[3] He went to college at Portland State University, where he played football as a wide receiver, earned all-academic recognition, and served as the team captain during his senior year in 1979.
[4] Pflugrad then followed Read to Montana, where he worked as an assistant coach with the team's wide receivers, quarterbacks, and running backs.
[7] During that time period, he was offered a position on the Alabama staff by new head coach Mike Price, but remained at Washington State.
[8] After the 2005 season, Pflugrad joined head coach Mike Bellotti's staff at Oregon in a move driven in part by the desire to be closer to his and his wife's four elderly parents.
Although no reason was given by the university's president, Royce Engstrom, for Pflugrad's termination it was believed to have stemmed from off-field incidents involving certain members of the Montana football team.
[14] Pflugrad, known in coaching circles for his clean-cut approach, was shocked by his dismissal, and defenders pointed to team lectures on drugs, alcohol and behavior and his crackdown on a decades-long player initiation ritual as examples of his button-downed philosophy.
[15] When Pflugrad returned to Missoula as an opposing coach for the Montana vs. Weber State game in November 2013, he spoke openly about his love for the team he left behind and what he believed were political machinations that cost him the head job there.
In addition, Peggy Kuhr, an interim vice president at the University of Montana later told The Oregonian newspaper, "Coach Pflugrad is a good and decent person who tried to do things the right way.