Former Skylight volleyball coach Dave Gantt headed to Arkansas

Former Montana State University-Northern volleyball coach and athletic director Dave Gantt is heading back to the NCAA Division I ranks of college volleyball. Gantt has been announced as a new assistant coach at the University of Arkansas, the school said in a press release earlier this week.

Gantt most recently served as vice president for athletics and vice president of student engagement/athletics at this alma mater, the University of Providence in Great Falls from 2016 to 2021. He helped facilitate a complete rebrand of the athletic department, added several sports programs, and helped increase enrollment of student-athletes.

In his final year at Providence, he also served as assistant coach for the Argos volleyball team. The team had their top finish in program history with a Great Eight appearance in the NAIA Tournament, posted the most wins ever with 28, and a program-best winning streak of 21 matches. Gantt was named the AVCA Regional Assistant Coach of the Year for his efforts.

Before returning to Great Falls, Gantt was head coach at Gonzaga from 2009-2016. During his tenure, Gonzaga had the program’s first back-to-back winning seasons since 1994 in 2014 and 2015 and Gantt coached the team’s first-ever back-to-back All-American in Savannah Blinn. Under his guidance, Gantt helped improve the squad’s RPI from 271 to 89, with a rank as low as 35 in 2015.

He spent several years in administrative and academic roles between his stint at Gonzaga and his appointment as head volleyball coach at Montana State, where he worked from 1994 to 2002. Gantt remains MSU's winningest volleyball coach and in his time the Bobcats ranked within the top 20 in attendance annually.

Watson served as an assistant for Gantt at Montana State as he began his coaching career.

“Personally, I’m thankful Dave would consider this opportunity,” Watson said. “He has had a profound influence on my career. There are so many traits within our program that can be traced back to my days at Montana State as an assistant. I’m excited to get to work together with him, our entire staff, to continue our growth as a team.”

Gantt was also head coach at Oregon State and Montana State-Northern and has spent time with the U.S. Men’s National Team as an assistant, where he had an emphasis on blocking and defense.