Bob Stitt helped design and fundraise for new football facilities at Colorado School of Mines nearly two decades ago.

But, the veteran coach pointed out Friday with a chuckle, he never got a chance to use them — having left Golden for the football job at Montana roughly six months before they opened.

“I got hired by Montana, so I never sat in the (head coach’s) chair until (Friday) morning,” said the 60-year-old Stitt, who on Friday morning was named to his second stint as Mines head football coach. “I had our (sports information director) take pictures of me sitting in that chair for the first time.”

Stitt, who put the Orediggers on the college football map from 2000-2014, returns to a program that is now well-established after making back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Division II title game in 2022 and ’23.

“There is no doubt in my mind this is the best job in Division II football, and I take the responsibility of maintaining the football excellence that has been established here very seriously,” Stitt said via a Mines news release. “Our staff will work diligently to put our players in a position to win championships at the highest level each and every season.”

Stitt is the all-time leader in wins at Mines, having posted a record of 108-62 over 15 seasons at the helm. His initial tenure is marked by an innovative passing attack and a run of historic firsts in Golden, having led the Orediggers in 2004 to their first RMAC title in 46 years and steering Mines to its first NCAA championship berth and first postseason victory.

He won two more league titles (2010, 2014) before leaving the program to take the head coaching post at Montana, where he posted a 21-14 mark over three seasons with the Grizzlies.

The Nebraska native worked as an offensive analyst at Oklahoma State in 2018 and was Texas State’s offensive coordinator in 2019.

He joined Valor Christian as offensive coordinator under longtime friend Bret McGatlin last fall. McGatlin resigned last month, and roughly a week after that, the Mines job opened up for the second time in three years when Pete Sterbick, who had a 22-4 record in two seasons with the Orediggers, left to take the offensive coordinator position at Montana State.

Stitt met with Mines players on Friday, the university said, and will be formally introduced at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.

“It’s good to be back,” he said.