Bobcats' coaching staff, administration invade Polson
MONTANA STATE Bobcats’ head coach Jeff Choate talks to several local Bobcat faithful during the Cats’ Shadow ride Friday night at the KwaTaqNuk Resort. (Photo courtesy of Tom Farrell)
FORMER MONTANA State Bobcat standout quarterback Denarius McGhee (left) and defensive coordinator Tyler Gregorak speak at the Bobcat boatride Friday night on the Shadow boatride at the KwaTaqNuk Resort. (Photo courtesy of Tom Farrell)
The Montana State University Bobcats’ football coaches visited Polson and participated in a Shadow Boat Ride at the Kwataqnuk Friday night and a golf scramble at the Polson Bay Golf Course on Saturday morning.
Bobcats’ coach Jeff Choate introduced two new members of his coaching staff on the Shadow Boat ride: defensive coordinator Ty Gregorak and quarterback coach DeNarius McGhee. The athletic director Leon Costello was also introduced on the boat ride.
The Bobcats hosted a golf scramble and had an auction on the shadow boat to try to raise scholarship money for the university.
McGhee shined at the quarterback position for the Bobcats from 2009 to 2013. During a speech to several Bobcat fans, McGhee claimed Polson was a “second home” to him.
“Polson is like a second home to me,” McGhee stated. “For the last eight years of my life, I spent my Fourth of July right here in Polson.”
McGhee also talked about his time he spent in Polson with what he calls his “second family” with Tim and Kelly Bagnell.
“I am very appreciative of this community,” McGhee stated. “I have memories of coming here when I was a true freshman on June 19. Everywhere I looked, there was a Grizzly fan left and a Grizzly fan right. This is kind of Griz country but now there is a Bobcat left and a Bobcat right. This state has changed and Choate’s message to all of us is ‘own the state, recruit the state inside and out, and our team is doing that.”
Newly appointed defensive coordinator Ty Gregorak has experienced both sides of the Cat-Griz, Griz-Cat rivalry as he recently took a job with the Bobcats after being a linebacker coach and corner back for the Griz from 2011-2015.
“Everyone keeps asking how or why did I defect from the University of Montana to Montana State and I don’t want to talk about it because I am a Bobcat,” Gregorak declared to the Bobcat faithful.
Gregorak said he likes coaching what he referred to as “war dandies.”
“As a defensive coach, you have to rotate a lot of guys in and out, and I get fired up and love to coach war dandies,” Gregorak said. “Players like Tucker Yates, Zach Wright, Greg Collins are reason I love coaching in this state.”
Choate, who began coaching at the start of 2016, talked about working on changing the culture of Bobcats’ football.
“We start this Wednesday and I am ready to go right now,” Choate declared. “We had a good summer.”
Choate talked about how his team is building a culture.
“One of the things that we’ve tried to do and our goal is to understand the concept of culture changes over the last 18 to 24 months,” Choate said. “Culture is a word that gets bandied around but it’s a set of values that drive your behavior. It really creates an experience for other people and the people within our organization are second-to-none.”