GOLDEN — On separate sun-soaked August days 25 years apart, you could’ve found Bob Stitt in the exact same spot: at the center of a Colorado School of Mines football practice.

Stitt’s presence would be the only common thread among those two images.

As the winningest coach in Orediggers history prepares for his second stint in charge of the NCAA Division II program he built into a powerhouse, his job is “so different” the second time around.

The man most responsible for what the Mines program is now — one that has won nine Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference championships this century and has appeared in four of the last five Division II playoffs — has made a return he never expected.

After a successful 15-year stint in Golden, Stitt spent three years as the head coach at Montana, one on

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