Montana State's new alpine ski coaches Kevin Francis (l) and Eric Cates.
Montana State Tabs Francis as New Alpine Ski Coach; Cates as Assistant
10/11/2013 4:21:00 PM | Men's Skiing, Women's Skiing, Skiing
Former United States Ski Team member and national champion Kevin Francis has been named head alpine coach at Montana State University, announced Senior Associate Athletics Director Dan Davies.
Former United States Ski Team member and national champion Kevin Francis has been named head alpine coach at Montana State University, announced Senior Associate Athletics Director Dan Davies.
Francis replaces Luke Patterson, who left the Bobcat program for a similar position at the University of Utah in August.
For the past five seasons, Francis served as the head alpine coach for the Mammoth Mountain team in California, where he was responsible for year-round training of 16 to 28 athletes, including dry-land instruction, travel and summer camps.
"Kevin will be a great fit for our program," Davies said. "He has worked with a high-caliber club team and his racing experience at the national and international level will bring a new component to our alpine program."
Francis also has coaching experience as a member of an NCAA Division I contingent from eastern schools that traveled to La Parva, Chile to conduct a tech focused camp, including several FIS starts. He also made a trip to La Parva as a guest coach with the US Development team for their fall camp.
As a member of the US Ski team from 2001-2009, Francis captured the national Super G title in 2008.
"I'm fired-up to work with this motivated and hard-working group of student-athletes," Francis said. "I have seen incredible work ethic and diligence in their dry-land training in my first week. This will help us achieve our goals as we enter the competition season."
Francis earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in earth sciences from Dartmouth in 2010. He skied intermittently with the Big Green from 2002-2006.
In addition, Davies also announced the addition of Eric Cates as assistant alpine coach.
Cates has served as an alpine coach with the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club since 2008. He skied collegiately at Dartmouth, where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in geography, government in 2008. Cates is currently working on another bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Montana State.
Both Francis and Cates have already started their duties at MSU.
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