The Montana Tech Orediggers football program represents

Montana Technological University Montana Technological University, popularly known as Montana Tech, is a public university in Butte, Montana. Founded in 1900 as the "Montana State School of Mines", the university became affiliated with the University of Montana in 1994. After un ...

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

as members of the

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for higher education, colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic schola ...

(NAIA), as members of the

Frontier Conference The Frontier Conference is a List of college athletic conferences in the United States, college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). The conference was founded in 1934. Member institut ...

History

Early history (1902–1985)

Bob Green Era (1986–2010)

During the era of

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

Bob Green, Montana Tech had its most successful period ever in football. In his 24-year tenure, the Orediggers accomplished a record of 140 wins, 116 losses, and 1 tie. During this period, the Orediggers either placed or tied for first or second in the Frontier Conference 16 times. Green led the Diggers to the NAIA National Playoffs 5 times, including the 1996 National Championship Game. The Orediggers were the first ever

football team to play for the national title. Bob Green retired from coaching following the 2010 season. In 2013, Montana Tech's stadium,

Alumni Coliseum Alumni Coliseum and Baptist Health Arena are home to the Eastern Kentucky University Colonels in Richmond, Kentucky. History Alumni Coliseum houses the men's and women's basketball teams as well as the volleyball team. The groundbreaking occu ...

, replaced its grass field with a new

artificial turf Artificial turf is a surface of synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass, used in sports arenas, residential lawns and commercial applications that traditionally use grass. It is much more durable than grass and easily maintained wi ...

surface; the new field was named after Green. Green was inducted into the school's athletic

hall of fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

the same year.

Chuck Morrell Era (2011–2019)

Following Green's

retirement Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

Chuck Morrell Chuck Morrell (born ) is an American college football coach. He is the inside linebackers coach at the University of Alabama, a position he has held since 2024. He was the co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach at the University of Washingt ...

, who had previously been the

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator (DC) is a coach responsible for a gridiron football team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, offensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's coaching structure, wit ...

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...

, was hired as the Orediggers' new head coach. Montana Tech posted a total record of 52 wins and 44 losses under Morrell and made the playoffs in 2012, 2015, and 2016, including winning the

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

championship, the team's first since 2004. During Morrell's tenure, he received the

coach of the year award in 2012, 2015, and 2016. Morrell left the team following the 2019 season in order to take an assistant coaching job at

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

Fresno State California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers 60 ba ...

Kyle Samson Era (2020–present)

Following Morrell's departure, the Orediggers named

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator (OC) is a Coach (sport), coach responsible for a gridiron football team's offense (American football), offense. Generally, the offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second ...

Kyle Samson as the team's new head coach. Before Montana Tech, Samson was the head coach at

Flathead High School Flathead High School is an American public secondary school located in Kalispell, Montana. It is one of two high schools in District #5 of the Kalispell Public Schools. Originally Flathead County High School is offers an International Baccalaur ...

Kalispell, Montana Kalispell (, Salish-Spokane-Kalispel language, Montana Salish: Ql̓ispé, Kutenai language: Kqayaqawakⱡuʔnam) is a city in Montana and the county seat of Flathead County, Montana, United States. The 2020 census put Kalispell's population at ...

for five years, and became Tech's offensive coordinator for just one season before being promoted to head coach. In 2020, Samson's first season, Montana Tech did not play a football season due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The

held a modified, conference-only season in the spring of 2021, but Montana Tech (as well as Montana Western and

Southern Oregon Southern Oregon is a region of the U.S. state of Oregon south of Lane County and generally west of the Cascade Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia thr ...

) did not participate.

Conference affiliation

Montana Tech has been a member of the

of the NAIA since 1934. The conference was organized as the Montana Small College Conference in 1934 with charter members Montana Tech, Northern Montana College, Billings Polytechnic Institute, Montana State Normal College, and Intermountain Union College before rebranding to the Montana Collegiate Conference in 1936 and the Frontier Conference in 1966.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Montana Tech Orediggers football