Montana State Hires New Football Coach
Early Monday evening, Montana State University announced that they had hired their new football coach. Brent Vigen is now the 33rd head coach of the Bobcats.
Vigen joins MSU from the University of Wyoming, where he was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach since 2013. He came to Wyoming from North Dakota State, his alma matter, with Craig Bohl, who left the Bison to be the head coach of the Cowboys.
At North Dakota State, Vigen coached Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz, and at Wyoming Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen, who was the #7 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. Vigen has been a coach for 22 years and an offensive coordinator for 11 seasons.
He replaces former Bobcat coach Jeff Choate, who announced he was leaving over two weeks ago to join the University of Texas staff. In the three weeks since Choate's departure, several of the coaches on Montana State's list reportedly turned the Bobcats down.
Matt Lubick, Nebraska’s offensive coordinator and receivers coach, interviewed with MSU last week. Former assistant Bobcat coach Jason McEndoo, who is now with Oklahoma State, was also on the Bobcats coaches' list, but bowed out. Just last week, Big Sky resident Jeff Fisher, former NFL coach of the Rams & Titans, said he would be interested in the job if the Bobcats reached out to him, but it appears that MSU already had their sights set on someone else.
For Vigen, one of his first moves with the Bobcats will be to find a defensive coordinator, as Kane Ioane left just after Choate to become the safeties and co-defensive coordinator for the Boise State Broncos.