BILLINGS — Montana State's athletic infrastructure has boomed in Leon Costello's near 10-year run as the director of the department, superseding anything that had been accomplished there in decades.
Most recently, the $25 million Kennedy-Stark Athletic Center, MSU's new indoor practice facility, had its grand opening in August. That came on the heels of the $18 million Bobcat Athletic Complex, which opened in the fall of 2021. Both helped level the playing field for a once-sleeping giant.
"Not knowing how long any of it was going to take, I would say we've accomplished a lot in probably a shorter amount of time than what we would have ever thought," Costello, who was hired as AD in 2016, told MTN Sports.
There's an obvious correlation between facilities growth and athletic achievement, and now Montana State has set its sights on evolving further.
Last week the athletic department announced revisions to its initial Facilities Master Plan, a 20-year blueprint that was first introduced in 2017. It's a re-imagination, if you will, and was made necessary by the completion of the aforementioned projects and other ancillary improvements.
The revised plan lays out a retooled vision, one that calls for:
- Upgrades to Brick Breeden Fieldhouse and the attached Shroyer Gym, such as enhanced locker rooms and training areas, and the potential for premium suites inside Worthington Arena.
- Expanding the Bobcat-Anderson Tennis Center with additional courts, spectator areas, locker rooms and team areas, and possibly an expansion to further support the golf and ski teams.
- Potential development of the Dyche Fields, formerly an outdoor football practice area adjacent to the fieldhouse, to include outdoor tennis areas and a new athletic administration/performance building.
- Additions to the Bobcat Track & Field Complex for operations and training areas.
- Continued renovations to Bobcat Stadium — increased/improved seating and amenities to "elevate fan experience and the overall functionality" of the facility. This means more suite and club seating areas and, at least from a conceptual standpoint, a entirely fresh look.
The last of those five bullets perhaps gets the most attention, and that's no surprise. The success of a football program can certainly help dictate the growth of a school's entire athletic makeup.
But Costello said there is no concrete list of priorities as far as what comes next. Football doesn't necessarily take precedence.
"I think that's the beauty of a master plan," he said. "You might look at the stadium and say that becomes No. 1 because of the financial impact it can have on our entire department, but really the priority falls back on our donors, and it's really what they want to support, and I think that's why you lay it out.
"The way we did it is, here are the five, six or seven things that we feel are a priority to us. Now we have to find the donors and the financial backing in order to complete them."
In a college football world that feels more unpredictable by the day, any future improvements to Bobcats Stadium could have benefits beyond the scope of fan and athlete experience.
Montana State has been competing in the Big Sky Conference since 1963 and at the FCS/Division I-AA level since 1978. There was a time when those truths were unshakable. Fact is, no one knows how any of it will align in the coming years.
But in the here and now, stadium upgrades are contemplated in specific terms at MSU.
"We know that the demand for football tickets is large, and we are nowhere close to meeting that demand with the seats that we have," Costello said. "And so the whole goal of this is to build it to a point where we can sell as many tickets as we can, but also maintain that demand on tickets.
"What happens after that is you and I's best guess. The world is changing every day. Where this whole thing leads ... I couldn't even try to put my finger on it. So when you talk about positioning, I think of it as how we can position ourselves financially to continue to operate a department that can compete for championships in every sport that we have."
They've had more than their share in recent years:
The football team has won the Big Sky in two of the past three years. The men's basketball program won three straight Big Sky tournament titles between 2022-24. The women's basketball team is coming off a 30-win campaign and a trip to the NCAA tourney.
And according to MSU's sports information office, 12 varsity programs have won team or individual championships in the past decade, and the Bobcats have won more Big Sky titles, qualified for more NCAA championships and earned more All-Americans than any other time in history.
It goes hand in hand with Montana State re-imagining its vision for facilities improvement.
"I think there's just so much positive momentum right now, and I think everybody wants to see that continue," Costello said. "It's like once you get the train down the tracks you don't want it to stop because it takes so much to get it going again.
"Our programs are having the kind of success that I think our donors want. My hope is that they want to see that continue, and that they'll continue giving to projects like this."
