President Oscar Craig hired Fred D. Smith to be the first Chemistry Department Chair. Smith arrived from Cornell with experience in Mineralogy and Pharmaceutical Chemistry. During the summer of 1897, Smith worked in Northern Wyoming for a mining interest; that work led him to Missoula and the University of Montana. President Craig was keen on developing athletics. As such, Craig had a secondary motive when hiring Smith, the former football player at Cornell. Athletics help to produce healthy bodies and minds, which would help students get the most of their academic experience. Additionally, intercollegiate athletics were growing across the country in popularity, and Craig believed they could help elevate the prestige of the University. Craig was trying to keep pace with other regional schools like Utah and Oregon.

Universities and Colleges from the Pacific Northwest were eager for competition to develop their own athletic programs. Washington had dreams of competing on the same level as schools in Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin. Stanford and other California schools wanted to compete with Yale and Syracuse.
Football was new to Missoula, and locals were showing interest in the unfamiliar sport. Athletic Clubs in Spokane, Butte, and Anaconda had established football teams. Battles on the gridiron had made their way into newspapers across the state. The Missoula Athletic Club was in the process of assembling a team to join the fray, and they called themselves The Tigers.

The agricultural college in Bozeman was making its attempt to train and organize a team. The Butte Business College already had a team that competed with other athletic clubs in the state.

It did not take many conversations with Craig to learn his secondary motive. At the same time Smith knew the value of building an athletics program and did not need much convincing. During the fall of 1897, Smith volunteered to organize and coach a football team for the current academic session.

The first three official games were played against the Missoula Tigers. During the three games, neither team was able to score against each other. Nonetheless, the University of Montana Football team was born. The first intercollegiate game featured Montana hosting Butte Business College on November 12. Butte displayed their expertise and experience by convincingly beating Montana 20-4. Two weeks later, the first rivalry matchup against the Aggies of Montana State College took place in Missoula on Thanksgiving Day. Montana achieved its first victory in program history by defeating the Aggies 18-6. For the last game of the season, Montana played its first game on the road, traveling to Butte for a second matchup with Business College. Butte handed Montana another loss. Montana did manage to improve and make the game more competitive. The final score was Montana 2 and Butte 10. Montana’s inaugural season produced a record of 1 win, 2 losses, and three 0-0 ties.