After almost a year with the University of Montana football program, new Grizzlies head coach Bobby Kennedy found his own place to live in the Missoula area.
Kennedy, 59, arrived at Montana not long before training camp last summer. A career college assistant until last month, he ended up staying in the basement of the home belonging to his predecessor, longtime head coach Bobby Hauck.
Hauck retired suddenly in early February, and Kennedy was promoted to his first head coaching job after 35 years in the college ranks. Hauck, who spent 15 years in two stints as head coach, later announced he was going to Illinois as the defensive coordinator for the Big 10 program.
Kennedy, who coached wide receivers for much of his career including at Montana, has deep ties to Northern Colorado. He was born in Denver and raised in Boulder, and he graduated from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley.
In a career that’s taken him across the country, Kennedy is now putting down roots in Montana. He said late last month he expected to soon move out of the Hauck home, while settling into a new job he sees as his last job.
“I got here so late, and there really wasn’t time to find a place because we were meeting all the time trying to catch me up,” Kennedy said. “And then training camp started and then the season. They (the Haucks) were really gracious. I think I’m low maintenance.”
So, how does a guy who played high school football in Boulder and was later a backup quarterback for the then-Division II UNC Bears end up at Montana, one of the most prominent Football Championship Subdivision programs in college football?
Kennedy, who lived on Elder Avenue in north Boulder, said in his introductory news conference the Montana head coach job is “one of the premier, if not the premier job, I think, in college football.”
“It’s been a long journey,” Kennedy said, adding he interviewed for four head coaching jobs in the past, declining two offers and finishing as a runner-up on two others. “Yeah, it was a long road, but I got really lucky along the way, too, being around some great people.”
New University of Montana head football coach Bobby Kennedy, right, shakes hands with Grizzlies quarterback Gage Sliter on Kennedy’s first day on the job in early February. Kennedy, 59, was named Grizzlies head coach to replace Bobby Hauck, who retired after 15 seasons. Kennedy is from Boulder and he played football at Boulder High School and at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. The job is Kennedy’s first as a head coach in a 35-year career as a college coach. (Courtesy/University of Montana, Marley Barboeisel).
An early interest
Kennedy was adopted at the age of 1 as the youngest of eight children by Manert and Grace Kennedy. Manert was a biology professor and administrator at CU Boulder. He died in 2024. Grace died in 2010. Three of Kennedy’s siblings still live in the Boulder area.
Manert played football at Butler University after serving with the U.S. Marines in the Korean War. Bobby said his own first exposure to football came from Manert, who told Bobby the family put a football in the boy’s crib when they brought him home.
“That’s his story,” Bobby said, adding he was swayed into the sport by the Denver Broncos and CU Buffs.
One of his father’s former coaches at Butler was a scout for the Broncos, and the Kennedys went to Greeley for training camps at UNC. Bobby played youth football in Boulder and for Casey Middle School before enrolling at Boulder High School. He was the junior varsity starting quarterback as a high school sophomore.
The summer between his sophomore and junior years, he attended the Mile High Football Camp, which was a well-known camp founded and run by Colorado coaching legend Sam Pagano for more than 30 years.
Kennedy never attended a football camp before going to the Mile High Camp. He was named the camp’s most valuable player, and earned attention back at Boulder High.
Pagano played at the University of Denver, had a tryout with the Broncos and later built Fairview High in Boulder into a state power. Fairview is Boulder High’s rival.
“That’s why I was surprised I won (MVP),” Kennedy said. “Sam Pagano was awesome too. He was really supportive.”
A network of connections
Kennedy’s college coaching bosses, colleagues, friends or acquaintances reads like a who’s who of the sport: Bill McCartney at the University of Colorado, Lou Tepper at the University of Illinois, Jim Caldwell and Joe Paterno at Penn State, David Shaw at Stanford and Mack Brown at Texas.
Kennedy, who wanted to play for CU, spent two years as the Buffs’ wide receivers coach under Jon Embree from 2011-12. Kennedy also previously won a national title at Texas in 2005 coaching wide receivers for Brown. His first college job was as a graduate assistant at Illinois in the early 1990s under Tepper.
Kennedy landed that first job through Dave Ramsey, who went on to have a successful run as the Boulder High School head football coach into the 1990s. In 1992, Ramsey led Boulder High to a state title.
Ramsey, now 72 and retired, started at Boulder High in 1984, which was Kennedy’s senior year. Five years later, Ramsey brought Kennedy in for his first coaching job fresh out of UNC.
“I learned so much from Coach Ramsey, and he’s always been one of my heroes,” Kennedy said. “He was really fun to be around, and he taught kids the right way.”
Kennedy said Ramsey opened his eyes to the amount of work that goes into coaching.
“I was a college kid and used to take Sundays off,” Kennedy said.
Ramsey had Kennedy pegged as a coach when Kennedy was in high school. Ramsey said Kennedy had a gift for seeing the game.
“I’m thrilled he’s getting this opportunity at this time in his career,” Ramsey said. “This is a special guy who knows how to communicate, how to get the best out of people. His attention to detail and knowledge of the game. I’m thrilled Montana thinks the same.”
Before joining Boulder High as the offensive coordinator, Ramsey spent the previous few years working with quarterbacks on Bob Blasi’s staff at UNC.
Blasi, who died in 2023, is the winningest football coach in UNC history. He won 107 games in 19 seasons from 1966-84. Blasi’s .601 winning percentage is second in school history to Joe Glenn, who was the head coach when UNC won consecutive NCAA Division II titles in 1996-97.
‘One of the good guys’: Former UNC football coach Bob Blasi dies at 93
Glenn was Kennedy’s quarterback coach at UNC, and later started the UNC-to-Montana connection. Glenn became the head coach at UNC in 1989, leading the Bears to winning records in all 11 seasons. He left after the 1999 season for Montana where he coached for three years, winning the Division I-AA national title in 2001.
Glenn and other former UNC coaches such as Kay Dalton and Bob Stitt rank Kennedy’s memory as influential. Dalton was the offensive coordinator under Glenn and became head coach in 2000. Stitt was a graduate assistant at UNC in 1989. He was later the head coach at Montana before Hauck returned for his second stint.
“So many really good people and good coaches,” Kennedy said of UNC. “I always thought I’d be a better coach than a player.”
New University of Montana head football coach Bobby Kennedy speaks at an introductory news conference Feb. 5, 2026 in Missoula, Montana. Kennedy, 59, is from Boulder, Colorado. He played football at Boulder High School and then at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley before beginning his coaching career. The Montana job is Kennedy’s first as a head coach. (Courtesy/University of Montana, Ryan Brennecke).
Ramsey recommended UNC to Kennedy because Ramsey saw the program as a “tremendous fit.” Ramsey said Kennedy was a “very good quarterback” in high school.
“He was a cerebral guy,” former UNC linebacker and defensive end Jed Roberts said of Kennedy, who arrived in Greeley in the same freshman class in 1985. “He knew a lot about everything and always had interesting things to say about everything. He was very aware of everything going on around him.”
The Mirror, the University of Northern Colorado student newspaper, features backup football quarterback Bobby Kennedy in an October 1987 story. Kennedy, now 59 and a UNC graduate, was hired in early February as the head coach at Montana, a UNC rival in the Big Sky Conference. Kennedy was born in Denver and raised in Boulder where he played football at Boulder High School. (Courtesy/University of Northern Colorado Archives).
At UNC, Kennedy played behind Loren Snyder and Mark Sedinger, who were two of the best quarterbacks to come out of the program, Roberts said.
Kennedy suffered a shoulder injury in his first season at UNC and had an operation to repair a rotator cuff. By the time he returned ready to play, other players were ahead of him on the depth chart. One of Kennedy’s regrets now is he didn’t give more to the experience as a college football player.
“The whole thing,” he said. “Training, social life. I mean, I had a really good time in college. And loved UNC. But I think if I really would’ve trained a little harder, been a little bit more serious about football, then I might’ve had a better career.”
Hauck asked Kennedy to come up to Missoula last year because the Grizzlies needed a wide receivers coach. The men worked together at the University of Washington in the early 2000s.
Kennedy’s wife, LaShonda, teaches at Menlo College in Atherton, California, near San Francisco and Palo Alto. The couple has a home in the Bay Area, and they were having dinner when Hauck called. Kennedy was free and enjoying a break after being fired from his previous job as the wide receivers coach at Rice.
Kennedy said his wife encouraged him to resume the career at Montana, feeling as if he benefited from the time away from football. Kennedy packed his car a few days later and went to Missoula.
University of Montana athletic director Kent Haslam said Kennedy’s selection to succeed Hauck gave the program stability. Montana media outlets reported last week no Grizzlies players went into the transfer portal after Kennedy’s hire.
Haslam also said Montana is fortunate to have a coach with Kennedy’s experience.
“Coach Kennedy has worked with some of the great head coaches in college football and I watched him work with our staff and players over the past several months since he joined as an assistant coach,” Haslam wrote in an email. “His work ethic, personality and football knowledge will be a great asset for Griz football.”
Montana redshirt senior wide receiver Ian Finch said Kennedy quickly picked up on the Grizzlies’ offense. By the end of fall camp, Kennedy understood what the offense was aiming to be. He worked with associate head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterback coach Brent Pease on terminology that everyone understood.
“We run a complex offense, and I knew it would be tough,” Finch said. “He’s a smart coach, and he helped the wide receivers a ton last year.”
New University of Montana head football coach Bobby Kennedy walks up stairs at the university on his first day on the job in February 2026. Kennedy, 59, was hired after one year in the program to replace longtime head coach Bobby Hauck. Kennedy is from Boulder, Colorado, he played football at Boulder High School and at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley before starting his coaching career. The Montana job is Kennedy’s first as a head coach. (Courtesy/University of Montana, Tommy Martino).
Finch, 21, described Kennedy as an upbeat, personable coach who prioritizes knowing his players as people, not just athletes.
Finch said Kennedy may have to alter his approach to coaching as a head coach. Kennedy now has to lead a team of more than 110 players rather than prioritizing the receivers.
“In terms of getting guys on the same track, he has to be more intense in some aspects,” Finch said. “Anywhere he goes, the guys are fired up to be around him. You want to play for a guy who lifts you up.”