Choate and MSU

[CatsNoMatterWhat]

I'm seeing a lot of chatter on the margins in various threads regarding Choate having a poor relationship with MSU. Can anybody provide clarity on this? I'm among the many who feel like he rebuilt our program into what it is today...but did he end up having a poor relationship with Wadad and Costello? I've even seen it said he won't even mention his time at MSU...all seems very odd.

Can anybody clarify?

[VimSince03]

I'm seeing a lot of chatter on the margins in various threads regarding Choate having a poor relationship with MSU. Can anybody provide clarity on this? I'm among the many who feel like he rebuilt our program into what it is today...but did he end up having a poor relationship with Wadad and Costello? I've even seen it said he won't even mention his time at MSU...all seems very odd.

Can anybody clarify?

He pushed very hard for better facilities and funding for the program and didn't like the pace and/or feedback. He also hated the Big Sky conference with a passion of a thousand suns. Thought they were a joke of a league. Loved the FCS level...but Big Sky was no bueno. Also despised the Board of Regents which I don't blame him...it only increased his animosity to the Western neighbors.

[kennethnoisewater]

He loved so much when his team was disrespected, because it fueled them to be fighters. I think he's an underdog, scrappy, Western Montana College Bulldog, and that's what we loved about him. But my take is that he looked for reasons to be offended and looked for fights. That is a really good thing for a coach almost all the time, but when you run that hot, that's not always going to sit well with people you interact with regularly.

[RickRund]

Interesting...

[CodyCat]

I'm seeing a lot of chatter on the margins in various threads regarding Choate having a poor relationship with MSU. Can anybody provide clarity on this? I'm among the many who feel like he rebuilt our program into what it is today...but did he end up having a poor relationship with Wadad and Costello? I've even seen it said he won't even mention his time at MSU...all seems very odd.

Can anybody clarify?

He pushed very hard for better facilities and funding for the program and didn't like the pace and/or feedback. He also hated the Big Sky conference with a passion of a thousand suns. Thought they were a joke of a league. Loved the FCS level...but Big Sky was no bueno. Also despised the Board of Regents which I don't blame him...it only increased his animosity to the Western neighbors.

Do you have any insight on why he loved the FCS but not the Big Sky? Like, what other conference would be any better? The top dogs in the Big Sky and MVFC are light years ahead of the bottom feeders in terms of fan support and facilities. Im just having a hard time thinking another conference would be much better.

[Catsrgrood]

I'm seeing a lot of chatter on the margins in various threads regarding Choate having a poor relationship with MSU. Can anybody provide clarity on this? I'm among the many who feel like he rebuilt our program into what it is today...but did he end up having a poor relationship with Wadad and Costello? I've even seen it said he won't even mention his time at MSU...all seems very odd.

Can anybody clarify?

He pushed very hard for better facilities and funding for the program and didn't like the pace and/or feedback. He also hated the Big Sky conference with a passion of a thousand suns. Thought they were a joke of a league. Loved the FCS level...but Big Sky was no bueno. Also despised the Board of Regents which I don't blame him...it only increased his animosity to the Western neighbors.

Curious about the Big Sky part of that.
Hated the teams that made up the Big Sky? The fact that it’s too big? The bottom of the league is so different than the top in terms of talent and support? The behind the scenes stuff and the way it’s ran as a league in general?
What about the Big Sky did he have such an issue with?

[BelligerentBobcat]

Not doing football during Covid really torqued him.

[thefrank1]

So basically, it was all about him.

[AFCAT]

I do remember a few comments he made that struck me as odd at the time. I can’t remember the exact quote but one comment was about Waded being able to fund a project, which must have been about the BAC. He said something along the lines of she could fund it now if she wanted to.

[mslacatfan]

I noticed tht in his introduction At Nevada. A reporter kept asking him questions about his time at MSU, the cat-griz rivalry and how he is the griz killer…. Every time Choate immediately deflected the question to talk about something else. Like it was pretty obvious he did not want to talk about his time in bozeman…. Also kept saying his goal all his career was to eventually become a head coach….

Anyway, thought it was weird.

[AFCAT]

I'm seeing a lot of chatter on the margins in various threads regarding Choate having a poor relationship with MSU. Can anybody provide clarity on this? I'm among the many who feel like he rebuilt our program into what it is today...but did he end up having a poor relationship with Wadad and Costello? I've even seen it said he won't even mention his time at MSU...all seems very odd.

Can anybody clarify?

He pushed very hard for better facilities and funding for the program and didn't like the pace and/or feedback. He also hated the Big Sky conference with a passion of a thousand suns. Thought they were a joke of a league. Loved the FCS level...but Big Sky was no bueno. Also despised the Board of Regents which I don't blame him...it only increased his animosity to the Western neighbors.

I know for sure the BoR was a bone of contention, especially not being able to work the full cost of attendance issue.

[BlueNGoldTilIDie]

I got hounded when I posted on this a few years ago but it did happen. Choate left because there was a falling out with Leon. The whole funding that has been mentioned earlier is correct. It wasn’t about the BAC though. They had enough to build the BAC and an indoor facility at the same time but funding was withheld for no reason and it didn’t sit well. So he went somewhere else.

[GoldstoneCat]

I got hounded when I posted on this a few years ago but it did happen. Choate left because there was a falling out with Leon. The whole funding that has been mentioned earlier is correct. It wasn’t about the BAC though. They had enough to build the BAC and an indoor facility at the same time but funding was withheld for no reason and it didn’t sit well. So he went somewhere else.

That seems highly unlikely, considering all the fundraising that had to be done to build each of them.

[91catAlum]

I got hounded when I posted on this a few years ago but it did happen. Choate left because there was a falling out with Leon. The whole funding that has been mentioned earlier is correct. It wasn’t about the BAC though. They had enough to build the BAC and an indoor facility at the same time but funding was withheld for no reason and it didn’t sit well. So he went somewhere else.

We're still raising the last few million on the indoor right now, so it can't be correct that we had enough for the BAC as well as the indoor back when Choate was here. Maybe it was FCOA or something else like that?

[kennethnoisewater]

I got hounded when I posted on this a few years ago but it did happen. Choate left because there was a falling out with Leon. The whole funding that has been mentioned earlier is correct. It wasn’t about the BAC though. They had enough to build the BAC and an indoor facility at the same time but funding was withheld for no reason and it didn’t sit well. So he went somewhere else.

That seems highly unlikely, considering all the fundraising that had to be done to build each of them.

Yeah I don't think they had cash on hand, not sure what this is about. Maybe there was a way to make funding work through pledges, bridge loans, student fees, or something else and MSU and MUS weren't interested in those methods and he didn't like that. But if we had the money several years ago and we're still trying to raise it, someone would literally need to be arrested for that.

[technoCat]

I got hounded when I posted on this a few years ago but it did happen. Choate left because there was a falling out with Leon. The whole funding that has been mentioned earlier is correct. It wasn’t about the BAC though. They had enough to build the BAC and an indoor facility at the same time but funding was withheld for no reason and it didn’t sit well. So he went somewhere else.

That seems highly unlikely, considering all the fundraising that had to be done to build each of them.

Yeah I don't think they had cash on hand, not sure what this is about. Maybe there was a way to make funding work through pledges, bridge loans, student fees, or something else and MSU and MUS weren't interested in those methods and he didn't like that. But if we had the money several years ago and we're still trying to raise it, someone would literally need to be arrested for that.

One thing to remember is that it probably would have been quite a bit cheaper 4 years ago to do the work so maybe delaying it is why they are still having to raise funds now. I did always think how he left after BSU fell through was odd. Makes sense that he might just have chosen the first ticket out of Dodge.

[imacat]

So basically, it was all about him.

Sadly I agree with you. I have come to the same conclusion. I would certainly not like to have him back.

[lutecat]

Him being here for the semifinal game. Shaking the hand of Vigen. Still owning a home in Bozeman(I assume). And we're to believe he hates this place?

In his speech to his Nevada players that was filmed, he mentions his job is to take care of the players. If that was true he did a bum deal of taking care of then here. Leaving then high and dry.

[lutecat]

I'm seeing a lot of chatter on the margins in various threads regarding Choate having a poor relationship with MSU. Can anybody provide clarity on this? I'm among the many who feel like he rebuilt our program into what it is today...but did he end up having a poor relationship with Wadad and Costello? I've even seen it said he won't even mention his time at MSU...all seems very odd.

Can anybody clarify?

He pushed very hard for better facilities and funding for the program and didn't like the pace and/or feedback. He also hated the Big Sky conference with a passion of a thousand suns. Thought they were a joke of a league. Loved the FCS level...but Big Sky was no bueno. Also despised the Board of Regents which I don't blame him...it only increased his animosity to the Western neighbors.

So you're saying because the Board makes sure everything is fair, it made him resent the griz?

[VimSince03]

I'm seeing a lot of chatter on the margins in various threads regarding Choate having a poor relationship with MSU. Can anybody provide clarity on this? I'm among the many who feel like he rebuilt our program into what it is today...but did he end up having a poor relationship with Wadad and Costello? I've even seen it said he won't even mention his time at MSU...all seems very odd.

Can anybody clarify?

He pushed very hard for better facilities and funding for the program and didn't like the pace and/or feedback. He also hated the Big Sky conference with a passion of a thousand suns. Thought they were a joke of a league. Loved the FCS level...but Big Sky was no bueno. Also despised the Board of Regents which I don't blame him...it only increased his animosity to the Western neighbors.

Do you have any insight on why he loved the FCS but not the Big Sky? Like, what other conference would be any better? The top dogs in the Big Sky and MVFC are light years ahead of the bottom feeders in terms of fan support and facilities. Im just having a hard time thinking another conference would be much better.

Well...at the time he stated over and over again how it was a better level to coach at because you got to see players mostly just focused on football and development. But now with the NIL infiltrating top FCS talent, not sure that statement still applies.