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.
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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.
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“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.
The No. 2 seed Montana State Bobcats (23-6) will square off against the No. 8 seed Montana Lady Griz (9-21) in the Big Sky tournament Sunday at Idaho Central Arena, tipping off at 4:30 p.m. ET.
How to watch Montana Lady Griz vs. Montana State Bobcats
Stats to know
Montana State averages 74.8 points per game (42nd in college basketball) while allowing 60.9 per contest (101st in college basketball). It has a +403 scoring differential overall and outscores opponents by 13.9 points per game.
Montana State makes 7.5 three-pointers per game (61st in college basketball) at a 29.4% rate (244th in college basketball), compared to the 6.7 its opponents make while shooting 32.9% from deep.
Montana has a -270 scoring differential, falling short by 9.0 points per game. It is putting up 62.2 points per game, 252nd in college basketball, and is allowing 71.2 per outing to rank 310th in college basketball.
Montana hits 2.2 more threes per game than the opposition, 9.2 (12th in college basketball) compared to its opponents’ 7.0.
This watch guide was created using technology provided by Data Skrive.
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Photo: Patrick Smith, Andy Lyons, Steph Chambers, Jamie Squire / Getty Images
BOISE, Idaho — It became clear at about 1 p.m. Saturday that Avery Waddington, Montana’s second leading scorer and top rebounder — would not play in the first round of the Big Sky Conference tournament at Idaho Central Arena.
Waddington was battling the onset of an illness since earlier in the morning that neither rest nor fluids could quell. Another starter — Jocelyn Land — wasn’t feeling her best, either, nor were two Lady Griz assistant coaches.
WATCH THE HIGHLIGHTS:
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Depleted Montana edges NAU, sets up 2nd-round rematch with Montana State at Big Sky tourney
Some kind of bug had infiltrated the Montana women’s basketball team. But coach Nate Harris and the remaining Lady Griz weren’t about to bug out of the postseason, and went on to claim a 61-60 victory over Northern Arizona to keep their season intact.
No. 8-seeded Montana (9-21) advanced to secure a matchup with No. 2 seed and rival Montana State (23-6) in a Big Sky second-round game on Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
“We just made it about, how hard can you play?” said Harris, who pumped his fist and celebrated with his team after NAU’s final shot rimmed off at the buzzer. “Everyone in here can defend their tail off, so let’s just get out there and guard, guard, guard and see if we can have one more point than the other team.”
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Harris’ words proved to be prophetic. Montana won by surviving a last-second shot by Northern Arizona’s Naomi White, an attempt she had to work hard to create after taking an inbound pass with less than three seconds left.
With the way they bowed out of last year’s Big Sky tournament — on a last-second shot by Montana State’s Marah Dykstra in the championship game — the Lady Griz were grateful to be on the other end of the drama.
“There have been situations where that memory has kind of come up (this season) and made me really nervous, and definitely today was one of them,” UM’s Mack Konig said. “However, you learn from your mistakes, and I think our team was prepared to play until the very end, so that was great.”
Greg Rachac / MTN Sports
Montana’s Joclyn Land drives during a game against Northern Arizona at the Big Sky Conference women’s basketball tournament at Idaho Central Arena on Saturday, March 7, 2026, in Boise, Idaho.
After gutting it out in the first half, Montana’s Land left the game in the second half due to her malaise. But Konig scored a team-high 17 points and Rae Ehrman added 16 to pace the Lady Griz. Kennedy Gillette contributed 15 points and nine rebounds.
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NAU’s White led all scorers with 24 points while hitting 10 of 10 from the foul line.
As Harris stated, defense did the trick for the Lady Griz. With that as a focus, and with players defending out of position, notably Gillette, Konig and Macy Donarski in the post, Montana held the Lumberjacks to 31.7% shooting and a 5-for-20 showing from 3-point range. White, one of the league’s best players, shot 6-for-22 from the floor.
The Lady Griz are moving on to a rematch with Montana State in the second round. The Bobcats won both regular-season matchups by an average of 27.5 points. Throw in the memory of last year’s title-game chaos, and it’s a matchup Montana is looking forward to.
“It just makes us really excited for (Sunday),” Gillette said. “Chloe (Larsen) said in the locker room that it’s hard to beat a team three times, so that kind of gives us some juice. We know what we need to do and what to focus on.”
“It’s not a hard answer, right?” Harris said. “You have to take care of the rock, you have to rebound and you have to match, if not exceed, their level of toughness. I think today was a great lesson moving into that game.”
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Big Sky women’s tournament scoreboard
Saturday, March 7
Game 1: No. 9 Weber State 76, No. 10 Portland State 53
A sign marks the entrance to a series of hardened tents at the Camp East Montana immigrant detention center in the desert at a U.S. Army base on the outskirts of El Paso, Texas, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. Morgan Lee/AP
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This story contains discussion of suicide. If you or someone you care about may be at risk of suicide, contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988, or go to 988lifeline.org.
Staff at the nation’s largest Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility have placed bets on which detainee will be the next to die by suicide, according to new reporting from the Associated Press based on 911 calls and detainee accounts.
Owen Ramsingh, a legal permanent resident who spent several weeks at the Camp East Montana detention facility in Texas, told AP that he overheard a security guard talking about a betting pool for which detainee would next die by suicide. The guard said he had paid $500 into the pot, which would all go to the winner with the most accurate predictions on detainees harming themselves.
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Without providing details, the Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told AP that Ramsingh, who was brought to the US at age 5 from the Netherlands, was lying about the suicide bets.
In January, staff at Camp East Montana called 911 to request emergency help for Geraldo Lunas Campos, a 55-year-old from Cuba. DHS described his death as an attempted suicide. A medical examiner later ruled it a homicide. That same month, staff at the detention facility called 911 to report that a 36-year-old Nicaraguan man died by suicide. The AP reports that “detainees attempted to harm themselves while expressing suicidal ideations on at least six other occasions that resulted in 911 calls.”
Once the site of an internment camp for Japanese Americans during World War II, Camp East Montana is made up of six long tents at the Fort Bliss Army base outside of El Paso. On an average day, the facility holds around 3,000 detainees who are living in harsh conditions: They lack sufficient food and often go without proper medical care, according to AP’s review of 130 calls made to 911. Those calls took place in just about five months—from when the tents were quickly constructed in mid-August to January 20.
“Every day felt like a week. Every week felt like a month. Every month felt like a year,”Ramsingh said. He lived in Columbia, Missouri before being stopped at the airport by DHS and sent to Camp East Montana last year. Despite holding a green card and being married to a US citizen, he was deported to the Netherlands in February over a drug conviction from when he was a teenager (which he served prison time for). “Camp East Montana was 1,000% worse than a prison,” Ramsingh added.
Ramsingh said that the alledged bets on who would die by suicide were especially difficult because he had contemplated suicide himself.
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While ICE data shows that the average stay at the tents is around nine days, detainees can be stuck at the camp for months as the courts struggle to accommodate President Donald Trump’s mass detainment and deportation campaign.
US House Rep. Veronica Escobar, a Democrat who represents part of El Paso and has toured Camp East Montana, told AP that the facility “should not be operational.”
“It feels like this contractor is reinventing the wheel,” she said, “ and people are losing their lives in their experiment.”
