Read Follows His Heart Souers Lures Ex-Grizzly Coach Back Into Football With Nau

Northern Arizona football coach Jerome Souers called his mentor, former Montana coach Don Read, to discuss a couple of prospective assistants.

“I don’t know if I pushed it or he pushed it, but all of a sudden I’m in the picture,” Read told the Missoulian in a telephone interview. “I looked at (my wife) Lois and said, ‘Can I go with Jerome?”’

Souers, an assistant at Montana for 12 years and defensive coordinator for eight, was named head coach at NAU on Jan. 8.

Read retired as UM football coach in April 1996 because he was tired.

But 21 months away from coaching nearly drove him crazy.

“I wasn’t too long in the recovery state,” he said.

He finished his second book on football, served as a part-time consultant for some coaching staffs, and was a Fox Sports analyst for Big Sky football telecasts.

But Read missed the kids.

The 64-year-old Read applied for coaching jobs at Boise State and Oregon State.

“They said I was too old,” he said. “They said it in a subtle way, but I got the message loud and clear: The head coaching thing is done for me.”

Pro scouting and NFL assistant jobs involved too much travel, or were too far from home.

“Then all of a sudden this came along with Jerome,” he said.

When he resigned at UM, Read said it was to spend more time with his wife, Lois. She supports his return to college coaching.

Some Grizzly fans in Missoula aren’t so sure. Some are downright upset that Read - who had an 85-36 record at UM and led the Grizzlies to the I-AA championship in 1995 - is coaching at another Big Sky school.

“I kind of half-respect it,” Read said. “It just means they’re loyal to the Grizzlies.”