hard, as did Montana’s fiercest rival. Jensen received an offer from Montana State in October and visited the MSU campus twice over the last six weeks, including once to wear a full Montana State uniform.

Spavital has a rich lineage of coaching quarterbacks despite taking his first head coaching job at just 33 years old.Ā During his stops at Houston, West Virginia (twice), Cal and Texas A&M,he has worked with spread offense gurus like Kevin Sumlin, Dana Holgerson and Sonny Dykes. He has coached quarterbacks like Case Keenum, Geno Smith, Davis Webb, Johnny Manziel and Will Grier.

Stitt earned a reputation as an offensive innovator himself during 15 years as the head coach at the Colorado School of Mines. Following West Virginia’s 70-33 win over Clemson in the 2012 Orange Bowl, Holgerson credited Stitt for the fly sweep play that helped the Mountaineers decimate the Tigers.

Montana redshirt freshman quarterback Gresch Jensen talks to head coach Bob Stitt during Saturday night’s game against Eastern Washington/ by Jason Bacaj

At Montana, Stitt’s offensive acumen was on full display in a 38-35 victory over North Dakota State to kick off the 2015 season in resounding fashion. But he never recaptured the magic, sputtering to a 21-14 record that included 14 wins in 25 Big Sky Conference games, back-to-back missed postseasons and two straight losses to the rival Bobcats.

ā€œI didnā€™t know if I really wanted to go back to the FCS level as a head coach,ā€ Stitt toldĀ 406mtsports.com. ā€œI thought about it and reached out to a few people. But I really wanted to stay in FBS. I mean, this is the level that I want to be at, I think I belong at. Being a head coach for 18 years, you donā€™t have a chance to be an assistant at the FBS level. I would like to be a head coach someday at the FBS level, and itā€™s very difficult to move from the FCS ranks to an FBS head coach to the type of program I want to go to.”

During his lone season as the starter for the Griz, Jensen earned HERO Sports first-team FCS Freshman All-American honors and finished third in the Jerry Rice Award voting after throwing for 2,531 yards, 20 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He also ran for 203 yards and six touchdowns after taking over for injured starter Reese Phillips.
Last fall at Fullerton, Jensen completed 58 percent of his pass attempts for 2,330 and 16 touchdowns with five interceptions in 10 games. He ran for 289 yards and six touchdowns.

About Colter Nuanez

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.

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