BOZEMAN — Waded Cruzado had been in Washington, D.C., but she took a flight that got her to Seattle in time for the game.
Montana State University's President since January 2010, Cruzado took her seat in the University of Washington's arena ready to see the Bobcat women's basketball team play the Huskies in the first round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament. She saw the graphics and statistics on the scoreboard over the middle of the court and remarked to fellow MSU administrators that she wanted a similar one inside the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse. Montana State officials formed a plan and, in March 2018, received clearance from the state's Board of Regents to spend $675,000 on a new scoreboard.
It was in place later that summer. Women's basketball head coach Tricia Binford loves telling that story because it shows how Cruzado operates as the university's figurehead. "She just makes things happen," Binford said.
Cruzado announced on Aug. 12 that she would retire at the end of this academic year in June 2025 — a deserved conclusion to a lifetime dedicated to public education, but a severe blow to an athletics department that has thrived under her watch. Athletics Director Leon Costello called Cruzado the most competitive person he has ever met and said he will miss partnering with her to make MSU's sports programs the best they can be.
"She wants to win at everything, and the great thing is she wants to do it the right way," Costello said. "She wants to build the foundation and win and have sustained success." Binford said that aspect of Cruzado's personality has rallied the campus community toward common goals.
"She's always the most competitive person in the room," Binford said, "yet she has a grace about her as far as when she walks in a room everybody's inspired to do more, to strive for more." Cruzado did not have much experience overseeing athletics when she arrived at MSU, but she learned quickly what Bobcat fans found important. Working closely with Costello, and former MSU AD Peter Fields before him, helped that process.
"When you reach out to athletics, they become part of the university, and there is not this division between, 'Oh, it's academics and it's athletics,'" Cruzado said, reflecting on her athletics legacy a day after announcing her retirement. "It's all the same. It's all Montana State, and it's one of the most wonderful assets that, as a president, I have found to galvanize that sense of authentic love for the university.
" The scoreboard in the Brick is not alone in physically signifying Cruzado's influence. She has also been a driving force behind the addition of the south grandstands, lights and a larger video board at Bobcat Stadium; the construction of the Bobcat Athletic Complex; renovated locker rooms in the Brick; updates to the weight room, training room and academic center; and the eventual construction of an indoor football and track and field practice facility. As much as the school has gained in terms of facilities and amenities, Costello believes Cruzado's biggest impact on athletics has been "the quality of people that we've been able to bring in.
" He noted the department's gains in academic advisors, nutritional staff, strength and conditioning personnel, a sports psychologist and a partnership with Bozeman Health. "That all goes back to helping and supporting our student-athletes," said Costello, who was hired in the summer of 2016. Head football coach Brent Vigen, hired by Costello and Cruzado in 2021, remembers games in Bozeman as an assistant coach at North Dakota State in 2005 and 2010, when the visiting team's locker room was still located in small cinder block buildings.
When he returned in 2021 to apply for the head coaching job, Vigen met with Cruzado in her suite in Bobcat Stadium. He found her quite personable, and he appreciated her approach to the athletics department. "She made it clear that success in athletics and football was important," Vigen said, "but it was obvious that the success of the entire university was paramount.
" And as he looked out the window of the suite, Vigen gained a sense of how much the campus — and Bobcat Stadium, with its Sonny Holland Zone and a few thousand new seats — had improved since he had last visited. "It's a place that's changed," Vigen said. "And obviously her fingerprints are all over those changes.
" Binford — who came to MSU in 2005, predating Cruzado by five years — credits much of Bozeman's growth in the last two decades to MSU's success in sports and academics alike, a testament to Cruzado's initiative and "endless energy." "Her mark on this university is beyond the campus," Binford added. Costello is certain that Cruzado's accomplishments from an athletics standpoint will not be soon forgotten.
"She has changed the face of this university for the absolute better," he said. "Everything she touches seems like it turns to gold." Bobcat coaches often speak highly of the support they have received from Cruzado as the university's president.
When considering her upcoming departure, volleyball head coach Matt Houk was excited for Cruzado being able to retire but lamented the fact that her influence on athletics would be gone. "What a phenomenal leader she has been to this university," Houk said. Only hired in 2023, Houk is one of the newest additions to the athletics department.
In such a short period of time, he's learned "how very unique and special she is." Houk was especially thankful for Cruzado organizing a send-off party for his team as it departed to play in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship in November. Faculty and staff lined the streets around campus to congratulate the Bobcats on their best season in school history.
"And she was right there at the forefront of it, waving the flag and cheering us on," Houk said. "I don't think that happens everywhere from the president of the university." Houk also respects that Cruzado has been attentive to athletics in less public ways.
He noted her presence at Faculty-Athletics Representative George Haynes' recent retirement party, where she gave a speech thanking him for 13 years in that role. "It's the fact that she not only shows up, but she's there leading," Houk said. "She's loud.
She's cheering." Men's basketball head coach Matt Logie, also only hired last year, said it was meaningful that Cruzado hosted his team for a dinner after its NCAA Tournament appearance in March. Like Houk, he's learned in short order how Cruzado affects the department's prosperity.
"Obviously, athletics has been well supported, and we're in kind of a golden era of success across many different sports," Logie said. "I think a lot of that comes from the foundations and processes and people that she's hired to align with her vision for this university." Vigen has seen Cruzado's passion for athletics, particularly football, on two specific occasions: when the Bobcats played in the FCS National Championship game in January 2022 and when Bozeman hosted ESPN's "College GameDay" 10 months later.
"You think about the series of wins that means for our university," Vigen said of getting EPSN's pregame show, "and I think she recognized how impactful that day was, not only to our football program, but our university." The end of June 2025 is both far away and right around the corner. MSU's coaches want to soak up the time they have left with Cruzado, but have also started giving thought to what they would like to see in her replacement.
"You can't fully replace somebody who's been as transformational as Waded," Logie said, "but when you leave a place better than you found it like she has, it creates a great opportunity to attract somebody who can not only continue those successes, but continue to lead into the next phase of not only higher education, but college athletics." Binford said the challenge for a new president will be "matching the energy that she has brought" to the athletics department. Saying goodbye to Cruzado will not be easy.
"I'm grateful we got to keep her as long as we have," Binford said. Vigen understands that no replacement will have the exact same outlook on athletics as Cruzado, but he said the next president must have a vision for guiding MSU through a rapidly changing landscape of college sports. "I think it's clear there's going to be continued movement on the college football side for sure," he said, "but I think it's going to spill over to all the sports, and I hope it's a president that recognizes the impact athletics can have on a university's success.
" In Costello's eight years working with Cruzado, she has become somebody he "can tell anything to." He wants the next president to be similarly easy to talk to and work with. "I think (Cruzado) has done a very good job of including athletics in the mission of the university," Costello said.
"I think we are an integral piece, but we're not it. There is this entire university that's doing amazing things, and we want to be a key cog in that wheel." Cruzado said she has found it quite easy to be a fan, acknowledging her own competitiveness and MSU having a "fierce rivalry" with the University of Montana.
But her love for sports is also born out of having a "profound sense of respect for athletes." "The hours that they invest is just amazing," she added. Cruzado has seen the power of Bobcat sporting events to be a "social network," a glue that brings together different generations of fans.
She wants that to continue under her successor. "I hope that the next president will see athletics as an asset, as a force for good, as something that, if used correctly, can engender good faith for the university, but more importantly, prepare extraordinary individuals for the future," Cruzado said. "The university is in a very sound and strong position, and athletics is in a beautiful position as well.
" Parker Cotton can be reached at . Follow him on X/Twitter @ByParkerCotton..
