'The man's jacked up on so much caffeine all the time'

Jeff Choate is now two seasons into his job of making Montana State, despite its successes, more than just the “other” Division I school in the state.

Behind the University of Montana, of course.

Under Choate, the Bobcats went 4-7 in 2016 and 5-6 last year, falling short of qualifying for the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.

But, perhaps just as important — or even more importantly, defending on your perspective — Choate has coached Montana State to victories over the Griz in the Brawl of the Wild rivalry game each year.

Montana State won 24-17 at Missoula in 2016, and won 31-23 at home last year.

Still, the Griz lead the overall series 72-39-5.

“Montana had a long stretch where they took care of the Bobcats pretty good,” Choate said the other day, at the Big Sky media days in Spokane. “Historically there’s been some ebbs and flows in that rivalry. It really does help in in-state recruiting, and I think it does give us a little boost, even if we don’t make the playoffs, going into the offseason with a win, and having some good momentum into your offseason program and recruiting.

“(Montana) coach (Bobby) Hauck will say this too — we spend a lot of time traveling around the great state of Montana, and it makes those trips in the spring a lot more enjoyable if you’re able to get that win.”

Choate said he hears it from fans — Every. Single. Day. “You’ve got to beat the Griz.”

So what’s a bigger deal in Bozeman — beating Montana, or having a winning season?

“I think there’s a balance,” Choate said. “It’s interesting, the game is so important to people in the state of Montana, that you can almost lose that focus. Clearly the ideal situation is to be competing for a conference championship, and making that game very meaningful at the end of the season. That’s what’s best for Big Sky football, quite honestly. If the Brawl of the Wild has consequences in the national playoff picture and conference championships, then that makes that game even more impactful, if that’s possible, quite honestly.

“It can salvage a season for sure. If you’re struggling, it can put a little bit of a silver lining on a cloud.”

Then again, maybe beating the Griz is more important than having a winning season in Bozeman.

The coach Choate replaced, Rob Ash, was merely the winningest coach in Bobcat history. He went 70-38 in nine seasons, but was only 2-7 vs. Montana.

Ash was let go following a 5-6 season — his only losing season in Bozeman.

Either way, the Bobcats, who won a I-AA national championship in 1984, have enjoyed that silver lining of beating the Griz the last couple of seasons.

But they want more.

How does Montana State take that next step?

“We have to finish games,” Choate said. “We were in a lot of competitive games last year, and we found a way to win a couple, but we didn’t find a way to beat (the others) … and really, in hindsight, it was the best teams. We lost by four to Weber (State), we went for two and didn’t get it and got beat in Flagstaff against Northern Arizona by one, and they were a playoff team. We lost to Kennesaw State, which was a quarterfinal team. We lost to South Dakota State, which was a semifinal team. We played some very good teams, we played a competitive brand of football against those teams, and now we’re a more mature outfit. We’re a little bit older, a little bit wiser, have been through some of those tough losses, and hopefully those stick in those guys’ memory and we’ll be able to find the recipe to get over the top and finish some of those games.”

But the Bobcats will have to do it without Chris Murray, their starting quarterback for much of the past two seasons. The school announced recently that Murray, a junior and the 2016 Big Sky Freshman of the Year, would miss the upcoming season to “focus on academics.”

Murray is more of a runner than a thrower at quarterback.

Choate said the Bobcats saw this coming, and recruited accordingly to the position. They brought in another QB last month, giving them four on the roster besides Murray.

“I don’t know if it’ll change us too much stylistically. I think that we have an opportunity to improve, because that individual is going to have different strengths. Our base run game is going to be our base run game. Our base play-action game is going to be our base play-action game. We’re still going to have the option. … that (new starting QB) can give us different dimensions.”

Choate, of course, has local ties.

He starred at St. Maries High in the late 1980s, then played at Western Montana (now Montana Western) and starting his coaching career there as an assistant for two seasons.

He was a high school football coach for eight seasons — at Challis (1994-95), Twin Falls (1996) and Post Falls for five seasons (1997-2001).

He’s been a college coach ever since — he was an assistant at Utah State for three seasons, at Eastern Illinois for one, at Boise State for six. Then it was one year at Florida, and two at Washington.

Then he got his first college head coaching gig, in Bozeman.

“When he came in, you don’t know what to expect,” Montana State senior defensive lineman Zach Wright said. “When he came in, there was a sense of calm. He stepped in and immediately took control. We were well-directed from the get-go.

“I think of him as ol’ blood and guts. He’s a rough and ready sort of guy, a very intense man, but he’s a family man. He loves us as much as he pushes us. He’s a balanced man and a great leader.”

As a special teams coach, particularly at Boise State, there were times Choate, on the sidelines, was just as enthusiastic celebrating a great play as his players were.

Wright said there have been times during a game where “you can have a great play and be celebrating with your teammates, and the head coach sprints in out of nowhere. It’s great. He loves the game just as much as we do.”

Wright said Choate’s biggest impact since he’s taken over at Montana State is “creating a culture and setting a standard. For the longest time, there was a lot of guys on the team that might be iffy, guys that we weren’t sure really, truly cared. But the way he’s groomed this team … it’s so key to becoming what we want to be.”

The position coach for Wright, from New Braunfels, Texas, is Byron Hout, the former Lake City High and Boise State star, now in his third season as an assistant under Choate in Bozeman.

“I love him to death,” Wright said of Hout. “He’s a great coach; I couldn’t have picked a better coach. He helps kids grow, not just in the sport but in life.

I grew up watching Boise (State). I heard about ’em, even down in Texas.

Montana State senior center Alex Neale echoed Wright’s thought on Choate.

“Absolutely high energy,” Neale said. “The man’s jacked up on so much caffeine all the time, so energetic.”

Neale played as a freshman at UNLV, then transferred to Montana State after Choate was hired. He always wanted to play at MSU, because of its tradition and its engineering program.

“I remember my first fall camp (in Bozeman), and all the kickers missed five or six of their field goals, he (Choate) was screaming, ‘Can I get a kicker that can make one of these field goals?’” Neale recalled. “This one kid comes out of nowhere beating his chest, says ‘Put me in coach.”

It was one of the kickers that had already missed several field goals.

“And coach Choate lost it on him,” Neale said. “It was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen.”