(Editor's note: Montana State University news release)
BOZEMAN — Montana State men's basketball coach Matt Logie has signed a new four-year contract with the Bobcats, MSU Director of Athletics Leon Costello announced on Tuesday.
"I couldn't be more excited to get this extension completed and keep Coach Logie at MSU as the head men's basketball coach," Costello said. "He is a proven winner and he demonstrated that again this year by becoming only the second known coach to take teams to the NCAA Tournament at all three levels(DI, DII, and DIII). But just as important, he is a tremendous leader, coach, and individual. The ability to keep Coach Logie a Bobcat illustrates how special the MSU and Bozeman communities are. The best is yet to come!"
In his first season at the helm, Logie led the Bobcats to their third straight and sixth overall NCAA Tournament appearance on the back of a magical March run. Over the course of three unforgettable days in Boise, Montana State stormed through the Big Sky Tournament in Boise with three wins, defeating Montana in a thrilling championship game, 85-70, to book their ticket to March Madness.
As the No. 5 seed, Montana State became the lowest seeded team at the Big Sky Tournament to win the title since 1994.
For his efforts this past season, Logie was recognized as one of 16 finalists for the Joe B. Hall National Coach of the Year Award, presented by Collegeinsider.com to the top rookie or first-year NCAA Division I head coach. The award will be given out during the Final Four in Phoenix, Arizona.
With a career record of 293-76, the head coach is currently fourth among all active NCAA men's head coaches with at least 12 seasons in winning percentage (.794), behind only Jim Crutchfield (Nova Southeastern), Mark Few (Gonzaga), and Ben McCollum (Drake).
Logie has made the NCAA Tournament in 12 of his 13 years as a head coach, and his teams have won at least 21 games in all but one of the full seasons he has coached.
The native of Mercer Island, Washington, is believed to be one of just two men's college basketball coaches ever to make the NCAA Tournament at the Division I, Division II, and Division III levels (Tobin Anderson, Iona).
"My family and I are thrilled to continue leading the Bobcat Basketball family," Logie said. "I'd like to thank Leon Costello and President Cruzado for their continued commitment and support. This community has welcomed my family here with open arms from day one and we are so excited about what we can continue to build together. The best is yet to come. The time is now to circle the wagons!"
Logie took over a team that had lost four starters from the year prior and welcomed ten newcomers and six returning letter-winners to the fold in 2023-2024. The Bobcats brought back just 22.4% of the team's scoring from the previous season, and were picked to finish seventh in the Big Sky Preseason Coaches' Poll.
Yet, the Bobcats turned heads around the league with a signature non-conference win over California in Berkeley on November 16 that not only represented Logie's first Division I win at Montana State, but was also the Cats' first win over a Power Five opponent since 2018.
Additionally, Montana State scored big regular season victories over three of the top four teams in the conference at home, defeating Eastern Washington, Northern Colorado, and Weber State all inside Worthington Arena.
The Bobcats' win over the Grizzlies in the Big Sky Tournament championship game will live on in Montana State lore as one of the great victories in program history. Three minutes into the second half, Montana State trailed, 49-38, but would go on a 41-9 run over the next 15 minutes to seal the title and keep Montana State's nine-game winning streak at the Big Sky Tournament alive.
The Cats became just the Big Sky's second three-peat champion and first since Weber State in 1978-1980.
Montana State finished first in the Big Sky in both three-point field goals made per game (9.1) and three-point field goal percentage (37.0%), and were 25th in NCAA Division I in three-point field goal percentage. The Cats connected on 319 three-point field goals, the second-most in program history, while making 9.1 triples per game, the fourth-best mark in program history.
Defensively, the Bobcats were 39th nationally in steals per game (8.1) and finished with 289 steals as a team, the third-most in school history.
Logie helped spearhead the development of star guard Robert Ford III, who turned in one of the greatest individual seasons in the history of Bobcat Basketball.
Ford was named Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year, Big Sky Tournament MVP, All-Big Sky First Team, All-Big Sky Defensive Team, and NBCA All-District Second Team after raising his scoring average from 4.4 points per game in 2022-2023 to 16.2 points per game in 2023-2024. The redshirt senior finished second in the country in steals (100), breaking Montana State's single-season record, and finished second in the country in rebounding among players shorter than 6-foot-4 (7.6 per game). Ford became the first player in NCAA Division I since 2000 and just the fifth player overall to record at least 250 rebounds and 100 steals in a season.
Logie was announced as Montana State's head coach on April 17, 2023, after spending the previous four years at Division II Point Loma (2019-23) and eight years at Division III Whitworth (2011-19).
