Denarius McGhee is one of the Bobcats that Justin Gaines brought to Bozeman from Texas.
Photo by: Kelly Gorham
Gaines Heads to North Texas
12/15/2010 2:15:36 PM | Football
MSU assistant helped establish MSU recruiting efforts in Lone Star State
Before anyone else dared to dream, Justin Gaines knew what was coming for Bobcat football.
“I knew from the get-go, from the day I got the job at Montana State, that we'd be able to recruit Texas,” Gaines said. “I played (at Montana) with kids from Florida, from different places, and kids from anywhere in the country will go to Montana State. Recruits visit Montana State and fall in love with the area. I knew that would happen.”
Four years later, Gaines leaves a Bobcat program fresh off a nine-win season, a Big Sky Championship, and an exhilarating 21-16 win over his alma mater in Missoula.
“It was fun,” Gaines said of his four seasons at MSU.
Gaines' legacy at MSU is likely to stand on his recruiting successes in Texas, where he coached at smaller schools before arriving in Bozeman. Four Texans started on MSU's 2010 Big Sky title team, including Big Sky Co-Offensive MVP Denarius McGhee, the team's redshirt freshman quarterback, and 15 others populate the team's roster.
That players from the warmer climes of the Lone Star state would not only come to MSU but thrive was never in doubt, Gaines said, because when it comes to football Texas and Montana are more similar than different. “To me they're very similar,” Gaines said. “The passion people have for football is the same. In ways, because of the smaller (population), it's bigger deal (in Montana). The kids that you recruit see that, see how special it is to people, and they want to play at Montana State.”
Gaines' work as a recruiter is not lost on Bobcat head coach Rob Ash. “He has recruited many of our most talented out of state players in the past four years, and established a pipeline to the talent-rich state of Texas for the Bobcat football program,” Ash said, indicating that Gaines' role as the coaching staff's academic liaison the past three years “ensured the academic success of our football student-athletes here at MSU.”
Still, one moment from his time at MSU stands out for Gaines.
“Beating Montana was definitely the highlight of my coaching career, by far,” he said. “I told our players the last four years that coaching against them gets me hyped up. It's a different feeling than any I've ever had. That game was the one that I really wanted to step out on the field and play. It was awesome, especially beating them there, taking that trophy, winning the Big Sky. It was a dream come true.”
When he officially begins at North Texas in the upcoming weeks, Gaines said he is realizing a dream. “I'm excited about it,” Gaines said. “It's always been a dream of mine to coach at the Division I (FBS) level, and to coach cornerbacks and recruit Texas is unbelievable.”
Not more unbelievable, most Bobcat fans would say, than the work of a former Grizzly in elevating Montana State to the top of the Big Sky.
“We will miss all of his talents but we will also miss his positive attitude and energetic approach to the job that he brought to the office every day,” Ash said. “We wish him the very best in his new endeavor.”
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