By DAVE GUFFEY for GoGriz.com
Bob Stitt was formally introduced as the 36th head football coach in University of Montana history today (Friday, Dec. 19) at a press conference in the Canyon Club located in Washington-Grizzly Stadium, by Kent Haslam, UM’s director of athletics.
He has signed a three-year contract, which will take him through the 2017 season, pending approval by Montana’s Board of Regents.
He comes to Montana after a 15-season stint as the head football coach at the Colorado School of Mines (CSM), where he had an overall record of 108-62 (a 63.5% winning percentage) and a 83-44 mark (a 65.4% winning percentage) in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
Stitt’s teams have had 13 winning seasons in his 15-year tenure, and registered eight winning seasons in a row His teams won conference titles in 2004, 2010, and 2014. He is widely known in national coaching circles as a having a very creative offensive mind, and is the innovator of the fly-sweep play.
His 2014 Orediggers were 10-2 overall and 8-1 in the RMAC, and advanced to the Division II national playoffs. In 2013, the Orediggers posted an 8-3 record.
He was named the league’s coach of the year in 2004 and 2010. Stitt was selected the Division II, Football.com Southwest Region Coach of the Year in 2004, and was also tabbed the AFCA Region 5 Coach of the Year following that season.
During his tenure at Mines, Stitt has coached a grand total of 129 All-RMAC performers, 31 All-Region selections and 16 All-Americans. His .635 winning percentage during 15 seasons at the helm of the Oredigger football program is the highest in school history for a coach with at least 20 games under his belt.
A 1987 graduate of Doane College (Nebraska), Stitt received various accolades as a running back and a return specialist – including All-State College Offensive Player of the Year in 1985 – when he played for the Tigers in the mid-80’s. Stitt also played left field for the Doane baseball squad and competed in the 4x100m relay on the track & field team.
Stitt returned to coach at his alma mater after receiving his master’s degree in Physical Education from the University of Northern Colorado in 1989.
He served as the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach for four years at Doane from 1990-93, and he produced three NAIA Division II All-Americans and 19 All-NIAC offensive players during his tenure there.
Stitt went on to coach at Austin College (Texas) from 1994 to 1999, serving as the assistant head coach and the coordinator of offense and special teams, before he moved on to Harvard.
He is a native of Tecumseh, Nebraska. Stitt lettered in football, basketball, track & field and baseball at Tecumseh High School.
Bob and his wife, the former Joan Scherrer, have two sons, Joe and Sam.
