It’s the dawn of a new era for the Rocky Mountain College football program, as the Battlin’ Bears introduced new head football coach Randy Bandelow on Thursday.
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“Very excited to be here. Hitting the ground running. There was a Tuesday morning run and team meeting. I got to meet the guys and see them work out a little bit," Bandelow said in a press conference at Rocky. "It's been cool to hit the ground running, get a feel for the state of the program and where things go from here."
Bandelow comes to Rocky after spending the past seven seasons at Frontier Conference foe Carroll College, where he was the defensive coordinator for the past four years. In those four years, he coached three Frontier Conference defensive player of the year winners.
“I think a lot of where that came from is you set an identity, get all the people pulling in the same direction united for one goal, then to be honest the Xs and Os and scheme are on the back burner. It's not the most important part. It's unifying people, getting them to play together and believe what's going on and then you can morph what you're doing around who you've got," Bandelow said.
Bandelow has previous stints at the University of Mary, Scottsdale Community College and in the Arena Football League with the Arizona Rattlers. Now with his first head coaching gig, Bandelow believes his previous ties will bode well in recruiting.
“I was blessed at Carroll I recruited the southern half of Montana, so I recruited Billings the last six years. I didn't my first year but I have the last six," Bandelow said. "I've been in the high schools. I've met all the coaches in the area. I've got kids from the area. You get very familiar with the state, meet all the coaches, so it's been cool to build all those relationships."
Rocky hopes that a successful run on the gridiron ensues with Bandelow’s hiring.
