BOZEMAN — After his Bobcat football team's historic regular season, Montana State football coach Brent Vigen made more history Thursday when he became the program's first Stats Perform Eddie Robinson FCS Coach of the Year Award winner.
Vigen led MSU to the outright Big Sky Conference championship with the first 12-0 regular season in league history and to the program's first unbeaten regular season since 1956.
"I am extremely humbled to receive this great honor on behalf of Montana State University and Bobcat Football," Vigen said. "I truly see this as a team award, and so much credit goes to our staff and players. I want to thank our administration for their tremendous support and the opportunity to lead this great program."
Vigen's selection came from a pool of 15 finalists across the FCS, which included coaches from all 13 FCS conferences. MSU's fourth-year head coach was also named Big Sky coach of the year following the regular season. The Cats fared well in the Stats Perform national awards slate, with quarterback Tommy Mellott emerging as one of three Walter Payton Award invitees to the awards banquet on Jan. 4 and Adam Jones finishing as the Jerry Rice FCS freshman of the year runner-up.
While his fourth season as Montana State's head coach has drawn notice, Vigen's tenure with the Bobcats has generated high performance in all areas. The Cats own a 44-9 record, the best in league history through a coach's first four campaigns, winning at least eight games each season and 12 in three of the four. Vigen's teams claim three of the five 12-win seasons in Bobcat history.
The Cats advanced to the FCS national championship game in 2021, Vigen's debut season, and to the national semifinals one season later. By leading the Cats to the FCS playoffs in each of his four campaigns, Vigen has extended MSU's postseason streak to a program-best six straight seasons. This season's Bobcats enter the playoffs as the No. 1 seed for the first time.
"I want to congratulate Brent and the entire MSU football program on winning the prestigious Stats Perform Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award," said MSU director of athletics Leon Costello. "He has orchestrated the best regular season in all of FCS and the best regular season in the rich history of Montana State football. He is a first-class person that runs a first-class program and so deserving of this award."
Vigen's career has been impacted by a pair of one-time national coaches of the year. He played for two-time AFCA coach of the year Rocky Hager and Bob Babich at North Dakota State, and coached with two-time AFCA coach of the year and three-time Eddie Robinson Award winner Craig Bohl at NDSU and Wyoming. Vigen was an assistant at NDSU from 1999-2013, first with Babich and then Bohl, and followed Bohl to Wyoming (2014-20).
Vigen becomes Montana State's fourth national coach of the year. Sonny Holland (1976) and Dave Arnold (1984) won divisional Kodak coach of the year honors following Bobcat national championship seasons, and Rob Ash was named Liberty Mutual national coach of the year in 2011. A 56-member panel selected Vigen, with Tennessee State's Eddie George second and UC Davis' Tim Plough third. He will be presented with the 38th Eddie Robinson Award, named for Grambling State's legendary coach, at the Stats Perform FCS National Awards Banquet on Jan. 4 in Frisco, Texas.
"I would also like to thank Craig Haley and Gary Reasons with Stats Perform for their coverage of FCS football and dedication to the FCS postseason awards and banquet," Costello said.
