Q&A: Former Montana WR Reese Carlson talks about Bob Stitt

Last week it was announced Oklahoma State was bringing in former Montana coach Bob Stitt as an offensive analyst. Stitt was recently fired after a three-year tenure as coach of the Grizzlies, and he was formerly the coach at the Colorado School of Mines, where he had a record of 108-62.

One of my good friends from High School, Reese Carlson, played for Stitt at Montana for a year before transferring to Southern Nazarene University in Bethany.

Carlson knows Stitt only as a head coach, so his insight might not be 100 percent applicable to Stitt’s duties as offensive analyst. Still, it was cool to hear the opinions of one of Stitt’s former players. Let’s get to it.

Luke Garza: What do you remember about hearing the news that he’d be your coach?

Reese Carlson: He got hired over Christmas break after my freshman year. We had an interim coach, Mick Delaney. Just at Montana, we had so many great coaches and we were like, “This is a guy from Colorado School of Mines. What’s that?” Then you start doing some research on the guy, and he’s one of the most prolific minds in college football.

As an aside, Reese said he remembered a video of West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen crediting Stitt for using the fly sweep, which helped the Mountaineers claim a 70-33 victory against Clemson in the 2012 Orange Bowl.

LG: How would you describe him to someone who hasn’t met him?

RC: He has kind of a calm confidence about him. When he got to Montana he was really excited to be there and be a part of it. He was one of those guys who was super intelligent. I don’t know if you know anything about the Colorado School of Mines, but it’s an Engineering School. The guys he coached there are very intelligent and he kind of works the same way.

LG: What did he seem to emphasize on the field?

RC: One thing that was super unique, that I’ve never seen, is he gives the quarterback full reign to audible different pass plays, especially if (the opponent) was in man coverage. Coach Stitt had basically 8-10 different hand motions. And the quarterback could just look at the receiver and give him a little tap on the shoulder or something that would show an audible to a route. You really couldn’t defend it; whether it was back shoulder, slant … if its 1-on-1, a quarterback can read it, call it and go.

LG: What did he emphasize off the field?

RC: He definitely stressed grades the most. He expected a lot in the classroom, and I think some of that is from him being at (Colorado) School of Mines. We would run for every person who got a D or a C in a class. I think that’s a good thing because a lot of guys at Montana just kinda had it made with football. Once you start holding guys accountable for grades, I think it started to show.

LG: How do you think his role as offensive analyst suits him at OSU?

 RC: I was only there one year, but if I had to guess, I would totally think that this would be right up his alley. This, to me, seems like his sweet spot. He wasn’t always the most engaging guy with the players, but he was just so intelligent. So a role like this seems perfect for him. He was always adapting, always changing stuff up.

Reese also described a pretty cool strategy Stitt used when the opposing team had an inexperienced corner lining up on Montana’s sideline.