Missoula, MT – The University of Montana on Friday named former associate head coach Mick Delaney interim head football coach and Jean Gee interim athletic director.
The university fired athletic director Jim O'Day and head football coach Robin Pflugrad on Thursday.
Montana is one of the premier powers in the Football Championship Subdivision, with two national championships and five runner-up finishes since 1995, but the Grizzlies program has faced a troubled offseason.
Although no reason was given for Thursday's firings by university president Royce C. Engstrom, they could be related to the university's recent investigation into numerous alleged sexual assaults on campus, some of which involved Montana football players.
The offseason problems included special teams player Beau Donaldson being suspended from the team in January after he was charged with raping an acquaintance.
Earlier this month, starting quarterback Jordan Johnson missed the beginning of spring drills after a temporary restraining order was filed against him by a female student, who alleged she had been sexually assaulted by him. The order was later dismissed in favor of a civil agreement that mandates Johnson, who denies the allegations against him, and his accuser avoid contact.
Delaney has been a college coach for 29 years and has coached for 44 years overall. Prior to an eight-year tenure at Great Falls High School, he was an assistant at UM from 1968-1969.
He was the head football coach and athletic director at Western Montana in 1991-1992 before being becoming an assistant coach at Colorado State. He coached the Rams from 1993-2007 before moving on to work with running backs at Montana.
Gee has been the associate athletic director and senior woman administrator for the Montana athletics program for the past eight years.
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