THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Former Montana State coach Choate left his mark on Bobcat program

When Jeff Choate left the University of Washington as an assistant coach and took over as head coach at Montana State in 2016, the Bobcats were coming off seasons of 7-5, 8-5 and 5-6 under Rob Ash, who went 70-38 in his nine seasons in Bozeman. 

Choate, who played at St. Maries High, and later was football coach and athletic director at Post Falls High, went 4-7 in his first season at Montana State ... then 5-6 ... then 8-5 and a trip to the quarterfinals of the FCS playoffs ... followed by 11-4 in 2019, reaching the FCS semifinals before losing to North Dakota State. 

The 2020 season was canceled due to COVID-19. In 2021, Choate left for Texas, where he was an assistant for the Longhorns for three seasons (including a berth in the College Football Playoff semifinal in 2023). 

These days, he’s in his third season as head coach at Nevada, where he is 6-19, including 1-0 this season. 

Yes, Brent Vigen, who took over in Bozeman for Choate in 2021, guided Montana State to the highest level, winning an FCS championship last season. 

But in a way, Jeff Choate helped him get there. 

“There’s no question, from beginning to end, coach Choate left his fingerprints on our program,” Vigen said in July, at the Big Sky Football Kickoff media day in Airway Heights.

IN VIGEN’S first season in Bozeman, Montana State reached the FCS title game, losing to North Dakota State in 2021. 

In 2022, the Bobcats lost in the quarterfinals to South Dakota State. The next year, MSU reached the second round of the playoffs.  

In 2024, they played for the title again, falling in a heartbreaker to North Dakota State. 

That’s a 62-12 record over five years for Vigen, not counting the 2-0 start to this season. 

“By the time I took over, coach Choate had the program positioned where he wanted," Vigen said. "After a semifinal run in ‘19 that was maybe a little unexpected, Montana State was clearly back on the national stage. Yeah, there was certainly a trajectory that the program was on, and we were very fortunate to come in. I inherited a bunch of his assistants that made the transition, but also helped me understand how our players understand the program through that stretch. Yeah, going back in time, there’s no doubt the impact that he had on our program is significant.” 

AS SPORTS would have it, Montana State plays at Nevada on Saturday (6:30 p.m., The CW). 

What should have been a happy story angle leading up to the game — the former coach who elevated the program going against the coach who took the program even higher — suddenly went sideways earlier this week. 

And Montana became part of it. When Choate was in Bozeman, Montana State was 4-0 against the Griz. 

“I think there is going to be a perception or a desire for the media to try to make this personal,” Choate said of playing Montana State, at his news conference with Nevada media. “This is not personal. This was a scheduling decision that was made, based on, here’s the teams that had an available date on Sept. 12, 2026, that can play in Mackay Stadium. That list is not very long.” 

Choate said Nevada tries to schedule one or two good Group of 6 programs each year, and one or two Power 4 programs. 

And sometimes, the Wolf Pack chooses to play an FCS program. 

“Montana was the first one that I looked at, and you can print this, and if they deny it, they’re lying,” Choate said. “I wanted to play Montana; that’s who I wanted to play, for obvious reasons. They said they weren’t interested.” 

When Montana athletic director Kent Haslam caught wind of that comment, he tweeted “Not interested? Never heard back.” 

He posted a reply to a 2024 email from a Nevada official gauging the Griz’s interest, where a Montana official said because of what the Griz draw at home, to give up a home game for a money game would require a “minimum” of $650,000.   

Montana State is getting $400,000 to come to Reno. 

Of possible FCS opponents, Choate said Idaho State was an option; Nevada is playing the Bengals next season. There were teams on the East Coast, but Choate said he wasn’t interested in traveling all the way back there, or paying them a bigger guarantee to come out to Reno. 

And he said he knew Montana State would travel well. 

“This had nothing to do with, ‘Hey, I want to play the Bobcats,’” Choate said. “That’s the furthest thing from the truth. I have a lot of love and affection for my time, and my family’s time ... my son and daughter are both Bozeman High grads, my son’s a Montana State football alum and a Montana State grad, played two years for coach Vigen. I have a tremendous amount of love for the city and the university, and a ton of respect for coach Vigen, and the job that he’s done elevating that program to a championship-caliber program year in and year out. We’ll have our hands full, and then some.” 

True, dat. 

Montana State, the reigning FCS champion, is off to a 2-0 start.

Not all FBS vs. FCS matchups are created equal. Some FCS programs are actually better than the FBS teams they will play. See: North Dakota State. In recent years, Idaho has beaten Wyoming and a pre-Choate Nevada.

As of Wednesday, Montana State was a 4 ½-point favorite. In reality, either of the Montana schools would have been a handful for the Wolf Pack. 

“I told my staff, jokingly, that I hope their starters are playing in the fourth quarter,” Choate said of Montana State. “That would mean that we’re in a ballgame with them.” 

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 1205, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @CdAPressSports.