A lot of people I think forget just how badly the 2011 NCAA sanctions hurt this program and it's reputation. We essentially spent the 2010s in limbo trying to get back on the wagon. And during that time, MSU was slowly becoming the FCS powerhouse that it is today. Rob Ash (as much crap as many here give him), was at the time the best coach MSU had had in decades. He righted the ship from the Mike Kramer days and set the foundation for MSU to be consistently good.
STATE'S PATH TO PERENNIAL POWER:
- Rob Ash (2007 - 2015) - The successor to Mike Kramer, set the foundation for State.
- Jeff Choat (2016 - 2020) - Set the hard-nosed attitude and mindset for the Cats.
- Brent Vigen (2021 - Present) - With the foundation in place and that hard-nosed attitude, Brent brought the blueprint from NDSU with him and now MSU is a perennial FCS power.
It literally took 18 years for their program to go from bad to phenomenal. And it wasn't until the last 10 years where they started seeing good results and then these last 4 years to solidify they're a perennial power.
MONTANA'S PATH TO RETURNING TO PERENNIAL POWER:
- Bobby Hauck 1.0 (2003 - 2009): Bobby led this program to 3 National Championship appearances, the program was at it's pinnacle.
- Robin Pflugrad (2010-2011): Pflu had a blip in 2010 with Montana's first losing season in decades. However, he had the program back to its known high standards with a semifinal run in 2011.
- Mick Delaney (2012-2014): After Montana was hit with sanctions by the NCAA, the program was a shell of its former self. Mick Delaney stepped in to keep the ship afloat.
- Bob Stitt (2015-2017): Having survived the previous few years from potential disaster, Bob Stitt was hired on to lead Montana to a new era and back to a perennial power. However, the results in 3 years still had Montana as a mediocre program.
- Bobby Hauck 2.0 (2018 - Present) - Bobby was brought back to Montana to install the pride and tradition of the Montana Grizzlies. Bobby had to lay down the foundation, the tough-nosed attitude/mindset, and that power program mentality. And he had to do that in the course of 7 seasons vs state's 20 year crawl to do it. He brought this program to its 4th national championship appearance in his tenure with UM in 2023.
OVERALL VIEW:
Looking back at what Montana has gone through the last 15 years, it's incredible to see how quickly Bobby Hauck was able to get us back to a point in our program where we can now confidently say that we are a perennial power again with being a top 5 team. We're not quite there yet as its pretty clear that we need to get better in the trenches if we want to truly be as good or better than the Dakotas and State. But we're right there.
Like I mentioned in another thread where a Cat fan said, "Boy Montana State must be doing something right when they win 7 of 10 against Montana, and that shows how much further ahead we are than you", my response was, "Boy, Montana must be doing something right when it is the only program to have beaten both the Dakotas in the last decade while Montana State is still trying to figure out how to do that".
We're not that far behind, if not even at all. A 3-point game in a rivalry game proves that. Rivalry games are unpredictable too.
Anyway, that's just my two cents on this topic.