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George Ferguson: Jerome Souers checks all the boxes, and then some

From The Fringe...

The Montana State University-Northern Lights have their man. And it’s someone I would have never thought I’d see coaching the Northern football program.

Jerome Souers is a name I've known and followed for a long, long time, having been that I was attending the University of Montana and watching games in Washington-Grizzly Stadium when he was orchestrating some great Grizzly defenses under then head-coach Don Read.

Of course, then, as a fan of not just the Griz, but all of the Big Sky Conference, and later, as someone who covered the league, Jerome’s career as the head coach at Northern Arizona was never off my radar.

So last week when his name surfaced as a candidate for the Northern gig, I was, well, shocked for one, surprised for another, and at the same time, curious and excited.

Then, on Friday night, when it became official, I was once again shocked, but this time around, even more excited. Jerome Souers was now the head coach of the Montana State University-Northern Lights.

All I could say, and all of the texts I got about it as I broke the story, were the same: Wow...Just wow.

The Lights, the university, AD Christian Oberquell and Chancellor Greg Kegel certainly made a splash with this hire. In football coaching circles, especially in the Northwest, and right here in Montana, Jerome Souers is a very big name.

A deeper dive into coach Souers though will tell you he isn’t just a name, and he’s not coming to Havre to be a face or a figurehead.

I believe, in listening to the coach speak — before and after he was hired — that he’s coming to Havre to completely rebuild and resurrect the Northern football program. And again, he isn’t just going to do that because of his name and his past.

No, Souers is going to take a shot at rebuilding the MSU-N football program with his coaching abilities.

You see, you don’t get to be the winningest coach in Big Sky history, or take teams to the playoffs, or be the architect of a national championship defense at Montana without having a ton of skill, knowledge and ability as a football coach.

And that’s what Jerome Souers is bringing to MSU-Northern. He’s bringing years and years of knowledge and skill as a football coach, and he’ll bring skilled assistant coaches with him.

Does coach Souers also bring a name with him too? Sure he does. Does he bring credibility and leadership to a program that sorely needs it? Yes, he does. Does he bring a wealth of experience in recruiting? Yup, there’s that too. Does he bring a ton of organizational skills in running a football program? Heck yes. He knows how to do it all.

But above all that, and those are all things Northern needs in a head coach, especially starting where Souers is starting from right now, he is a highly-skilled football coach who has seen and done it all in this game. And with Northern in need of a re-boot, Souers being a great football coach will benefit the program as much, if not more, than any of the other great qualities Souers brings to the table.

So, while there is a lot of tough work ahead, and even a coach of Jerome Souers’ stature won’t turn things around overnight, the Lights are now in a great position to really start moving forward again. With Souers at the helm, the Lights are in a position to really start making some headway.

And it’s going to be a lot of fun to watch. So welcome to Northern Jerome. We all can’t wait to see what you’re going to do!

 

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