Bob Stitt is set to return to Colorado School of Mines as head coach, according to a report Thursday from Bruce Feldman of The Athletic.
Stitt spent 2000-14 at the Division II school, which offers an undergraduate enrollment in the 6,000 range and only offers degree programs in STEM fields and economics.
There, Stitt went 108-62 with three Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference championships and three Division II playoff appearances. Regarded as one of the early evangelizers of the Air Raid offense and rose to prominence when Dana Holgorsen unexpectedly praised him after Stitt designed a play that helped West Virginia pull off a 70-33 drubbing of Clemson in the 2012 Orange Bowl.
(That game led to Dabo Swinney's hiring of Brent Venables as defensive coordinator, inadvertently tipping the balance of power in college football in the late 2010s.)
Stitt left Mines for Montana in 2015, where he went 21-14 in three seasons leading the Grizzlies. His peak leading the Griz happened to be his debut; in Stitt's first game, Montana upset 4-time defending national champion and No. 1-ranked North Dakota State, led by future NFL quarterback Carson Wentz, in a game broadcast to a national audience.
Montana did not reach the FCS playoffs in 2016 or '17, and Stitt was let go after the 2017 season.
He spent 2018 as an offensive assistant at Oklahoma State and 2019 as the offensive coordinator at Texas State, but has not worked in college football since. He spent 2024 as the offensive coordinator at Valor Christian High School in Highlands Ranch, Colo., Christian McCaffrey's alma mater.
The Orediggers went 8-3 in 2024, and 22-4 with a trip to the D2 national title game in two seasons under former head coach Pete Sterbick. Sterbick took the Montana State offensive coordinator job last month.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.