Chris Mouat
Head Coach (20th Season)
Chris Mouat enters his 20th season as the head coach at MSU-Northern. In December of 2017, Mouat became the all-time winningest coach in Skylight history.
Prior to his time at MSU-Northern, Coach Mouat worked in the women’s basketball programs at both Rocky Mountain College and Montana Tech. At Rocky Mountain College, he served as the assistant women’s basketball coach as well as the Sports Information Director/Assistant Athletic Director.
Mouat is a 1989 graduate of Helena High School and a 1993 graduate of the University of Montana. He also holds a Master’s of Science in Education, Instruction, and Learning (MSU-Northern, 2016). He began his teaching and coaching careers in Helena, where he assisted in both the boys and girls basketball programs. He was a part of the staff that helped lead the 1997 Bengal girls to a Class AA State title. In his five seasons as an assistant boys coach, the Bengals made two State AA title game appearances. From 1998-2001, Mouat was the head girls basketball coach at Butte High School, where he sent six players on to play at the college level in four seasons. Mouat was also an assistant coach in the Bulldog boys program for a pair of seasons.
During his time at MSU-Northern, Mouat has had nine players earn NAIA All-American honors (Jaci Heny, DeLayne Johnston, Stacie Barker, Samm Schermele, Laramie Schwenke, A’Jha Edwards, Natalee Faupel, Jacy Thompson, and Sierra Richards). Schermele, Edwards, and Faupel were two-time selections, joining Dani Davison as the only Skylights to be named All-American twice. Thirty-seven players (Camille Gardner, Jayla McPherson, Chelsie Searle, Kylee Starr, Dana Ball, Kaylee Shaw, Jennie Lee, Michaela Howe-Cobb, Taylor Cummings-3X, Leah Olson, Nikki Tresch, and Taryn Norby, Natalee Faupel, Cydney Auzenne-2x, Jacy Thompson-2x, Katie Fertterer, Brandy Lambourne-2x, Peyton Filius-2x, Molly Kreycik, Sierra Richards, Kealani Sagapolu, Jessica Curl, Lily Hilderbrand, Allix Goldhahn-2x, Petra Sellin, Morgan Mason-3x, Reilly Walsh, McKenzie Gunter-2x, Ryley Kehr-3x, ShaAnn Danelson-3x, Sydney Hovde, Sydney Hansen=2x, Shyan Krass-2x, Abigail Keltner, Rachel VanBlaricom, and McKenzie Long) have earned Daktronics NAIA All-America Scholar-Athlete honors, and thirty-four players have earned Frontier All-Conference honors.
Barker, Edwards, and Faupel were all named to the WBCA’s All-American First Team, while Edwards and Faupel are the only two Skylights to be named to NAIA First-Team All-Americans. Faupel earned NAIA First Team All-American honors in both 2016 and 2017. He has coached two Frontier Conference MVP’s (Edwards and Faupel), and three Frontier Conference Defensive MVP’s (Barker-2x, Cummings, and Thompson).
In 13 of his 19 seasons, the Skylights have been honored by the WBCA for their efforts in the classroom as a Top 25 Academic Team. In addition, twenty-one Skylights have earned MSU-Northern Student Excellence Awards (the highest honor a student can earn at MSU-Northern can earn) during his tenure. Last season, five Skylights earned Daktronics NAIA All-America Scholar-Athlete honors, and six earned Frontier Conference Academic All-Conference accolades.
Twice, the Skylights have led the nation in free throw percentage (2005-2006 and 2010-2011). The Skylights have been a perennial top-10 defensive team in the nation, and the number one team twice for points allowed per game. Two Skylights currently hold individual NAIA national records. Stacie Barker currently holds the NAIA all-time record for shot block average in a career (5.0 per game), while A’jha Edwards established an all-time record for rebounds in a game at the NAIA National Tournament with 28, a record that still stands to this day. His teams have broken thirteen school records, and 16 players have set all-time single game, season, or career marks at MSU-Northern. He has guided the Skylights to five NAIA National Tournaments, advancing to the Sweet 16 four times and the Elite 8 once. He was named the Frontier Conference Coach of the Year in 2015. To date, six of his former players have been inducted into the MSU-Northern Athletic Hall of Fame.
In 2017, Mouat helped found the Hoops for a Cause campaign with other Frontier Conference coaches. To date, the project has raised over $100,000 in six years for worthy causes throughout Montana. He has a career win/loss record of 323-244 which ranks him 22nd among active NAIA coaches. He was named the Frontier Conference Coach of the Year in 2015 and was the recipient of the MSU-Northern “Golden N” Award in 2018.
