Regardless of what happens on Saturday afternoon, Rocky Mountain College head football coach Brian Armstrong deserves to have the interim tag removed and be given the job on a more permanent basis.

The 36-year-old Armstrong accepted the interim position in late July when the Frontier Conference school was put in a difficult situation by the sudden departure of head coach David Reeves.

With the start of fall camp less than two weeks away, Reeves resigned to pursue an assistant coaching position at Northern Arizona University.

That's not the best way for any college to start a football season, and the suddenness of the transition, no doubt, added to the burden for Armstrong, who had been offensive coordinator at Rocky for two years.

The Battlin' Bears have indeed struggled at times en route to posting a 2-8 record heading into their home finale against Montana Western. But there also have been some successes, along with some agonizingly close setbacks, and Armstrong has certainly done enough to be taken off the coaching tightrope.

In addition to having his team show signs of progress as the season unfolded, Armstrong has done a nice job of staying positive, keeping the players focused, playing hard and believing in themselves.

Now he deserves a chance to get out and recruit, take care of any staffing issues and tackle an offseason and season under less frantic conditions.

Rocky athletic director Bobby Beers said during a mid-week interview that he couldn't discuss Armstrong's job status, which likely will be clarified next week. But he did offer a glowing review and his appreciation.

"I'm very, very impressed with the way he's responded to the situation that we threw him in," Beers said. "There's a guilty feeling that I go home with every night … 'what did I do to this guy?' But not once has he ever come in and berated me or really had the 'poor me' attitude.

"I don't know of many people that would have embraced the challenge."

Around the Frontier, which is one of the NAIA's toughest football leagues, the Bears aren't being viewed as a 2-8 team, even though that's what their record says they are. They're three or four plays away from being 5-5.

Rocky's offense, fueled by some talented seniors, has been exciting to watch this fall and pretty consistent. But the younger Bears on defense also have made adjustments in going to a four-man front, gained valuable experience along the way and shown big improvement.

"Now, is the win-loss record what we wanted? No. Is it what we expected? Probably not," Beers said. "But, really, I think that it's been an eye-opening experience for all parties involved."

With their spread attack topping the national passing charts, the Bears move the ball almost at will. But Rocky, as in past seasons, still makes critical mistakes on both sides of the ball and finds ways to lose.

Through it all, though, there have only been a couple of occasions where the Bears have been thoroughly outplayed. Rocky has lost two games by one point, and a total of five by eight points or less.

One of those narrow losses was a couple of weeks ago at No. 2-ranked Carroll College, which has won five NAIA championships in the last seven years. The Bears led 27-20 with 6ƒ minutes to go, before the 10-time reigning league champion Saints rallied for two late TDs to pull out a 34-27 triumph.

A fumbled kickoff by Rocky set the stage for Carroll's winning touchdown with just over a minute to play. The Bears have lost 19 straight games to the Saints dating to 2000, and this was closest Rocky had even come to winning.

Whether it's a fumble, a high snap on a punt, a missed PAT or an interception, nobody, over the years, pays a higher price for slip ups than Rocky, which seems to define snake bit. Those untimely miscues have consistently undercut the Bears' efforts to get over the hump and register their first winning season since 1999.

That's definitely been a source of frustration for Armstrong, whose stated goal has been to get the Bears back to playing winning football. And he hasn't been one to sugar-coat the losses or proclaim any moral victories.

"You face challenges in every aspect of what you do," Beers said. "Between Brian and (assistant) B.J. (Robertson), they've kept the continuity of the offense and (quarterback) Kasey Peters has had a hell of a year. Some of that gets lost when you look at what we have or haven't accomplished."

Critics, no doubt, will still look at the won-lost mark this season and howl about cleaning house. But look closely at the overall history of the Rocky program, which has long been under-funded and underappreciated.

The Bears have compiled a 168-335-10 record since bringing back football in 1949. There have been just 11 winning seasons in 60 years - five since 1971 - and the last winning decade was the 1950s.

Cleaning house hasn't been the answer.

Besides, Armstrong is a good man. He has developed some structure during his brief time in charge of the program and deserves a chance to build on what he has started this season.

He is also Rocky's 16th head coach since 1949 - and one worth keeping.