Pflugrad named new football coach
12/31/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Robin Pflugrad has been named the new head football coach at The University of Montana, announced UM Athletic Director Jim O???Day Thursday. He replaces Bobby Hauck, who left Montana after going 80-17 in seven seasons to take the head job at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.
Pflugrad (pronounced: flew-grad), 52, is the 34th head football coach at UM, which began playing football in 1897, and just completed its 109th football season.
This past season he returned to Montana, where he served as the wide receivers coach and assisted with the offense.???? In 2009 the Grizzlies went 14-1 en route to playing for NCAA Football Championship Subdivision title game.
In 2009, Montana???s offense was one of the most explosive in the FCS, and was ranked second in the nation in scoring (35.8 ppg), ninth in total offense (427.40), and 14th in passing (267.2 ypg).?? Senior wide receiver Marc Mariani was named to several All-American teams, and set UM records with 3,018 career receiving yards and 29 receiving touchdowns.
O???Day said, ???Robin is the right person for the job.?? He has impressive credentials and will do an outstanding job leading the Montana Grizzly football team. This has been an opportunity he???s been looking forward to for many years. There???s no doubt in my mind he will continue to build on the success of the program.
???This was a difficult choice as the applicant pool was extremely talented,??? O???Day said. ???More than 100 qualified candidates applied for the job, and I appreciate the effort of those on the review committee for their hours of work to help me reach this decision.?? The committee included three representatives of the Missoula community, along with four representatives from the intercollegiate athletics department, UM Faculty Representative Jim Lopach and Executive Vice President Jim Foley.
O???Day added that due to the New Year???s holiday, and the start of national recruiting on Monday, a press conference to formally introduce Pflugrad will be held some time next week. A date and time has not been set as of yet.
Pflugrad is a veteran coach, who was a mentor in the prestigious Pac-10 Conference for 13 seasons, with stints at Oregon, Washington State, and Arizona State.?? He has been a coach for 30 seasons overall and has worked 29 of those years at the college level.
He came to UM from the University of Oregon, where he served as the wide receivers coach for the previous three seasons (2006-08).
Prior to his stint in his hometown of Eugene, Rob coached the tight ends and served as assistant head coach and the recruiting coordinator for five seasons (2001-05) at WSU.?? He was the wide receivers and recruiting coordinator at ASU from 1995-2000.
During his career he has been instrumental in the development of seven quarterbacks or receivers who received All-American recognition, along with 20 all-conference honorees, 152 academic all-conference athletes and 12 academic All-Americans.
He began his coaching career at his alma mater, PSU, in 1980.?? A year later he had a one-year stint at South Eugene High School, and then returned to the college ranks for good.
He was a part-time assistant coach and the director of football operations at PSU in 1982, and then served as an assistant coach for the Vikings from 1983-85, working with the tight ends and wide receivers.?? After his PSU tenure he came to Montana in 1986 when Read was named the Grizzlies??? head coach.
Pflugrad was an assistant coach for the Grizzlies and coach Read from 1986-94.?? While at UM he worked with the quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers, and was promoted to assistant head coach in 1991.
Among the Grizzly standouts he worked with was quarterback Dave Dickenson, who won the Walter Payton Award in 1995, broke 25 school records and three national marks, and guided Montana to the national championship (1995).
Pflugrad is a 1980 graduate of PSU with a degree in business administration.?? He was a wide receiver and team captain as a senior in 1979 for the Vikings.
Robin and his wife, Marlene, have a son, Aaron, and a daughter, Amanda.?? Aaron is a junior wide receiver at Arizona State.
QUOTING COACH PFLUGRAD: "It is an honor and?? a privilege to be name the head football coach at The University of Montana," Pflugrad said via phone from Eugene, Oregon.
"I want to thank Don Read for giving me an opportunity to get into the coaching profession, as well as for bringing me to Montana with him in 1986 when he started there.?? I also want to thank Bobby Hauck for giving me a chance to come back to Montana and once again become part of the Grizzly football family.?? I also want to thank Jim O'Day for giving me this opportunity.
"I am looking forward to the challenges of the job, and am excited to get on the recruiting trail.?? We had a tremendous senior class at Montana in 2009 which needs to be replaced, and that will be a daunting challenge, but I look forward to that challenge.
"I know the majority of our players who will be returning, and look forward to working with them.?? I also look forward to continuing the success established here by former players and coaches, as well as bringing the "class of 2010" into the Grizzly football program.
"I hope to have the majority of our staff in place within a week to assume recruiting duties, which are so essential to the success of any football program.?? I hope to have my assistant coaches in place by the middle of next week."
