MISSOULA — The excitement rolls on at the University of Montana, and on Thursday afternoon at the Canyon Club inside of Washington-Grizzly Stadium, Bobby Kennedy was officially introduced as the 38th head football coach of the Montana Grizzlies.
"Our goal is to win conference championships, our goal is to graduate student-athletes, our goal for this football program is to win a national championship and I do not think that that is outrageous," University of Montana athletic director Kent Haslam said to open the press conference.
"That is a goal we can accomplish with what we're doing and I'm excited to have Coach Kennedy lead us into the 2026 season.
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"It's my pleasure to introduce coach Bobby Kennedy, the 38th head coach of the University of Montana."
In front of a room packed with Grizzly players, coaches, boosters, fans, administrators and more, Kennedy's tenure as head coach officially began in what's been a whirlwind 48 hours within the UM football program.
"This is going to be my last job. Whether it's long, let's make it be long, ok?" Kennedy said to a loud response of laughter from the room. "Or however long it is, let me say that, I want this to be my last job. I want to do it with these guys, and I want to do it with these players in back and I want to do it with the great Griz fans and the people of Montana."
Watch: Bobby Kennedy's opening press conference as he's introduced as 38th Montana football coach
Kennedy has been a college coach for 30-plus seasons, working solely as a position coach, mostly with wide receivers, with a number of stops at high-major FBS programs.
Kennedy said though he's had offers to lead programs in the past, and now was the perfect time to jump on it.
"I've had the opportunity to be a head coach before, I did not take that opportunity," Kennedy said. "I was at a really good place, and I was experiencing, not only my position but as a team, some incredible success. I wanted to make another run at something I thought was really special. I've interviewed for a number of jobs, I finished second a couple of times. I think they really screwed up, but I've wanted to be a head coach."
Kennedy has spent one year at UM where he coached wide receivers a season ago.
From recruiting in-state Montana talents — Kennedy said he wanted to be in every school in the state at some point — to the top goal of chasing a FCS national championship, Kennedy detailed his vision for the program.
A focus moving forward in the coming weeks is retaining players as the new transfer portal window opens for UM players on Feb. 9. He'll look to finish filling out his staff — he also formally introduced long-time Weber State coach Brent Myers as the new offensive line coach for the Griz — and then it's on to winter conditioning as he aims to have the program fully locked and ready come spring ball.
Watch: Bobby Hauck press conference as he announces retirement from Griz head coaching position
He takes over for Bobby Hauck, whose surprising retirement on Wednesday sent shockwaves across the state.
Hauck detailed how the current landscape of college football pushed him out, and Kennedy noted he's ready to tackle those challenges — from transfers, NIL and more — head-on in his new position.
"The landscape of college football right now, it's not for me to judge whether it's right or wrong, it's the system that we have and we're going to work within those boundaries," Kennedy said. "When you're at a special place, when you're at a really good place and you have a chance to do special things, the grass isn't always greener. The NIL thing, I think it's good, I think it's fair here with what we're doing.
"I said this when coach Hauck asked me to come here, I found pretty green grass."
