Don Holst Named Assistant Basketball Coach At Utah State

Don Holst, a former head coach at the University of Montana, has been named an assistant coach at Utah State University it was announced on Tuesday by USU head coach Stew Morrill.

Holst replaces David Rice, who left for Brigham Young University after long-time friend Dave Rose was named coach there. Rice had been at USU for one season.

Holst spent 15 years as a coach at the University of Montana, including four years as the head coach from 1999 to 2002 as he led the Grizzlies to a 57-56 record. During his last season in Missoula, Holst led Montana to the NCAA Tournament for just the fourth time in school history.

Holst began his collegiate coaching career in 1988 as an assistant for Morrill, who was then the head coach at Montana. In all, Holst spent four years (1988-91) as an assistant under Morrill at Montana before spending seven years (1992-98) as an assistant for then Grizzly head coach Blaine Taylor.

“Don Holst is an exciting addition to our coaching staff,” said Morrill. “I am obviously very comfortable with Don and our past association gives him a jump start in terms of knowing what is expected. Having been a head coach, Don is very familiar with every aspect of Division I basketball.

“Don has great people skills and relates well to everyone he comes in contact with,” added Morrill. “He’s one of those guys you enjoy seeing every day. I am confident he will make significant contributions to Utah State Basketball.”

Prior to his 15-year tenure at Montana, Holst began his coaching career in Montana at the high school level as he was the head coach at Ennis High School from 1976-78. Holst was then the head coach at Harlowtown High School from 1978-81 before becoming the head coach at Florence High School from 1981-87. In his 12 years as a high school coach, Holst’s teams won five conference championships and two district championships.

“I think it’s ironic that coach Morrill was the guy that got me started in this business about 18 years ago and has now got me back into it,” said Holst. “There is a great comfort level between us in terms of coaching philosophy, I can’t think of a better guy to work for.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for me to be associated with one of the top 30 programs in the country and one of the top five programs in the west,” added Holst.

Holst is a 1975 graduate of Northern Montana College where he earned bachelor’s degrees in history and English.