MISSOULA — After years as an assistant college football coach at Northern Arizona and Sacramento State, Andy Thompson got his first crack as a head coach with Sac State last season.
To say the learning curve was steep would be an understatement.
"A lot more people to serve and try to help," Thompson said at the 2024 Big Sky Kickoff in Spokane, Washington. "And it's something I'm very passionate about, and I love my job a lot, but it's definitely a lot, and so you got to be great with your time management. And I've learned some things the hard way on where I need to put my focus, and this year I'm feeling more comfortable with that."
Thompson has been at Sac State since 2019 and has seen the Hornets' program go from new kid on the block in finding success to becoming a perennial contender in the Big Sky Conference.
Under former coach Troy Taylor and with Thompson on staff as defensive coordinator, the Hornets won three regular-season conference titles in 2019, 2021 and 2022, while cracking into the playoffs for the first time in 2019 and yearly ever since.
That includes last year when the team went 8-5 overall and won a crucial FCS playoff game on the road at North Dakota before bowing out to South Dakota the following week.
"I think there's a lot of improvement," Thompson said. "You know, we did some really good things, and I'm proud of the group that we had last year, but we want to be more consistent. We want to attack that conference championship and obviously want to compete, and we'd love to make a run in the playoffs."
Thompson played for the Montana Grizzlies in the late 1990s and early 2000s and was a member of UM's 2001 championship squad.
His first season at the helm at Sac State included a visit to Missoula as head coach for the first time as the enemy — a game the Griz won 34-7 to snap a three-game skid against the Hornets — as opposed to what he saw as a player.
"I've been back quite a few times. It was a little different as the head coach, for sure, in the fact that you got to manage even more things," Thompson said. "Washington-Grizzly Stadium, I don't think you can say that stadium without saying excitement. There's great energy in there. Always, obviously, they cheer for the Grizzlies very strongly, and they did a great job last year with that."
In his first year, Thompson took over a program with expectations high now every year.
But going from a coordinator and assistant coach to now focusing on everything took some adjusting, but there's one thing he brought from his playing days in college at Montana to his coaching career.
"I would say competitive spirit," Thompson said. "One thing I feel like I learned there is you have to be ready to compete every day. Definitely learned a ton from those men and how to carry yourself and how you need to do things and try to do it as competitively every single day as you possibly can."
Sac State had five players named preseason all-conference in wide receiver Jared Gipson, tight end Coleman Kuntz, offensive linemen Jackson Slater and Nathan Mejia and linebacker Will Leota, with Slater also a multiple-time All-American. The Hornets were picked fifth in both preseason polls, so it's on to year two for Thompson, as he looks to keep the program trending in the right direction and surprise some teams this coming fall.
"I'm excited to watch them and be a part of helping them, you know, go out and be their very best," Thompson said. "And we ask them, when they step on to campus, bring your best. And I think a lot of guys have been doing that consistently, and I think that's a huge part of, hopefully, later on success."
