Griz Football Head Coach Larry Donovan Dies At 84

Sad news today coming out of the University of Montana: Former Grizzly Football Head Coach Larry Donovan passed away at the age of 84.

Donovan's stint included a Big Sky Conference Championship in 1982, when Montana went 5-2 in League play. The Griz went just 6-6 overall, but did enough to win a share of the Big Sky title with Montana State and Idaho.

Idaho defeated the Griz in the first round of the Division I-AA First Round.

That year, and all the years Donovan coached the Griz, Montana played at Dornblaser Field.

Fun fact: Joe Glenn was the team's offensive coordinator in 1982. Glenn went on to head coach Montana from 2000 to 2002, winning a national championship in the middle.

Before taking over as Grizzlies Head Coach, Donovan spent the first part of his career as an assistant for South Dakota, Washington State, Iowa and Kansas.

After the Grizzlies, Donovan made the move to the Canadian Football League with the British Columbia Lions (Head Coach from 1987 to 1989) and Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Unfortunately, it's been a tough 1.5-year stretch for Grizzly Football head coaches. In January of 2024, Griz legend Don Read passed away at 90 years old.

The Grizzly Football social media pages emphasized the importance Donovan exuded for the program, calling him "instrumental in making Washington-Grizzly Stadium a reality."

Our thoughts and prayers are with Donovan's family and friends.