Updated

Former NFL quarterback Timm Rosenbach has been named offensive coordinator at the University of Montana, Grizzlies head coach Robin Pflugrad announced Wednesday.

Rosenbach, 45, also will serve as Montana's quarterbacks coach. The Grizzlies are coming off a Big Sky Conference co-championship and was a FCS semifinalist in finishing 11-3.

Pflugrad and Rosenbach coached together at Washington State for three seasons from 2003-05. Rosenbach played collegiately at WSU.

"Timm has a lot ties to Missoula," Pflugrad said "Timm's father was a football coach here at the University of Montana and went on to Washington State as an administrator. The family knows a lot of people from the state of Montana and a lot of people from the state of Washington. He should be a great asset for us not only on the field, but in the recruiting area as well."

Rosenbach was in private business last year and did not coach. He was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at New Mexico State in 2009.

Prior to NMSU, Rosenbach was the quarterbacks coach at Washington State from 2003-07. He also was an assistant coach at Ambrose University in 1999 and then coached the next three years in the Big Sky at Eastern Washington, including the 2001 and '02 seasons as offensive coordinator.

In his first season as offensive coordinator, the Eagles led the FCS in total offense, averaging 514.5 yards per game, while averaging nearly 42 points per game.

Rosenbach entered the NFL as a junior in 1989 after finishing seventh in the Heisman Trophy voting in his final season at Washington State. He was selected by the Arizona Cardinals in the supplemental draft and played four years with the team.

He then spent the 1994 season with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL. His career was ended by a ruptured disk in his back a year later.

"As we looked at our candidates, we did want someone who had some Big Sky ties, there's no question about that," Pflugrad said. "We had, in my opinion, some excellent candidates and a few of them rose above the others. When you do work with somebody I think that always helps in the selection process when you hire a coach, because we spend so much time together on an off the football field."