Whitefish's Dryden among 5 MCA Hall of Fame inductees

The Montana Coaches Association on Monday released a list of five Montana coaches that will be inducted into its Hall of Fame on July 30, and the list includes veteran Whitefish tennis coach Pat Dryden.

Dryden is joined in the class by two longtime Frenchtown coaches, Eli Field (softball) and Dennis Normand (track) along with Jim O’Neil of Laurel and Steve Stosich of Butte. 

Dryden has been in the coaching ranks 40 years, 32 of them in Montana — two at Havre, two at Hellgate and the last 28 (and counting) at Whitefish. The Missoula Sentinel graduate has guided the Bulldog girls’ tennis program to remarkable success, including 10 conference championships and nine State A trophies: three state titles, three runners up and three third-place finishes.  

Six times Dryden was an MCA Coach of the Year nominee and he received the honor three times. He was a national (NHSACA) coach of the year finalist in 2022; he’s been a member of the MCA for 25 years. 

Field has coached for 25 years, all at Frenchtown, and he’s been the Broncs’ softball coach for 21. The Broncs have gone 441-98 under his guidance with eight State A championships, six second-place finishes and four thirds.  A 20-year MCA member, Eli has been named Coach of the Year four times and nominated for the honor 14 times. 

Normand has spent 35 of his 38 years coaching at Frenchtown, where he led the cross country program for 24 seasons as well as the girls’ track and field squad. He took over Drummond’s cross country program and added to an already impressive resume: Three State C titles, two runners-up and three third-place finishes at Drummond to go with one State A track and field crown and five runner-up finishes with Frenchtown. 

O’Neil has been at Laurel 38 seasons and was a longtime assistant for football and track and field before taking over the Locomotive golf program in 2017. Since then Laurel has racked up 10 State A championships (6 boys and 4 girls), a state runner-up and a third place trophy. O’Neil was MCA coach of the year 10 times and an NHSACA finalist in 2023. 

Stosich has served in Butte, America for an incredible 53 years, 15 at Butte Central and 38 at Butte High.  He was wrestling coach for four years at Central and head softball coach at Butte High for nine. He spent 14 years as a football assistant for legendary coaches Bob Petrino, Ron Kenison, Bob Beers and John McElroy. He spent 17 years as a wrestling assistant for Jim Street and for 24 years he assisted track and field coaches Fred Bull and Charlie Merrifield.  He’s been part of two State AA football titles and 13 AA wrestling titles with Butte, along with two runner-up trophies in track and five divisional football titles at Central. 

All five will be inducted as part of the 2025 MCA Awards Ceremony on July 30 at 11:30 a.m. at the Great Falls C.M. Russell HIgh School Auxiliary Gym.