Change is a constant thing in our world, especially in college football. It seems like every year dozens of coaches get fired and coaches get hired to replace them. Coaches getting new jobs and colleges looking for coaches to replace those they lost. It is an annual rite of the offseason.
Montana was in that boat for the first time since 2003, when Bobby Hauck left for UNLV and the Grizzlies were forced to search for a new head coach. They found new head coach Robin Pflugrad.
For Pflugrad the third time was the charm. He had previously applied when Hauck was given the job, and also threw his name in the hat when Joe Glenn was awarded the job in 2000.
With his job as head coach in place, Pflugrad moved immediately into finding assistant coaches and players to fill the roster. But with only three weeks to recruit, he didn't have time to think about the process.
"The transition as far as the recruiting process was so fast that you didn't even think about it as a transition," Pflugrad said. "That's your job, and that's how we've reacted to it I think the staff did a pretty good job in that area with the time constraints."
ESPN would seem to agree. Several of the players he recruited were given two and three star ratings, a rarity in FCS football.
With the main recruiting time behind him, Pflugrad moved onto winter conditioning.
"The winter conditioning, we want to keep it positive, we want to keep it a lot of fun, because it isn't always fun playing this game. It's a tough game for tough people," Pflugrad said.
It is hard to think of being at the gym at 6 a.m. for two hours of running and hard work as being fun, but Pflugrad integrates competitions into the workouts to break up the workouts and give the players something to look forward to.
The competition for the last winter conditioning session was an offense vs. defense tug of war. The assistant coaches then went at it when the coaches were done.
The competition has a dual purpose.
"Every Drill that we are going to do is going to be competitive," Pflugrad said. "Who is going to be the leader?"
They use more than on-field aspects to evaluate leadership skills.
"We are going to evaluate different drills and different aspects of his life," said Pflugrad. "That includes the classroom. Is he going to class? Is he getting good grades? He is going to have to show that."
Assistant coaches tug of war video
Spring practice Now Pflugrad and the Grizzlies have moved into the first week of spring football. A 15-day college football ritual where players, blue chips to walk-ons, are given a chance to prove themselves and coaches evaluate the depth of their talent pool.
The offensive Line is Pflugrad's biggest concern, "that is our biggest goal," he said. "Our offensive line was decimated because of graduation."
"We had a lot of players do a decent job last year," Pflugrad added. "But we need them to do an excellent job."
Another area of concern is depth. The Grizzlies lost several players to graduation including All-American receiver and return man Marc Mariani.
"I wish I had more than 15 days to develop these players." Pflugrad said.
This year's Montana spring ball is about more than players; it is also about coaches.
This is a completely new staff, an all-star team of people Pflugrad has coached with or ran into during his years of coaching experience. The problem is they have never all been together on the same staff before.
One of the most important goals during the three weeks of spring ball is to develop continuity among the coaches, Pflugrad said.
Despite the lack of time together, the staff has one thing that binds them together. "The neat thing about the staff is that they are willing and able and that they really want to be at The University of Montana," said Pflugrad.
Pflugrad has honed his craft through decades of coaching. He has worked with some big names in the industry and hopes to put those years of experiences to good use.
"You can take all the positives from Bruce Snyder, Don Read, Mike Price, and Bill Doba and work them in to what you believe is your philosophy," he said. "But it all has to relate back to your players, because it really is their team.
"I want that student-athlete to have the most positive experience of his life," Pflugrad said. "I want him to look at this thing and say, 'I can't wait to come back to the University of Montana I Can't wait, if I'm a successful person, to donate financial funds back to this program,' because that is just the way the economy is right now. Whoever has the most funds are going to win."
The Power of the Grizzly Coach Pflugrad is enamored with his mascot .
"The Grizzly is the number one predator in North America," he said. "It gives me goose bumps down my spine to think about the power of the Grizzly and it has evolved to the power of the Griz Nation."
The fans of The University of Montana, commonly referred to as Griz Nation, are some of the most loyal at the FCS level.
Pflugrad thinks it is more than just about showing up on Saturdays and watching games on TV.
"Everybody wants to be a member of Griz Nation, but to me I still think you have to earn that right," he said. "There are a lot of people that have put in a lot of years to get this program to where it is, to be the most powerful program, just like our mascot."