Montana

Montana State rewards Vigen with major contract extension

Published

1 year ago

December 30, 2024

Montana State rewards Vigen with major contract extension

FARGO — First the rumor was Fresno State. Then Utah State. Then Washington State. With each passing week, Brent Vigen’s employment status was tied to those three schools, who ended up hiring different head football coaches.

Vigen stayed with Montana State.

“I’ve long lived be being where my feet are now,” Vigen said. “We addressed it with the team as no different than say the transfer portal. Our success is going to lead to opportunities for people in this room and if the time comes, I’ll be as transparent as I can with the team and at the same time not do anything to compromise this team.”

The university rewarded his loyalty on Monday, giving him a four-year contract extension heading into the Division I FCS national championship game next Monday against North Dakota State. The former Bison player and assistant coach married to a former Bison women’s basketball player will face his old team for the third time.

NDSU defeated the Bobcats in the 2021 title game in Frisco, Texas, and took a 35-34 thriller in the second round last year at Montana State.

Vigen’s son Brooks is a sophomore defensive end with the Bobcats and a younger son, Grant, was part of the signing day class earlier this month as a 6-foot-6 quarterback. Brooks redshirted in 2022, played in seven games last season and nine games this year with five tackles.

“As a a family, we’ve enjoyed our time here,” Vigen said. “A lot of things go into this type of opportunity, our boys continue to grow up in this community and it’s been great.”

Fresno went with former NDSU head coach Matt Entz, Utah State hired Bronco Mendenhall and Washington State plucked Jimmy Rogers from South Dakota State. The fact two of those schools hired coaches with extensive FCS experience means successful FCS coaches like Vigen are in high demand.

Vigen’s base salary was increased to $295,000, up from $215,000, according to MontanaSports.com. Various incentives around at least $100,000 make it worth much more than that.

It keeps Vigen on a Bobcat contract through 2029. The buyout ranges between $300,000 and $450,000.

“He’s a guy of a few words but the words he does say and very calculated and very intentional,” MSU quarterback Tommy Mellott said in an FCS zoom press conference Monday. “He just gives us so much motivation to do everything we can for him.”

Vigen will carry a 47-9 record into the title game. He’s 29-3 in the Big Sky Conference. Vigen is the latest in the line of disciples of head coach Craig Bohl, with former assistants under Bohl reaching FBS head coaching status like Kansas State’s Chris Klieman, Wake Forest’s Jake Dickert and Entz.

“The Bobcat program has soared to new heights under the leadership of Brent Vigen,” MSU athletic director Leon Costello said in a statement.

Jeff would like to dispel the notion he was around when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, but he is on his third decade of reporting with Forum Communications. The son of a reporter and an English teacher, and the brother of a reporter, Jeff has worked at the Jamestown Sun, Bismarck Tribune and since 1990 The Forum, where he’s covered North Dakota State athletics since 1995.
Jeff has covered all nine of NDSU’s Division I FCS national football titles and has written three books: “Horns Up,” “North Dakota Tough” and “Covid Kids.” He is the radio host of “The Golf Show with Jeff Kolpack” April through August.

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Montana

Your guide to local sports events, plus what’s on TV

Published

8 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

Your guide to local sports events, plus what’s on TV

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Montana

Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026

Published

20 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026

HELENA — You probably have goals and plans for 2026—the Montana Department of Agriculture does too.

“We’re really focusing on innovative agricultural practices,” Montana Department of Agriculture director Jillien Streit said.

It’s no secret that agriculture—farming and ranching—is not easy. There are long days, planning, monitoring crops and livestock, and other challenges beyond farmers’ and ranchers’ control.

(WATCH: Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026)

Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026

“We have very low commodity prices across the board,” Streit said. “We still have very high input prices across the board, and we have really high prices when it comes to our equipment, and so, it’s a really tough year.”

But innovation, including new practices, partnerships and technology use, can help navigate some of those challenges.

“We can’t make more time and we can’t make more land, so we need to start putting together innovative practices that help us maximize what our time and land can do,” Streit said.

Practices range from using technology like autonomous tractors and virtual fencing—allowing rangers to contain and move cattle right from their phones—to regenerative farming and ranching.

“It is bringing cattle back into farming operations to be able to work with cover cropping practices to invigorate the soil for new soil health benefits,” Streit said.

The Montana Department of Agriculture is working to help producers learn, share, and collaborate on new ideas to work in their operations.

The department will share stories of practices that work from farms and ranches across the state. Also, within the next year or so, Streit said the department is hoping to roll out technology to help producers collaborate.

“(It’s) providing a communication platform where people can get together and really help each other out by utilizing each other’s assets,” she said.

While not easy, agriculture is still one of Montana’s largest industries, and Streit said innovating and sharing ideas across the state can keep it going long into the future.

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Montana

Frontier Conference women: MSU-Northern, Montana Western pull upsets to advance to semifinal round

Published

1 day ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Frontier Conference women: MSU-Northern, Montana Western pull upsets to advance to semifinal round

BUTTE — MSU-Northern and Montana Western pulled a pair of upsets Saturday at the Butte Civic Center to wrap up the quarterfinal round of the Frontier Conference women’s basketball postseason tournament.

The fifth-seeded Skylights started the day with a red-hot shooting performance to down No. 4 Rocky Mountain College 82-74. Western, the sixth seed, used a third-quarter surge to defeat No. 3 Carroll College 65-56.

MSU-Northern (17-11) and Western (14-13) now advance to Sunday’s semifinal round, where the Skylights will play No. 1 seed Dakota State at noon and the Bulldogs will face No. 2 Montana Tech at 2:30 p.m.

MSU-Northern 82, Rocky Mountain College 74

MSU-Northern sizzled in the first quarter, making seven 3-pointers to take a double-digit lead, and put together a crucial third-quarter run to get past Rocky and advance to the semifinal round.

Becky Melcher splashed four 3s in the first 10 minutes, and Taya Trottier, Canzas HisBadHorse and Shania Moananu added one apiece as the Skylights built a 29-13 lead. Melcher scored 14 first-quarter points and finished with a game-high 30 on 10-of-19 shooting (7 of 15 from 3-point range). She added 11 rebounds, a blocked shot and three steals to her stat line.

Rocky battled back to tie the game at 36-36 in the second quarter on a Brenna Linse basket, but MSUN responded with consecutive triples from Trottier and Melcher and took a 44-38 lead into halftime. The Bears eventually stole the lead back in the third quarter following a 9-0 run capped be an Isabelle Heggem bucket.

But the Skylights again answered — this time with a 13-2 run to take a 60-51 lead. MSUN led 66-59 going to the fourth and wouldn’t trail the rest of the way. The Skylights trailed for less than two total minutes of the game.

As a team, MSUN made 14 of 26 3s in the game. Ciera Agasiva was 3 for 3 from behind the arc, and Trottier was 2 for 3. Trottier had 18 points, eight rebounds and six assists, while Agasiva had 13 points.

Paige Wasson led Rocky (20-9) with 29 points but was 0 for 10 on 3-point attempts. Heggem had a double-double of 21 points and 12 rebounds.

Montana Western 65, Carroll 56

After neither team led by more than five points in the first half, Western broke open a 25-25 tie game by outscoring Carroll 20-9 in the third quarter.

Bailee Sayler scored 10 points in the quarter, including making two 3-pointers, to help the Bulldogs take control. They led 45-34 going to the fourth, and Carroll wouldn’t get closer than six points the rest of the way.

The Fighting Saints were just 18-of-65 shooting (27.7%) for the game.

Sayler scored an efficient 22 points on 7-of-8 shooting. She was 2 for 3 from 3-point range and 6 for 7 at the free throw line. The Missoula native also had nine rebounds.

Isabella Lund added 16 points for the Bulldogs, and Keke Davis had 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Carroll (19-10) was led by Kenzie Allen with 12 points. Willa Albrecht and Meagan Karstetter scored 11 points apiece for the Saints.

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