Former Montana State assistant Cam Gardner joins Drake as running backs coach

BOZEMAN — Former Montana State offensive analyst and assistant wide receivers coach Cam Gardner moved to Drake in Des Moines, Iowa, to become its running backs coach as announced by the team on March 27.

Gardner was also a wide receiver for the Bobcats in 2021, and spent two seasons at Utah before that. Drake is an FCS program in the Pioneer Football League.

“Justin Udy actually recruited me to Montana State, and so, I ended up here in 2021,” Gardner said. “That season was awesome, we ended up going to the national championship and I learned a lot of great things from a lot of great coaches.”

Udy was the wide receivers coach, pass game and special teams coordinator for Montana State. He joined Boise State in January as an offensive analyst and assistant quarterbacks coach.

As a receiver at MSU, Gardner started to emerge into an expanded role but suffered an injury that eventually ended his playing career.

Gardner then moved to Florida, and during his time away from the game realized he wanted to get into coaching and be around "like-minded" people.

“I gave coach Udy a call, and he asked if I wanted to come help him in the spring, and I did that,” Gardner said.

He was able to help throughout spring drills in 2024, which turned into an expanded opportunity to join the staff at Montana State this past season, assisting Udy with the wide receivers and helping with the offense as a whole.

Tom Wylie / MTN Sports

“(I) learned a lot from them,” Gardner said about the MSU staff. “Just how to coach, coach different players, different styles, a lot of great knowledge.”

It was a season that culminated with a trip to the national championship on Jan. 6 in Frisco, Texas. Later that month, he connected with the new offensive coordinator at Drake, Kyle Kempt.

At the time, Kempt recommended Gardner for the opening at running backs coach. After an interview process with the coaching staff, Gardner was offered the job.

“This profession is so fluid, and it’s always moving, and you just got to stay on your toes. So, they extended the offer to me and I was super grateful, and I’m excited to be out there,” Gardner said.

It will be Gardner’s first job as a collegiate position coach, and he’s excited for the opportunity to grow as a leader with his room.

“It’s definitely a lot of responsibility, but coach Udy prepared me really well, and there’s going to be some growing pains, obviously, to being a young coach, but excited to be out there with the guys and grow with them. I’m really excited to coach under coach (Joe) Woodley, who’s had a long tenure of success,” Gardner said.

There are parallels between both seasons for Gardner in Bozeman, both as a player and coach who reached the national championship stage.

“It’s been the same blueprint: culture, locker room and guys being bought in,” he said.

The past year has been full circle for Gardner, who was able to coach at the program he played in. He was able to see how rewarding coaching is at the collegiate level.

“They were guys that really, truly cared about me as an individual, teaching me to be a man and certain life lessons,” Gardner said about his high school coaches that inspired him to want to also get into the field.

“So, I wanted to be able to be that for the next generation. In the spring, guys were going through ups and downs, and I got to be there for them and got to see them go through that and honestly it made all the difference in the world.”