BOZEMAN — Justin Mesa, who was just named Montana State's running backs coach in January, is leaving the Bobcats for a job with the NFL's Detroit Lions.
The Lions announced Mesa as an offensive quality control coach on Tuesday. Mesa had previously spent four years as a coach at Washington State, where he held roles of assistant special teams/assistant tight ends coach, offensive quality control coach and director of transfer recruiting.
Mesa came to MSU in a staff shakeup following the departures of offensive coordinator Tyler Walker and offensive line coach Al Johnson, who both went to FBS Temple after the Bobcats' loss in the FCS national championship game in Frisco, Texas, and receivers coach Justin Udy's move to Boise State.
Sam Mix moved from running backs coach to wide receivers, which led MSU head coach Brent Vigen to hire Mesa as running backs coach.
Among his previous coaching stops, Mesa had been director of player personnel at Wyoming from 2017-18 when Vigen was on the Cowboys' staff.
In addition, Montana State defensive coordinator Bobby Daly is leaving the Bobcats for the same position at FBS UTEP, as first reported by ESPN.
