BILLINGS — After what was undoubtedly a very long week, Montana State athletic director Leon Costello took stock Thursday of the fact that football coach Brent Vigen will remain with the Bobcats — at least for the foreseeable future.
Vigen was reportedly a top-two candidate for the head coaching job at Oregon State, but he announced last Wednesday that he is staying in Bozeman. In a similar circumstance a year earlier, Vigen was linked to the head job at Washington State.
Despite the outside interest — and the anxiety that comes with it — Vigen is still a Bobcat. And that makes Costello's life a little bit easier as MSU clings to the football juggernaut it has built.
"We've got our arms around this thing and we're holding on tight to keep everything intact," Costello told MTN Sports.
The journey continues in Bozeman.#BobcatBuilt pic.twitter.com/fv4BaE7K4m
— Montana State Football (@MSUBobcats_FB) November 26, 2025
It goes without saying that Vigen, 50, will continue to be a hot name for future coaching vacancies. So get used to it. Entering this week's second-round playoff game against Yale, his Bobcat résumé speaks for itself:
- A 57-12 overall record in five seasons
- A 37-3 mark in Big Sky Conference games
- A 37-2 record at Bobcat Stadium
- Three league championships
- Two appearances in the FCS national title game
That's about as good as it gets.
As athletic director, Costello has to walk a fine line when it comes to wanting what's best for his coaches while also striving for cohesion and stability within the ranks. That's maybe best exemplified by his hiring of alum Danny Sprinkle, who took the MSU basketball program to places unseen before leaving for more lucrative pastures at Utah State and then Washington.
Costello didn't want to see Sprinkle go, but at the same time he was thrilled with his success.
When first asked to convey his peace of mind knowing Vigen is sticking around, Costello laughed.
"Well, I mean ... I feel great," he said. "With what he's been able to accomplish — and in the world we live in — having continuity is the key to success. And so keeping the leader here, I'm excited for our department, I'm excited for our fans and I'm really excited for our student-athletes."
What's kept Vigen at Montana State these past two years? A number of factors, presumably. But it seems his loyalty and unwillingness to fracture the team in the midst of the playoffs is chief among them.
Taking his cues from the North Dakota State coaching tree from whence he came, Vigen doesn't give the impression that he's willing to jump at another job before the season is over.
Respectively, Wyoming and Kansas State both afforded former NDSU coaches Craig Bohl (in 2013) and Chris Klieman (in 2019) the ability to coach the Bison through the postseason. But ADs don't appear to be so cool with that anymore — not in the midst of the early signing period and the new Jan. 2-16 transfer portal window.
"We had a team meeting on Monday (Nov. 24), and I laid it out there pretty straightforward that my ability to coach this particular team was going to be a priority," Vigen said this week during the latest edition of MTN Sports' Bobcat Insider show. "Ultimately it played out the way it did.
"I put the release out there (last) Wednesday just to give a state of the union, where we're at. With signing day this week, with this team, with so much to play for, (I) just wanted to be able to say, hey, the Vigens are here. Really excited about what we've had behind us and what we have in front of us."
It's a refreshing change of pace from what we've seen just in the past few weeks in terms of the coaching carousel. (Lane Kiffin, anyone?)
But then again, the FCS is a refreshing change of pace from the amateurism-killing, billion-dollar industry college football has become.
"It's chaos. It's absolute chaos," Costello said. "The fact that almost two handfuls of coaches were fired midseason just to beat the transfer portal window ... I never would have imagined I would see what I saw this year and to see the amount of money that goes into these moves. It's disheartening to say the least.
"I can say that knowing that at the FCS level we're not anywhere close to that, but we are always grouped together with the FBS and the Power 4 because we're still Division I athletics.
"I still think we do college athletics the way it's supposed to be done. We are what college athletics should be. How we operate is completely different, and I think our values are completely different."
Vigen and the Bobcats clinched the 2025 Big Sky Conference championship outright with a 31-28 victory over rival Montana on Nov. 22 in Missoula, a game that was completely fitting for the back-and-forth nature the rivalry has turned into these past 20 years or so.
It was Vigen's first win in Missoula, and extended Montana State's winning streak to 10 games entering the postseason. And it further cemented what Vigen has done in his five years with the Bobcats.
Further, it underscored exactly why Costello and everyone else at MSU is so happy to have him.
"He took a pretty good foundation and threw lighter fluid on it," Costello said. "I think we all kind of hoped we could get to where it is, but maybe we had no idea it would happen this quickly. To think that, you know, back when we hired him, that this was possible, I don't know if I could have thought that. So to see it happen is pretty special."
With Vigen locked and loaded at Montana State for another playoff run, the Bobcats can breathe easy. Costello can also breathe easy. For now.
Vigen will continue to be a hot name and viable candidate for future coaching vacancies. So get used to it.
Costello, for one, won't stress too hard over it. He knows it comes with the territory.
"When you're successful people take notice," he said. "That's one thing we've talked a lot about here — working really hard to get to a level where we are successful. And that means student-athletes and coaches will have opportunities.
"And to be honest with you, in this world we live in, we can't be afraid of that. Over the years, there's been a little bit of a mind shift in that, yeah, when you do well people will take notice, and that's when opportunities come about."
