Cliff Hysell
THREE WEEKS IN 1993: For Three Magical Weeks in 1993, Cliff Hysell Showed Bobcat Fans How Fun Football Could Still Be
10/10/2018 9:00:00 AM | Football
In three weeks during October of 1993, Cliff Hysell and the Bobcats recaptured the program's glory days and showed what was again possible
For three weeks in October, 1993, Cliff Hysell and the Bobcats played football that rang familiar to long-time Bobcat fans. It also mapped a path into the future that would take a while, but which once again found Montana State Football on top of the Big Sky Conference. The Bobcats won a miraculous game in Idaho State's Holt Arena, followed that with an improbable home win over No. 1 Idaho, then finished the trifecta with the least probable of all - MSU's only win ever in Boise State's Bronco Stadium. Over the next few days we'll look back on that crazy stretch of three games that don't really seem like they were a quarter century ago...
The rubber hit the road on a warm Midwest evening on Labor Day weekend, 1993, when Montana State upended Western Illinois 29-16. Fred Moore's 182 yards was the most by a Bobcat in his debut and in a season opener, and that performance set the tone for the outstanding, exciting 10 games that lie ahead.
To appreciate the full impact of the 1993 season, though, it's best to zoom out. That season came halfway between Montana State's 1984 Big Sky and Division I-AA National Championship season and its next title run, the improbable and exhilarating back-to-back titles of 2002 and '03. The Bobcats entered November with a legitimate shot at the post-season three times in the 1990s, and this was the first.
The 1993 season also provided Bobcat fans a jolt of positive energy. Three men had guided the program since the most recent winning season, 1984. Dave Arnold, who led the Cats to the '84 title was fired. Earle Solomonson, five seasons after replacing Arnold, met a similar fate. Cliff Hysell arrived in December of 1991 and talked about the pride and tradition of the program he played for in the '60s and was an assistant coach for during the '70s.
As the program's head coach in those early years, he wore blue jeans and boots on the sideline. He could have easily been mistaken as the team's bus driver. When the weather inevitably turned cold he wore a blue duster that brought to mind John Wayne. It was part of recreating a program in his image, one that thrived on toughness and discipline. It was also meant to distract from what he knew would be a long, hard grind back to respectability.
Hysell didn't inherit a championship-caliber team in 1992, but he did inherit talent. One season later, the Bobcats who stayed with it were joined by newcomers who immediately made a difference. "It was a strong team," said Bozeman banker J.C. Murray, a sophomore starting offensive guard in 1993. "Tim Hanson and Cory Brye on the offensive line, we had good players on defense, it was a good group."
Four Bobcats earned First Team All-Big Sky and two more – corner Sean Hill, first team, and defensive end Jason Hicks, third team – were named All-America. But good talent doesn't always form a successful team, and the Bobcats had not won more than they lost in nearly a decade. It was a long stretch of futility. That years seniors had "been through four losing seasons, struggling all the time," said Rademacher, now a law enforcement officer in Kalispell.
The win at Western Illinois, which featured a star safety and future NFL All-Pro named Rodney Harrison, provided a a great start to the 1993 season. The Cats fell at Washington State a week later, then dismantled NAIA foe Fort Lewis. The team's next real test came against Weber State on September 25, and the Cats earned a 14-10 win.
"We didn't throw a pass in the second half," Butch Damberger, then the team's defensive line coach and now a long-time administrator on the MSU campus, said with a laugh. "It was Hys' perfect game." A disappointing loss at Northern Arizona, in which the team barely missed a long touchdown pass and a tying field goal, followed, but the team got back on the winning track with a home win over Southern Utah.
Then came the Idaho State game, and a thrilling three-week stretch of games that also featured powerful Idaho and Boise State. Those three games marked a turning point for the 1993 season, and provided a glimpse of things to come for Montana State football.
NEXT UP: The Cats return home to face the top-ranked team in Division I-AA, the Idaho Vandals.
The rubber hit the road on a warm Midwest evening on Labor Day weekend, 1993, when Montana State upended Western Illinois 29-16. Fred Moore's 182 yards was the most by a Bobcat in his debut and in a season opener, and that performance set the tone for the outstanding, exciting 10 games that lie ahead.
To appreciate the full impact of the 1993 season, though, it's best to zoom out. That season came halfway between Montana State's 1984 Big Sky and Division I-AA National Championship season and its next title run, the improbable and exhilarating back-to-back titles of 2002 and '03. The Bobcats entered November with a legitimate shot at the post-season three times in the 1990s, and this was the first.
The 1993 season also provided Bobcat fans a jolt of positive energy. Three men had guided the program since the most recent winning season, 1984. Dave Arnold, who led the Cats to the '84 title was fired. Earle Solomonson, five seasons after replacing Arnold, met a similar fate. Cliff Hysell arrived in December of 1991 and talked about the pride and tradition of the program he played for in the '60s and was an assistant coach for during the '70s.
As the program's head coach in those early years, he wore blue jeans and boots on the sideline. He could have easily been mistaken as the team's bus driver. When the weather inevitably turned cold he wore a blue duster that brought to mind John Wayne. It was part of recreating a program in his image, one that thrived on toughness and discipline. It was also meant to distract from what he knew would be a long, hard grind back to respectability.
Hysell didn't inherit a championship-caliber team in 1992, but he did inherit talent. One season later, the Bobcats who stayed with it were joined by newcomers who immediately made a difference. "It was a strong team," said Bozeman banker J.C. Murray, a sophomore starting offensive guard in 1993. "Tim Hanson and Cory Brye on the offensive line, we had good players on defense, it was a good group."
Four Bobcats earned First Team All-Big Sky and two more – corner Sean Hill, first team, and defensive end Jason Hicks, third team – were named All-America. But good talent doesn't always form a successful team, and the Bobcats had not won more than they lost in nearly a decade. It was a long stretch of futility. That years seniors had "been through four losing seasons, struggling all the time," said Rademacher, now a law enforcement officer in Kalispell.
The win at Western Illinois, which featured a star safety and future NFL All-Pro named Rodney Harrison, provided a a great start to the 1993 season. The Cats fell at Washington State a week later, then dismantled NAIA foe Fort Lewis. The team's next real test came against Weber State on September 25, and the Cats earned a 14-10 win.
"We didn't throw a pass in the second half," Butch Damberger, then the team's defensive line coach and now a long-time administrator on the MSU campus, said with a laugh. "It was Hys' perfect game." A disappointing loss at Northern Arizona, in which the team barely missed a long touchdown pass and a tying field goal, followed, but the team got back on the winning track with a home win over Southern Utah.
Then came the Idaho State game, and a thrilling three-week stretch of games that also featured powerful Idaho and Boise State. Those three games marked a turning point for the 1993 season, and provided a glimpse of things to come for Montana State football.
NEXT UP: The Cats return home to face the top-ranked team in Division I-AA, the Idaho Vandals.
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