# Bob Stitt

Robert Allen Stitt (born May 4, 1964) is an American college football coach, currently serving as the head football coach at the Colorado School of Mines, a position he resumed in 2025. He previously served as the head coach at the University of Montana from 2015 to 2017 and at Colorado School of Mines from 2000 to 2014, where he compiled an overall record of 108–62.

## Early life

Stitt was born in Tecumseh, Nebraska. After playing football, baseball, basketball, and track at Tecumseh High School in Tecumseh, he played football as a running back at Doane College, receiving the All State College Offensive Player of the Year title in 1985.

## Coaching career

Stitt is widely regarded in college football as an offensive innovator because of his modernized west-coast style offense. He first studied offense at the University of Northern Colorado under Kay Dalton, receiving his master's degree there. He then returned to Doane as its offensive coordinator for four years, coaching three NAIA Division II All-Americans and 19 All-NAIA offensive players during this time. Stitt went on to coach at Austin College from 1994 to 1998, serving as the assistant head coach and the coordinator of offense and special teams, before taking a job at Harvard University as the offensive coordinator, where he set Ivy League records with a fourth place in total offense.

### Colorado School of Mines (First Tenure)

In 2000, Stitt was hired as the head coach at Colorado School of Mines (CSM). In 2004, CSM won the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) crown. That same season, quarterback Chad Friehauf won the Harlon Hill Trophy, the equivalent to the Heisman Trophy, awarded to the best player in NCAA Division II football. In both 2006 and 2008, CSM appeared in the Dixie Rotary Bowl, and they split the RMAC title in the 2010 season with the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

### Montana

Stitt was announced as the 36th head coach of the University of Montana Grizzlies on December 16, 2014, to resurrect the Griz football program and take them back to the winning ways under which they played under coaches Joe Glenn, Bobby Hauck, and Don Read.
In Stitt's first football game as a Division I coach, Montana upset four-time defending FCS national champions North Dakota State 38–35 on a 1-yard run with 0:06 left on the clock.

### Colorado School of Mines (Second Tenure)

On February 7, 2025, Bob Stitt returned to Colorado School of Mines as the head football coach, resuming the role he previously held from 2000 to 2014.

### National media appearance

Stitt became known to people outside the CSM community, when Dana Holgorsen, the head coach at West Virginia University, gave him credit for the fly sweep play his Mountaineers team used to great success in the 2012 Orange Bowl.

## Head coaching record

| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | Rank$^#$ |
| Colorado Mines Orediggers (Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) (2000–2014) |||||||
| 2000 | Colorado Mines | 2–8 | 1–7 | 9th | | |
| 2001 | Colorado Mines | 7–4 | 4–4 | 5th | | |
| 2002 | Colorado Mines | 7–4 | 4–4 | T–5th | | |
| 2003 | Colorado Mines | 6–5 | 4–4 | T–4th | | |
| 2004 | Colorado Mines | 12–1 | 8–0 | 1st | L NCAA Division II Second Round | 8 |
| 2005 | Colorado Mines | 6–5 | 6–2 | T–2nd | | |
| 2006 | Colorado Mines | 4–7 | 2–6 | 8th | | |
| 2007 | Colorado Mines | 7–5 | 6–2 | 3rd | | |
| 2008 | Colorado Mines | 8–4 | 7–2 | T–2nd | | |
| 2009 | Colorado Mines | 8–3 | 8–1 | 2nd | | |
| 2010 | Colorado Mines | 9–3 | 8–1 | T–1st | L NCAA Division II First Round | 19 |
| 2011 | Colorado Mines | 8–3 | 6–3 | 3rd | | |
| 2012 | Colorado Mines | 6–5 | 4–5 | 5th | | |
| 2013 | Colorado Mines | 8–3 | 7–2 | 2nd | | |
| 2014 | Colorado Mines | 10–2 | 8–1 | T–1st | L NCAA Division II First Round | 19 |
| Colorado Mines: | Colorado Mines: | 108–62 | 83–44 | | | |
| Montana Grizzlies (Big Sky Conference) (2015–2017) |||||||
| 2015 | Montana | 8–5 | 6–2 | T–2nd | L NCAA Division I Second Round | 14 |
| 2016 | Montana | 6–5 | 3–5 | 8th | | |
| 2017 | Montana | 7–4 | 5–3 | T–6th | | |
| Montana: | Montana: | 21–14 | 14–11 | | | |
| Total: | Total: | 129–76 | | | | |
| National championship  Conference title  Conference division title or championship game berth |||||||