Montana Grizzlies Hire Eric Sanders as Defensive Coordinator

Montana Grizzly Football head coach Bobby Kennedy continues to round out his coaching staff. Keep track of the full coaching staff with our "Coach Tracker" below.

Among the latest batch of official coaching hires was the new defensive coordinator, Eric Sanders.

Meet the Griz: Get to Know Eric Sanders

Coach Sanders comes over from Eastern Washington, where he spent the last three seasons. He joined the EWU staff as linebackers coach and the defensive run game coordinator before taking over as DC in 2024.

"Very excited," said Coach Kennedy on hiring Coach Sanders. "I worked with him at Stanford... he made our linebackers better at Stanford."

"Eric checked every box."

Sanders brings the power 4 experience AND NFL experience with stints with the Jets, Browns and Raiders.

But it was the stop at Eastern that really gave the Grizzlies offense fits last year when they came to Washington-Grizzly Stadium. Coach Kennedy says Sanders' defense was all over the board.

"Their variety," Kennedy said on what makes Sanders' defense so efficient. They go between 3-down, 4-down, corner blitz, their blitz package was phenomenal."

Coach Sanders met with the media.

"I wanna say how thankful I am that I get to be a part of it. That he's given me the opportunity to come be the defensive coordinator at the University of Montana. It's a big deal, and I recognize that."

Coach Sanders expressed his vision to the media, just as he told the team.

1) This is bigger than college football. "We are not going to lose sight of trying to develop these guys as young men. I feel strongly that if you make them better people, they will be better players, and that will help us win games."

2) Be the strength of the program. He recognizes Coach Pease's offense is as good as any, but he wants his side of the ball to be the best unit in Griz Football.

3) Win championships.