Don Read, the former football coach at Portland State and University of Oregon who went on to win a national championship with the University of Montana, died Wednesday at 90.

Read’s son, Bruce, confirmed his father’s passing to The Oregonian/OregonLive. Memories of his father as a coach, mentor and grandfather stand out as tributes to Read are sprouting up across social media, particularly in Montana circles as the Grizzlies prepare to play for the FCS national championship on Sunday.

“We met at 7:30 every morning as a football staff and he would tell each coach what he was supposed to do that day,” said Bruce Read, who was the special teams coach for his father at Montana prior to stints at Oregon State and in the NFL. “He was very organized and motivated, and did a great job of coaching the coaches.

“He was a great person who touched many hearts and lives in a positive way. I can’t tell you how many people have reached out.”

Don Read is a member of the Portland State athletics hall of fame class of 1999, having coached the Vikings for two stints, from 1968-71 and 1981-85. He was the first winning football coach in Portland State history, and in his second stint was among five finalists for national coach of the year after leading the Vikings to what was then the school’s best-ever record (8-3) in football.

“I was a student when he was first there, but I was working in the athletic department,” former Vikings softball coach and fellow PSU hall of fame inductee Teri Mariani said. “The football coach at a university is often held in such high esteem, and for me, he was one of the friendliest coaches in our athletic department. He was so friendly, always had a smile on his face.”

In between his stints with PSU, Read was an assistant coach with the Oregon Ducks for two seasons before serving as head coach from 1974-76. He then spent four seasons at Oregon Tech before returning to Portland State.

“When he came back the second time, I was already coaching, so he was kind of like a peer,” Mariani said. “But I could never look at him that way. I just held him in such high regard because he helped me as a young coach. He was always willing to talk, and always made time for me, and that’s the thing that really stood out.”

Read took the Montana job in 1986, eventually leading the Grizzlies to three consecutive seasons of 10-plus wins — capped off by a 13-2 record and the program’s first national title in Read’s final year of coaching in 1995. He is credited for establishing something of a dynasty in Missoula, with the program achieving 25 consecutive winning seasons from 1986 to 2011 and winning another national title in 2001 after Read’s departure.

The Grizzlies have a chance to add a third national championship trophy to their case Sunday, and honor Read’s legacy in the process.