George Ferguson Column: I'm lucky: Mike Van Diest is one of the greats

Work in this industry long enough, and no matter what level, no matter the size of paper, you’re bound to cover an interesting coach or two.

That said, a journalist can go an entire career without covering one of the all-time greats of their sport. That’s just the nature of the business, because, honestly, the all-time greats don’t come around that often. That’s why they’re all-time greats.

In my career at the Havre Daily News, I’ve been fortunate when it comes to covering coaches. I’ve been blessed to cover some really good ones, many of whom have accomplished great things right here in Havre, right here on the Hi-Line, and right before my very eyes.

But thanks to where I work, I was also lucky enough to cover one of those rare, all-time greats.

The coach I’m talking about is Carroll College football coach Mike Van Diest, and, yes, he stalked the sidelines for the enemy of the school that I cover — the Montana State University-Northern Lights. And, Van Diest has been responsible for a lot of rough days for the Lights over the years. That’s not debatable, but Van Diest also caused rough days for every other team in the Frontier Conference too, so many rough days, it would be impossible to recount them all.

Regardless of the rivalry between Carroll and Northern, and regardless of how many times I covered Northern football games in which Carroll came out on top, as a journalist, a sports writer, and, as a coach myself, I would be insane to ignore, not acknowledge, and most of all, not appreciate the opportunity I had to cover and watch Mike Van Diest over the years.

Alas, I’m not insane, however. I’m not because I do appreciate the fact that I had a front-row seat, that I got to be inside the lines for one of the greatest coaching careers, and one of the most dominant and impressive runs in college football history.

And when I say college football, I mean all of college football, not just the NAIA, because Coach Van Diest, he is that good.

I won’t bore you with the numbers, though they are staggering. I won’t bore you rehashing all of Van Diest’s records and lofty achievements. In the weeks since he announced his retirement, those numbers, those records and those achievements have been listed, recalled and recounted many times. But I will say this, they’re incredible, they’re amazing, and they’re a big part of the reason why Mike Van Diest is not just one of the best college football coaches of his generation, but also one of the most respected.

And that’s where I stand on Mike Van Diest’s career, I just respect it and him so much. To be that good, for that long, to stay at or near the top, it’s not just hard to do, it’s next to impossible, and yet, for a long stretch of his illustrious Carroll career, Mike Van Diest did it. He, of course with his great players and great assistant coaches, kept Carroll on a pedestal that the NAIA may never see again.

As a journalist, though, it isn’t just what Mike Van Diest and his teams did on the football field that I appreciate so much. No, it’s more than that, it actually became personal.

First off, I’m well aware that Coach Van Diest is tough, hard-nosed and old-school. Anyone who played for him will tell you that. But, in my dealings with him, I, and many other members of the media got to see a different side.

When it came to talking with, and interviewing coach Van Diest, it was nothing but fun. He loved to talk about football, he loved to talk about his players, he loved to talk about the journey, the process and everything that college football is about.

Now, that may not make Coach Van Diest unique, but, in my times with him, there was more.

As the beat writer for Northern football, I would call Coach Van Diest before the latest matchup with the Lights, mainly to get some thoughts and insight on his Fighting Saints. But, that part of the interview was short. Why? Because he wanted to talk about the Lights. He wanted to talk about Northern’s players, he wanted to praise the things the Lights were doing, praise his good friend Mark Samson, or praise all of the things the Lights were accomplishing.

In other words, I had a hard time getting Coach Van Diest to talk about Carroll, let alone himself.

That didn't change as time went on, either. Look at the things he said about the Lights, or about quarterback Tommy Wilson just this season.

I have covered Northern football since 2005, I’ve interviewed Van Diest many, many times, and I can tell you this without hesitation, he truly has a high regard for Northern football. He really cares about, and respects the Lights’ program, when the times were tough at Northern, then when they got good, and when they became tough again. I know, Coach Van Diest has always had a vested interest in what’s going on with Northern football, and that, in my view, makes him unique, and it’s something that always impressed me.

Of course, there’s also just the pure class that I always saw in Coach Van Diest too.

On that historic day in 2006 when the Lights upended then No.1 Carroll, which was riding a 32-game winning streak, I ran around the Blue Pony Stadium field interviewing as many Northern players and coaches as I could. I spent almost an hour talking to everybody, because, that day was as historic a day as Havre has ever seen in college football.

As a journalist, I also felt it was my duty to talk to coach Van Diest too, but, I had spent so much time interviewing different Northern players that, by the time I was done, I had missed my opportunity to interview him. Carroll had loaded up their busses and the Saints were headed back to Helena.

Still, I really wanted to hear what coach Van Diest had to say. Without his thoughts, my postgame story on a game of that magnitude would have been incomplete. So on Sunday, I took a shot and gave him a call. It is a part of my job I don’t particularly enjoy, and under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t interview the opposing coach, but, that game was not what I would consider normal circumstances.

Anyway, long story short, on that Sunday morning, less than 24 hours after one of what was probably Carroll’s toughest losses under Van Diest up to that point, he not only answered the phone, but was more than happy to talk to me. He wanted the opportunity to heap praise on the Lights. He wanted to make sure he credited them, and Samson with that historic win. In other words, Coach Mike Van Diest, I found out, was just as amazing after a loss as he was after his many, many victories.

Now, I have interviewed coaches and players on the phone thousands of times, if not more in my 18 years, but that phone call with Mike Van Diest, the one after Northern stunned his Fighting Saints, that’s a phone call with a coach I will never forget. It’s one that will stick out to me for the remainder of my career.

And that is why I consider myself so lucky. I got to cover, if only one or two times a season, not just one of the greatest coaches in the state of Montana’s history, but one of the greatest college football coaches of his generation.

I admit, too, while he was coaching at Carroll, while he was piling up all those wins, I probably took it for granted. I probably didn’t give it the kind of thought and attention I should have. I probably didn’t think, each time I covered a Carroll/Northern game: “Man, I’m witnessing greatness on that Carroll sideline.”

Maybe I should have, but, in the moment, I just didn’t.

Now though, Coach Mike Van Diest has hung up his headset. Now, he’s turned the reigns over at Carroll, and when I watched his retirement press conference, it hit me like a ton of bricks — I did indeed cover, albeit from afar, one of the all-time great football coaches. I covered a Hall of Famer, and for that, I’m always going to be grateful.

And knowing what I know of Mike Van Diest, I am also very lucky, and I’m going to cherish the fact that I got to cover him. I’m going to consider it one of the most memorable runs of my career, because, there’s no doubt, he’s an all-time great, and like I said at the beginning, those guys, they don’t come around that often.