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President Brian Sandoval: This is Sagebrushers, the podcast of the University of ÁùºÏ±¦µä, Reno. Welcome back, Wolf Pack Family. I'm your host University President Brian Sandoval. Wolf Pack Football has been an incredibly special part of our community for more than a century. We have a new leader at the helm for the 2024 season who is a tenacious competitor and whose passion is to do everything in his power to ensure that his players succeed. Today's podcast is being recorded at our Reynolds School of Journalism on our University's campus. So, let's get started. 

President Brian Sandoval: So, Coach Choate was named ÁùºÏ±¦µä Football's 28th head coach in December 2023. Coach Choate has worked with and developed under the tutelage of some of the best football minds of the game. Since starting as a graduate assistant at Utah State in 2002, Coach Choate's journey has included championship and top 10 programs at Boise State, Montana State and the University of Texas. His resume also includes two Fiesta Bowl titles. He helped lead the Texas Longhorns back to the national prominence, and he returned Montana State to a kind of football glory that hadn't been experienced in Bozeman for a long, long time. Again, Coach, we're happy to welcome you here to the Wolf Pack family. Thank you for joining us today. 

Coach Choate: My pleasure. 

President Brian Sandoval: So, let's get started. There's a lot to talk about, Coach. Why ÁùºÏ±¦µä? What enticed you to move here and lead our incredible team? 

Coach Choate: The history and tradition in this place was something that I was very familiar with. You and I off air were talking about the Big Sky days and having grown up in that footprint, how this was the destination. All those people from Pocatello, Idaho, wanted to come to Reno and enjoy their experience back in those Big Sky days, and so I was very aware of the program, obviously Coach Ault and his success over a long period of time.

But, my memories most recently were the battles that we had in the WAC and leading into the Mountain West, and I know we're going to talk about it later, but I can remember in 2010, reading an article before we played here. It ended up being 17 future NFL players that played for Boise State in that game, 13 from the University of ÁùºÏ±¦µä that night. So, that many high caliber athletes on the field together and the toughness and the way that the University of ÁùºÏ±¦µä played football, I really admired. So, that was a piece of it, obviously, was having that connectivity to the program, but once I got here, it was the people. It was the alignment between you and Stephanie Rempe, our athletic director, you and I sitting down and sharing some thoughts on how to make that a good football again and just really felt like that this was the time and the place where, hey, yes, it hasn't been what we want it to be for a while, but we're committed to doing it right.

And, it always starts with leadership. So, the combination of knowing the history and tradition of this place and the success that it's had in the past and seeing the direction and vision that you and Stephanie have for the future. 

President Brian Sandoval: Thank you, Coach, and, you know, obviously you've had a very successful career and worked under some of the college football's greatest minds, including Coach Chris Peterson who created a program at Boise that I think a lot of programs want to emulate. So, how have these experiences influenced your coaching style and prepared you for this job? 

Coach Choate: Yeah, I think every single time you have an opportunity to take on a different role or be at a new place, there's so many chances to learn things. I did that twice with Coach Peterson, his first head coaching experience there at Boise State, and then I went to work for him after I left for a couple of years when he went to the University of Washington.

So, that was probably more impactful. When we first started, everybody was on the job training and Coach Pete's like, “What do you think about this?” and it was very collegial, and I thought that was awesome to be a part of the build, and then to see him after being a head coach for eight years take on this challenge at the University of Washington and how he had changed and matured and grown. The one thing that I know that I learned from him was that no two places are alike. What worked at Boise State wasn't going to be the recipe to make us great at Washington, and so you have to understand the uniqueness of each place and what makes it special and that was one of my biggest takeaways from Coach Peterson. The second thing I would say with Coach Peterson, and actually I thought Steve Sarkisian did a really good job of this at Texas as well, being consistent.

If that means that you're high energy, be that person all the time. If that means that you're very thoughtful and introspective, be that person all the time, because people are going to respond to you as the leader, and if you're all over the place, that's what you're going to get. You're going to get a very inconsistent performing team. And so, trying to be the same person every day, and try to have that really good vision, that really good drive, but also understand that there's something unique and special about ÁùºÏ±¦µä, and once we tap into that, that'll take care of itself in terms of the build. 

President Brian Sandoval: Couple of follow-ups on that. What are the values that you are going to instill into this program? 

Coach Choate: Yeah, I think the things that come to mind immediately, and I've kind of hit on one of them, is the pride in the history and tradition of this place.

I think the things that always separate football programs are accountability and personal discipline. I think that's the stuff that you have to have to be a really good football team. I think selecting on character first and everything we do, whether that's hiring people as support staff members, coaches, coordinators or players, character's always got to be that first thing, and then having a killer instinct, that toughness and that knowing, when the lights turn on and we step between the white lines, it's go time and we got to have a certain mindset. 

President Brian Sandoval: One of the things I particularly liked among many things that you're doing, Coach, is your trip to Carson to do the scrimmage out there because we're ÁùºÏ±¦µä's team and that includes Carson City, Gardnerville, Battle Mountain, Austin, Eureka, Ely. I could go down the line, but what made you think about going to Carson City?

Coach Choate: Well, it's something we did when I was at Montana State, and I think that time there at Montana State, a lot of similarities, you know, I mean, vast states that have mineral resources and ranching and agriculture and the type of folks that those are, they are really loyal people, and if you return that loyalty that you're going to have them forever. And so, I know that there's a ton of people through that valley there that they drive up every Saturday or every Thursday night to watch Steve and the men play or whatever it might be. They support us in a million different ways. It was an easy way for us to say, “Hey, we appreciate you and we want you to be a part of this launch that we're going on right now.” 

And, it's not just a community outreach. There is some practical things from a football perspective. How to travel, I mean, the debrief after that was, “Okay, we like this, we don't like this,” and it kind of gives us a chance to troubleshoot a little bit. But, it was really a lot of fun and the community engagement. And, I think my original idea was that we would move it around, but I actually think we need to gain some more momentum there. So, I think we'll go back again next spring to Carson City and then find some different places as we go through to continue to engage with all of our ÁùºÏ±¦µä Football fans. 

President Brian Sandoval: No, that's fantastic, and I've always said, “You hug the community; the community will hug you back.” So, let's move on. You kind of referenced your coaching staff and how great it is. So, talk a little bit about your coaching staff. 

Coach Choate: Yeah. One of the things when I'm talking to recruits and we talk about this being our family. There's two young men that played for me at different institutions. Our running back coach was a GA for us at Eastern Illinois and lived with us in our basement. And so, these are people that I've known for a long time. Our offensive coordinator, Matt Lubeck, who is just about out of the woods. He's in remission right now and we're really thankful for that, but I've known Matt since he was 18 years old. Our offensive line coach, Brian Armstrong, I've known him since he was 18 years old, worked for me at Montana State. So, just a level of experience and really how these men are viewed within this profession, I think it's next level for us here.

And that's where it's going to start. You got to have tremendous leadership. I have a lot of confidence in these guys. We select on character first, as I mentioned a moment ago, so I know who these men are and I pinch myself every day that we were able to attract this high quality of a group to the University of ÁùºÏ±¦µä at the time. It is, and I know they're all committed to. They know what this is going to be like when we get through the smoke. It's going to be a really rewarding experience. 

President Brian Sandoval: No, I agree. Let's shift to the players. It's a different time with the portal and NIL. How do you get through to these players to stay and be part of a program and building something and just building that esprit corps? 

Coach Choate: Yeah, I think that it starts with trust in any organization. And at the end of spring ball, we hadn't even been here three months with the players, and that short window, I think we've made a lot of strides, but I think there's still going to be that we haven't played a real game together yet. We haven't been through the fire, so to speak together yet, and, as we go through those experiences and hopefully they see that consistent leadership, that trust level's just going to get greater and greater and greater, and when the trust level's where it needs to be and we have the talent that we need to have and we do a good job of leading them, then that's where the magic happens, and I think that ultimately for this group of young men right now, it's been a lot of turmoil, and there's young men in the program that were here with Coach Norvell that went through Coach Wilson, and then now they're here with me.

And, I think that that trust is going to take a while based on that alone. There's just been some inconsistencies, and my goal here is to create that continuity here that really does allow us to do great things, and I think that's probably the biggest challenge that we faced in terms of retaining guys. But, we only lost a couple of guys, and I think that speaks really well for what a lot of the kids here are going, “Yeah, the future's bright. Let's hang in here. Let's see what Coach is all about. Let's go on this launch and go on this journey together.” And, that's going to be a never-ending process, Coach, or President Sandoval. Coach Sandoval, I’ll call you Coach Sandoval. 

President Brian Sandoval: I did coach kindergarten basketball. 

Coach Choate: One of these days, I'll tell you my basketball coaching story, but long story short, it's a battle now because you're recruiting high school kids, you're trying to retain your own roster.

You're looking at young men from other universities that are in the portal, and then you have the junior college element, which has always been because of our proximity to Northern California, that's always kind of been a part of what ÁùºÏ±¦µä's done. So, there's a lot of things going on and you got to be really disciplined, but I am pleased with the kids that are here. One thing I'll say is that we're going to go to war with the army we have, and these guys are going to fight. 

President Brian Sandoval: And you brought in young men from West Virginia, from Texas, from Wisconsin. How are they reacting to Reno and the campus? 

Coach Choate: If there's one thing that resonated with every single young man when I got here and I was hired and met with every player in the program, some of them aren't even here, but I met with every single one of them, they love the University, and they love living in Reno. And so, this is not a hard sell. Like the guys that can afford to live in Park Place, they really like that. They got their little rooftop pool and living's pretty good here. So, I think that's been one of the things that stood out to me immediately is how much these kids enjoy going to this University and living in this community. And so, that gave me a lot of confidence to know, “Hey, we've got something great to sell here. Let's wrap our arms around it, see if it hugs us back.” 

President Brian Sandoval: Right. So, I want to get into something a lot of fun. I know you're about rivalries, as am I, and you had a lot of experience with the Montana State, Montana, and you earned the nickname the “Grizz Slayer.” So, if you would talk a little bit about that rivalry and of our rivalry with the University of ÁùºÏ±¦µä, Las Vegas, Running Rebels.

Coach Choate: Yeah. Well, there is something special about rivalry games. I think that nothing brings, especially when you're in a state like ÁùºÏ±¦µä, similar to Montana where you've got two kind of flagship institutions that pretty much everybody in the state connects to one or the other. And, I think that makes it special and unique. And, that's what I loved about the Brawl The Wild, the Montana, Montana State game was everything in that state stopped that day. That was the Super Bowl, and it was so impactful. It meant so much to everybody in the state. It affected our ability to recruit both academically and athletically, not just for football, but for all the other programs, too. And so, usually whoever won the game would have the boost in enrollment the next year. And so, I would have conversations with our president and our director of admissions. They would only call me that week and they just remind me that, “Hey, we want to make sure that we have a few more enrollees than the school over the hill does.”

And so, that was always kind of fun, but the cool thing to me was, especially the first two years, we were dramatic underdogs in the game. We really had no business winning those games. And, to have those victories that were kind of like, they were surprises maybe a little bit, but it gave us a ton of momentum in recruiting and in confidence within the program and carried us into the off-season. And, those wins at the end of the year, those first two years propelled us towards an opportunity to go to the national semifinals in year four. And so, I think that's the magic behind that is it just changes the narrative about who you are as a university, what your program's all about, and I look forward to that. 

I know we get to go to Vegas. I was hoping it was in Sam Boyd. I've played in that stadium many times and coached in it many times and never lost there, so I'm hoping that, I know you had a big part in getting this Allegiant Stadium, so hopefully you'll be able to sprinkle a little good luck dust on it for us, and it should be a blast, and I love playing, I know this sounds crazy, but I love playing the rivalry games on the road. And, the reason is because it's just you and them. There's not a lot of, and when you play them at home, everybody wants tickets. There's a lot of distractions. When you go on the road. I mean, it's just you and your guys and let's just block it all out, and there's nothing better than shutting up a stadium full of opposing fans. I mean, just that silence can be deafening. 

President Brian Sandoval: Well and we can't have this conversation without talking about the Fremont Cannon, and I'm sure our team wants it back.

Coach Choate: Yeah, there's a bucket of paint in the spot where the cannon should be, and so that's something, I will say this: our young man in a short amount of time, a lot of them aren't from here, and it's KK Meier, one that came in my office the other day, “We got to get that cannon back, Coach,” and he's from Lubbock, Texas. And so, it doesn't matter where you're from, once you've been a part of that game, you want that cannon. 

President Brian Sandoval: That's right. So, we're running out of time here, but I'm sure you've heard the term “Mackay Magic” and the big wins that have happened in Mackay Stadium, and I know you were on the field in 2010, which was probably the biggest victory, and you talked a little bit about it, but what was it like to be on that field and how do you feel about returning that “Mackay magic”?

Coach Choate: Yeah. Well, I have some very specific memories of that game, and really not to do with the play. Once it went into overtime, I kind of knew they had us that night. And, I can remember usually when there's a storming of the field, you want to get off the field as quick as possible. I remember staying and watching because I really had a lot of respect for Coach Ault and that program and Virgil and all the great players they had, and we had had so many good moments. I kind of wanted to see what it looked like from the other side, and it was awesome to see the joy of the fans and the players, and they kind of lingered as long as they could just to kind of soak it all in. And so, I thought it was ironic that when I took this job, that was my lasting memory, was standing out there while all the other coaches and players from Boise State had gone into the locker room.

And, I kind of stuck around and watched, and I'm looking forward to being able to stick around and watch us have that kind of moment again, and I don't know when it's going to come, but I know it's going to come, and sometimes you just got to have that. You kind of breakthrough that glass ceiling, and then the sky's the limit after that. I talk a lot with our guys about this flywheel, and first, it’s like a hamster on a wheel trying to get it started, and you're pushing that big boulder up the hill, but once you get it to the top of the hill, everything kind of takes care of itself. And so, we're trying to push that flywheel right now, and you never know. I mean, that might be a Saturday night in November when we play Air Force and they're a top two team in the conference and we knock them off and we get to have that kind of moment again. So, I'm hoping for it sooner than later, but that's why you play the game, and that's why these kids play the games, for moments like that. 

President Brian Sandoval: We only have about a minute left but excited about the fall. I know we've got a challenging schedule, but it'll be a lot of fun to have these teams. 

Coach Choate: Yeah, I think seven home games. We have two Power Five teams coming to Mackay. I don't know when the last time that was, but we also get an opportunity to have Colorado State at home, which I think there's a lot of folks locally here that seem to have that one circled. I'm more into beating UNLV first and foremost, and then going to Boise and knocking them off. That would be fun. But, that for me, the opportunity to step into a really challenging schedule, that means there's no time to be wasted.

President Brian Sandoval: Well, Coach, thank you. And unfortunately, that's all the time we have for this episode of Sagebrushers, and we're really grateful that you're here, grateful about your leadership, and I know there's a lot of excitement in the community about the upcoming season and the seasons to come.

Coach Choate: Yeah. Well, the feeling is mutual. I'm excited to be here, and I appreciate you trusting in my leadership. So, thank you, President Sandoval, appreciate what you do. Go Pack.

President Brian Sandoval: Go Pack. So, join us next time for another episode of Sagebrushers as we continue to tell the stories that make our University special and unique. Until then, I'm University President Brian Sandoval and indeed, go Pack.