Steve Rinella’s Montana Commencement Speech Nails It

It’s official. One of the biggest names in outdoor media was just awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Montana. And truly, they couldn’t have chosen a more deserving guy.

When Steve Rinella, the host of MeatEater, returned to his alma mater in Missoula this spring to give the commencement speech, it was safe to assume he would not deliver a typical “now go forth and change the world” rant. This was a gut-punch of honesty and outdoor wisdom, coming from a guy who has been elbow-deep in the real world long before Netflix ever knew who he was.

I know it’s ceremonial. But if there’s anyone who’s earned a degree in forestry and conservation the hard way, it’s Rinella. This is the dude who was cleaning toilets in the Liberal Arts building at the UM while degree back in the day. "I was in there scrubbing out a toilet, and in comes one of my classmates," he later put it. "It was painful for us both.”

But this is what rang true: kill your Plan B.

He advised graduates to go all in on what should be their Plan A, the dream. Writing, wildlife work, or slinging arrows in the Bob Marshall. Don’t hedge. Don’t slide down to some supposedly “safer” ledge. Choose the highest cliff to jump from and then jump.

He ended on a mic-drop line that only a real Montanan could deliver: “Good luck to everybody!  And uh... stay out of my fishing spots."

That was the sort of Montana commencement speech we could use more of. Honest, raw, and experience-driven, by a guy who never sold out the backcountry to make a buck.

Congrats, Dr. Rinella. You make Missoula proud.

WATCH FULL COMMENCEMENT SPEEC @ UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA