What Happened to Bobcat Football After 1984?

NavyBlue · Post by **NavyBlue** » Wed May 10, 2017 11:37 am

I was in high school in 1984, and remember the '84 National Championship well. I remember thinking the 'Cats were going dominate the Griz and maybe become a dynasty. Instead, after that the MSU program become a dumpster fire for 20 years and the Griz got their new stadium and became a dominate team in FCS. My question is how did the Bobcats sink so low and for so long after winning a national championship? What happened?

Secondly, what ever became of Dave Arnold, after he was fired by Montana State? Did he ever coach again?

GoCats18 · Post by **GoCats18** » Wed May 10, 2017 12:37 pm

The three D's happened. Denny Washsington, Dave Dickenson and Don Read. I will say that is what changed UM's program. I personally think what had the most impact was the departure of Boise State, Nevada, Idaho.....once those schools left the Big Sky and UM had Daddy Warbucks adopt them and give them everything they ever needed the Big Sky became a one man show.

LongTimeCatFan · Post by **LongTimeCatFan** » Wed May 10, 2017 1:26 pm

Doug Fullerton happened. He stripped the steer a year program, fired Don Hammer, and financial support collapsed.

hokeyfine · Post by **hokeyfine** » Wed May 10, 2017 2:41 pm

sonny lubick being fired(pre 1984, big mistake), earle solomonson hire(big mistake)

AFCAT · Post by **AFCAT** » Wed May 10, 2017 3:05 pm

I'd have to agree, the firing of Sonny Lubick and the Earle the Pearl disaster. It took years for MSU to recover. Of course, there was one Championship after Lubick, but the rest of Dave Arnold's time at MSU was pretty pathetic.

AFCAT · Post by **AFCAT** » Wed May 10, 2017 3:11 pm

NavyBlue wrote:I was in high school in 1984, and remember the '84 National Championship well. I remember thinking the 'Cats were going dominate the Griz and maybe become a dynasty. Instead, after that the MSU program become a dumpster fire for 20 years and the Griz got their new stadium and became a dominate team in FCS. My question is how did the Bobcats sink so low and for so long after winning a national championship? What happened?

Secondly, what ever became of Dave Arnold, after he was fired by Montana State? Did he ever coach again?

Dave did go on to coach at Washington State, University of Miami under Erickson, the Seahawks, and I believe he was at Colorado State for a while. I don't believe he was ever a Head Coach again. He was a nice guy. My brother and I met up with him in Miami and he gave us free tickets to one of their games.

imacat · Post by **imacat** » Wed May 10, 2017 5:28 pm

Earle Solomonson. He did not believe he could win with Montana players. Destroyed MSU's relationship with the HS coaches.

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catsrback76 · Post by **catsrback76** » Wed May 10, 2017 9:02 pm

imacat wrote:Earle Solomonson. He did not believe he could win with Montana players. Destroyed MSU's relationship with the HS coaches.

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This! The power of a coach, his culture, and the cost...paid for 20 years down the road. Also, the admin not really sure how to fix it didn't help either!

catinthezoo · Post by **catinthezoo** » Wed May 10, 2017 11:42 pm

Good topic. I always heard the same thing about Earle destroying relationships with MT high schools too. Didn't he try and run the wishbone?

Go cats 18 hit the nail on the head about Boise, Nevada, and Idaho leaving big sky. They stay and the griz runs ends after Dickerson' graduation.

NavyBlue · Post by **NavyBlue** » Thu May 11, 2017 6:53 am

Wasn't Earle Solomonson a multiple national championship winning coach at the D2 level with UND or NDSU? Why did he do so well there and so pathetically bad at MSU? Curious what happened to him after being fired from MSU, if anyone knows.

hokeyfine · Post by **hokeyfine** » Thu May 11, 2017 7:58 am

NavyBlue wrote:Wasn't Earle Solomonson a multiple national championship winning coach at the D2 level with UND or NDSU? Why did he do so well there and so pathetically bad at MSU? Curious what happened to him after being fired from MSU, if anyone knows.

he rode the coattails of jim wacker and don morton. the cupboard was stacked and he just kept the same system going. solomonson came in and tried to turn the cats into a wishbone team.

AFCAT · Post by **AFCAT** » Thu May 11, 2017 10:36 am

hokeyfine wrote:
NavyBlue wrote:Wasn't Earle Solomonson a multiple national championship winning coach at the D2 level with UND or NDSU? Why did he do so well there and so pathetically bad at MSU? Curious what happened to him after being fired from MSU, if anyone knows.
he rode the coattails of jim wacker and don morton. the cupboard was stacked and he just kept the same system going. solomonson came in and tried to turn the cats into a wishbone team.

Absolutely, NDSU won before Earle and after Earle, taking more titles in 1988 and 1990. I don't believe Earle was a Head Coach at any other College level and I don't think he ever coached again after being fired from MSU. He certainly didn't develop a team suited to the talent of his players either. I remember they had Shaun Shahan in the late 1980s, a rocket armed QB out of Billings West who spent at year at one of the Oregon schools. Shaun was a pocket passer and could run when needed, but Solomonson tried to turn him into an option quarterback. Solomonson hated passing and I remember a quote of his along the lines of "You can run for a touchdown as fast as you can pass for a touchdown."

91catAlum · Post by **91catAlum** » Thu May 11, 2017 11:33 am

NavyBlue wrote:I was in high school in 1984, and remember the '84 National Championship well. I remember thinking the 'Cats were going dominate the Griz and maybe become a dynasty. Instead, after that the MSU program become a dumpster fire for 20 years and the Griz got their new stadium and became a dominate team in FCS. My question is how did the Bobcats sink so low and for so long after winning a national championship? What happened?

Secondly, what ever became of Dave Arnold, after he was fired by Montana State? Did he ever coach again?

After the 1984 natty, Coach Arnold had a couple bad years and was fired. MSU made a bad hire with their next coach from 1987-1992, and during that same time, a billionaire named Denny Washington built UM one of the best stadiums in all FCS.

Before those 2 things happened, MSU was the better football school, and had been since probably the 1950s.

But, with those 2 things in place, UM was able to out-recruit MSU (and everyone else in the western FCS) for years, and dominate the series and the big sky conference for 2 decades. MSU didn't win another conference championship until 2002.

Mr Lisle · Post by **Mr Lisle** » Thu May 11, 2017 11:37 am

I looked at all the answers and could only conclude everyone is right! How the he!! all this could have happened, and in the order it happened could be a primer on "how to destroy yourself". Oh, and there are a few other tidbits that help flesh it out. The 1984 team was built on 80% Sonny Lubick recruits. Sonny was fired after the '81 seaon and replaced with Doug Graber, a Wisconsin assistant and fine football coach. He went 6-5 his first year, impressed all with a first game showing vs. Utah, beat EWU, Nevada, Boise State, Idaho State, Weber and NAU. Graber stayed ONE SEASON and chose to move on to assist with the Kansas City Chiefs. This, I believe, is when the landslide started. Arnold moved in as headcoach, and went 1-10 his first year. The next season Lubick's recurits came of age and the Cats won the championship. I don't mean to disrespect the coaches, including Arnold. That was a brilliant season all around. But you can look at the record from then on...until Cliff Hysell arrived.
AD Tom Parac retired after the 1984 season and Fulllerton was hired. Why Sonny Holland wasn't hired for that position astounded most of us old-timers. Anyway, Fullerton fired Arnold and hired Earle. So Earle comes to the Bobcats and brings his veer-option game, has basically a bare cupboard and needs to rebuild from the ground-up..literally. That was not his thing, and his offensive style was all wrong for the BSC. If Fullerton would have been paying more attention he would have hired the NDSU defensive co-ordinator. They gave up just 87 points (6.7 ppg) the entire 1986 season. That's exactly what NDSU did. They replaced ES with Rockey Hager, their DC and the beat went on in Fargo. Anyway, after five losing seasons he was terminated and replaced with Cliff who basically stopped the bleeding. He went 7-4 his second season, but by then only the most rabid Cat supporters were still on board. This program was about as low as it could get and that's why I tip my hat to Cliff, Mike Kramer Rob Ash and those administrators who put the Bobcats back on firm footing
PS I don't think the griz had much to do with it. They were simply an eager receipient of all the damage the Cats did to themself. Like Super Dave preferred the Bobcats coming out of high school. Earle didn't think he was D-1 college material.

Hawks86 · Post by **Hawks86** » Thu May 11, 2017 11:45 am

imacat · Post by **imacat** » Thu May 11, 2017 12:07 pm

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earle_Solomonson

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Ar ... _football)

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Cataholic · Post by **Cataholic** » Thu May 11, 2017 12:33 pm

I was at MSU during the Earl years. What a frustrating couple of years. I had a close friend that was recruited by Dennis Erickson at Wyoming but he wanted to stay close to home. He took a track scholarship at MSU and walked on the football team. My recollection was that Earl did not really give the Montana kids a chance, especially kids he did not recruit. After a couple a year or two with no playing time in sight, he decided to focus on track and had a couple of stellar track seasons for the Cats. Didn't Grady Bennet transfer from MSU to U of M when Earle was hired and eventually started at QB and also began the streak against the Cats?

Also, could be wishful thinking, but I see some parallels with today's Griz and the Cats of the late 1980's. New stubborn coach with a "special" offense.... Doesn't value the Montana recruits as much.... And lastly, the momentum/enthusiasm on campus(investment) and also within Montana recruiting circles is on an new path than previous years.

seataccat · Post by **seataccat** » Thu May 11, 2017 12:44 pm

Mr Lisle wrote:I looked at all the answers and could only conclude everyone is right! How the he!! all this could have happened, and in the order it happened could be a primer on "how to destroy yourself". Oh, and there are a few other tidbits that help flesh it out. The 1984 team was built on 80% Sonny Lubick recruits. Sonny was fired after the '81 seaon and replaced with Doug Graber, a Wisconsin assistant and fine football coach. He went 6-5 his first year, impressed all with a first game showing vs. Utah, beat EWU, Nevada, Boise State, Idaho State, Weber and NAU. Graber stayed ONE SEASON and chose to move on to assist with the Kansas City Chiefs. This, I believe, is when the landslide started. Arnold moved in as headcoach, and went 1-10 his first year. The next season Lubick's recurits came of age and the Cats won the championship. I don't mean to disrespect the coaches, including Arnold. That was a brilliant season all around. But you can look at the record from then on...until Cliff Hysell arrived.
AD Tom Parac retired after the 1984 season and Fulllerton was hired. Why Sonny Holland wasn't hired for that position astounded most of us old-timers. Anyway, Fullerton fired Arnold and hired Earle. So Earle comes to the Bobcats and brings his veer-option game, has basically a bare cupboard and needs to rebuild from the ground-up..literally. That was not his thing, and his offensive style was all wrong for the BSC. If Fullerton would have been paying more attention he would have hired the NDSU defensive co-ordinator. They gave up just 87 points (6.7 ppg) the entire 1986 season. That's exactly what NDSU did. They replaced ES with Rockey Hager, their DC and the beat went on in Fargo. Anyway, after five losing seasons he was terminated and replaced with Cliff who basically stopped the bleeding. He went 7-4 his second season, but by then only the most rabid Cat supporters were still on board. This program was about as low as it could get and that's why I tip my hat to Cliff, Mike Kramer Rob Ash and those administrators who put the Bobcats back on firm footing
PS I don't think the griz had much to do with it. They were simply an eager receipient of all the damage the Cats did to themself. Like Super Dave preferred the Bobcats coming out of high school. Earle didn't think he was D-1 college material.

This is a really good post, I pretty much agree with it entirely.

The Lubbick firing was the biggest boner of the generation, Tom Parac was responsible as far as I know. At the time Solomonson was hired he seemed like a logical choice, not many including me, could see in light of all the success at NDSU that he was a walking north dakota joke. Dave Arnolod, although a fine guy was not head coaching material and I honestly believe Rocky Gullickson was more responsible for the 1984 NC. The players were just physically dominating that year and much of it was due to his strength and conditioning coaching and maybe some whey protien, creatine and other performance enhancing supplements in the diets of some of the players.

I also agree that Cliff Hysel, Mike Kramer and Rob Ash need to be commended for their extraordinary dedication to the bobcat football program.

Bobcat4Ever · Post by **Bobcat4Ever** » Thu May 11, 2017 12:57 pm

AFCAT wrote: Solomonson hated passing and I remember a quote of his along the lines of "You can run for a touchdown as fast as you can pass for a touchdown."

Solomonson disliked pass defense as well. If memory serves, his first team here gave up the most points in the nation, somewhere around 450. And lots of them came on long bombs. Both the offense and defense were set up around the running game.

WeedKillinCat · Post by **WeedKillinCat** » Thu May 11, 2017 2:02 pm

I worked with a guy that was on Solomon's staff, maybe like a grad assistant, and he played for Earle at NDSU. Showed me his ring, but anyways he said that Solomonson was not reason NDSU won at the D2 level, he said it was the assistants.