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January 2006
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Volume 2, Issue 5 |
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A face in the crowd
Relive the coaching career of Jud Heathcote, notable for both its success and longevity ... MORE
JC transfer impacts Griz hoops
Virgil Matthews has helped instill a winning mindset at UM ... MORE
New Year's resolutions
UM head coaches and athletic director Jim O’Day share their 2006 resolutions ... MORE
Department announcements
See what else is going on in the world of Griz Athletics ... MORE
A letter from Griz A.D. Jim O'Day
Jim O'Day, UM's Director of Athletics, reviews the 2005 fall sporting seasons and other athletic department on-goings in his monthly letter to the Griz Nation
... MORE
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A face in the crowd
by Joel Carlson, UM Sports Information |
If you go to a Gonzaga men’s or women’s basketball game at GU’s new McCarthey Athletic Center and happen by section 114, row 13, seat 18, you may do a double-take. The face you see will remind you of someone, but exactly who it is won’t come to you immediately.
You know it’s someone you should recognize, and now it’s bothering you. It always happens like that when it’s this unexpected. You think he might be associated with the University of Montana in some way, maybe from long ago, or maybe you remember seeing him on television. But where?
It works on your mind until you finally make a faint connection. But could it really be him? Why in the world would coaching legend Jud Heathcote be sitting on the edge of his seat at Bulldog games with his wife at his side, squirming in his seat like he was still coaching on the sideline?
Because after a 24-year college coaching career – five at Montana and 19 at Michigan State – Heathcote, who has the distinction of being in both schools’ Halls of Fame – is now fully into retirement in Spokane, Wash.
After many years at the high school level, Heathcote got his college coaching career started at Montana, where he led the Grizzly basketball team for five seasons (1971-72 to 1975-76), compiling a record of 80-53.
In Heathcote’s fourth season at UM, 1974-75, Montana won its first Big Sky Conference championship and went to its first NCAA tournament after finishing the regular season with a record of 20-6. The Grizzlies defeated Utah State, 69-63, in the first round of the national tournament, then fell to UCLA, 67-64, in the second round. The Bruins would go on to win the national championship, their 10th NCAA title in 12 years.
After the 1975-76 season, Heathcote took the Michigan State job, where he coached for 19 seasons, leading the Spartans to a record of 340-200. He won one NCAA championship and three Big 10 titles and took 10 teams to the NCAA tournament. He also coached seven all-Americans and was twice named the Big 10 coach of the year.
He retired after the 1995 season, passing the reins to long-time assistant Tom Izzo. Heathcote had a 24-year college record of 420-273.
Grizzly Times had the chance to sit down with Heathcote at halftime of the Gonzaga-Montana women’s game at Spokane on Dec. 18 and relive a career notable for both its success and longevity.
GT: When you got the job at Montana, there was a sophomore on the team by the name of Robin Selvig, who would go on to some coaching success of his own. What do you remember about Robin as a player?
JH: Robin was very, very tenacious and became one of our toughest players. He came from Outlook (Mont.) and the report when I came in from his freshman coach was that he was just a wimp. He would never take the charge, so we started focusing on defensive drills. I remember asking him, How could you be such a passive player and then become as tough as you are now? He said, Coach, when I was in high school I wasn’t supposed to touch anybody because we couldn’t afford to foul out. I had to stay in there. So I learned to play without aggressiveness, but I’ve learned it from you.
If he hadn’t hurt his knee, I swear Robin would have played professional basketball. He was not blazingly fast, but when he had the knee operated on, he lost about half a step, which made a big difference in his play.
GT: Did you recognize anything in Robin as a player that would indicate future success as a coach?
JH: He still plays that 2-3 match-up zone and does a pretty good job of it. He’s used it as his trademark defense. I tried to get him to move to the men’s game at Michigan State a number of years ago, but he wasn’t interested. He’s satisfied where he is.
It’s hard for me to relate girls’ basketball to men’s basketball, so I tell everybody to not compare the two. Appreciate how the girls play because they aren’t going to run and jump, they’re going to pass and shoot. The women’s game has taken giant strides in the last 10 years.
GT: How do you remember your five years at Montana?
JH: Those were enjoyable years for me because it was my first college head coaching job. We came in and the program was really down and there were no spectators. We built the program basically from the ground up.
We had a pretty good recruiting year that first year and then we had Eric Hays transfer over. We went on to win the first conference championship (in school history) and win a game in the NCAA tournament.
We still replay that UCLA game because we had the ball and down just a point. I can still see Eric Hays going up, but instead of shooting it, he lays it off to Larry Smedley. But Larry had turned to rebound, even though he was wide open, and the ball goes out of bounds. That might have been the greatest upset in NCAA history.
Those were really great years. I really had second thoughts about moving (to Michigan State). I loved it there, my family loved it there and we still have fond memories.
GT: What was attractive to you about the Michigan State job?
JH: I was 49 years old at the time and I figured if I was going to move professionally, it had to be then. You don’t get many opportunities from Big Sky programs to move into a Big 10 program that plays basketball at the highest level of Division I. So I took it professionally and for no other reason.
GT: If the Michigan State job was open today, the media scrutiny and attention would be overwhelming. What was the hiring process like in 1976?
JH: They had a committee of 10 people. They asked me to interview on a Saturday and I said, No, I can’t interview, and they said, Well, those are our last interviews. So I told them, I’m not a candidate. I guess that shows how interested I was in the job.
They called back later and said, Can you interview on Sunday? Well, that was when our recruits were to go back after our recruiting weekend and I said yes I could.
I’m not going to say I blew them away in the interview, but apparently I interviewed better than the four or five other candidates and that’s why I was offered the job.
GT: The Michigan State-Indiana State national championship game in 1979 is still the highest rated college basketball broadcast ever. At the time did you realize the significance of that game?
JH: I kid people when they ask that question. I say I knew it would be the highest rated because everyone wanted to see me coach.
In reality it was the first time that freelance writers had descended on the tournament. Well, they have to write something that will sell, so immediately they start writing about the match-up that was going to occur between the Magic Man, Earvin Johnson, and the Bird Man, Larry Bird.
They weren’t writing about the semifinal games. They were just assuming that we would be in the finals, so that kind of captivated the country, the free publicity that game received.
GT: Did you realize at the time what Magic and Bird were going to be able to do at the NBA level?
JH: Not at all. I should say that I did, but I did say that they will be two great professional basketball players because they have two things that other players don’t have and don’t appreciate, and that’s great court vision and great hands. That’s why they’re great passers. They saved professional basketball and started to put the emphasis on the assist instead of the points. Plus they had the rivalry between the Celtics and the Lakers.
I had no idea that they would be as instrumental in changing the game or changing the interest in the game as they did.
GT: Who was the toughest coach to prepare for in Big 10 play and who was your favorite coach to beat?
JH: Gene Keady wrote a book and said that I was his best friend. And I used to tell him that was because he always used to beat us.
Purdue always seemed to play a little harder than our kids. We’d say, Hey, play hard for 40 minutes and then we’d play hard for 35, where they’d always play hard for 40 and we’d come out on the losing end.
We had a rivalry with Bobby Knight as well. I think we played 39 times and they won 20 games and we won 19, so that was a great rivalry. But when you talk about preparing for teams, maybe Tom Davis’s teams at Iowa were the hardest to prepare for because they ran in, out, in, out with different players and guys would wonder who they’re defending. And Iowa had different presses, so you had to prepare especially for Iowa.
GT: Which Michigan State teams were you most fond of?
JH: I think the 1986 team with Scott Skiles, who almost willed the team to win. He averaged 28 points a game and had the greatest year in Spartan history. People forget that.
That was the year we had that infamous game with Kansas (in the NCAA tournament) when the clock stopped or we would have won the game in regulation. We lost it in overtime, but we only played six players and we were just absolutely exhausted, so when it went into overtime, we were done. But that was one of my favorite teams.
The Steve Smith team in the early 90s when we won a Big 10 championship was a special team. And in all honesty, the teams of my last two years, when we had Eric Snow and Shawn Respert at guards, we called them Fire and Ice, they were fun to watch and fun to coach. We had good seasons with those two.
It seems when we hit the NCAAs, we were a lot like Gonzaga’s been the last couple of years. We would have an injury or we’d have someone in foul trouble or we’d have maybe a down period and we never got back to the Final Four.
Now Tom (Izzo)'s been to the Final Four four out of the last seven years, so he’s done a tremendous job. We had good years where he’s having great years.
GT: What was the toughest Big 10 arena to play in?
JH: I hated (the University of Minnesota’s) Williams Arena, and I still hate it with a passion. They said, How could we best renovate this? and I said, Just drop a bomb and leave, let it just disappear.
It had the raised floor, so you had the coach up on the stool and you couldn’t communicate with your assistant coaches or your players. It was a hard place to play. The coach was out in the open, and as ugly as I am, you just don’t want thousands of people staring at you.
GT: Would you still get into coaching if you made the decision today?
JH: Somebody once asked me, What was your line of work? I told them I never worked a day in my life, because I was a coach. I loved what I did. I think there were about five days in my 45 years of coaching that I didn’t want to go to the gym. I looked forward to it even after tough losses so we could start getting ready for the next game.
If I had it to do over again, I’m sure I would do the same thing. I would hope to coach just as I did. I was in high school for 14 years, assisted for seven years, at Montana for five years and Michigan State for 19 years. I had a varied career and I enjoyed every aspect of my coaching.
GT: What have been the biggest changes in the college game, good or bad, over the last 20 years?
JH: The shot clock and the 3-point line changed college basketball, probably for the better. Now you see teams able to come from behind, whereas before if a team got ahead they could put the ball in the deep-freeze, the old Dean Smith Four Corners, and never shoot, just go to the foul line. So now you have to keep playing.
One thing you don’t see now is the jump shot off the dribble. It’s a lost art. It’s something I think should still be in the game, and I think you see too many 3-point shots and maybe not enough mid-range shots. It seems like we’re either driving to the basket or shooting 3-pointers.
But the game is still a great game and it still has great athletes.
GT: What is it like to see some of your former assistants like Izzo at Michigan State and Kelvin Sampson at Oklahoma find success at the head-coach level, and then see them develop their own assistants for head jobs?
JH: We always had a theory that I don’t have time to coach the coaches. So I told them to coach as much as they want or as little as you want, but I always encouraged them to do more. I told them, Next year you should be a better coach and do more for us than you did this year. And I think that approach developed a lot of coaches that were prepared to go out on their own.
Tom (Izzo) has done the same thing. We’ve got between the two of us about a dozen head coaches out there.
GT: What do you miss most about coaching?
JH: The first two years (out of coaching) were tough. I missed the competition. I missed the preparation. I missed the excitement. But this is now my 11th year out of the game and each year I become more of a fan. But I don’t think you ever take the coaching out of the coach. I still look at plays and think, Hey, you should do this a little differently.
I’ve been involved in the Michigan State program with Tom. He seeks my advice, and he doesn’t always use it, of course, because he wants to win.
I have lunch with Mark Few and the Gonzaga coaches about every other week, and I give them my two cents worth, so I’ve kept active just watching games and going to games.
GT: Is ESPN, with its emphasis on the spectacular highlight and its sometimes late-night tip times, good or bad for college basketball?
JH: The ESPN effect on basketball is over. Now there are so many games that we’re used to them, so I think if you want to argue whether it was good or bad, you have to go back 10 or 15 years. But the proliferation of games, I think, is just accepted now.
You’re going to be on TV a lot, and now I’ve watched a couple of games on ESPNU, another ESPN channel, so I would think it has made more basketball fans that can’t get to games and watch them on TV.
GT: Who has the best program in the country right now?
JH: I’d like to say that it’s Michigan State, but they’re probably one of the five or six best programs. I think you have to say Duke is the best program. They lose players to graduation, they lose players to the pros, and they just seem to go on and on with new players.
Someone said, Well, when you get that many McDonalds All-Americans, you should have a great team. And I said, Yeah, or a great McDonalds franchise, one or the other.
But I’d have to say Duke and of course Kentucky, North Carolina, Syracuse, Connecticut, the teams that have had success of late, along with Michigan State.
Sometimes you could throw Gonzaga in there because no school has done what they have done, for seven straight years have a better club each year. That’s unheard of at this level.
GT: Who your favorite college basketball announcer?
JH: I don’t have one. I think Dick Vitale was good for the game, but that was back when he was coming up with all the “Diaper Dandies” and “PTPers” and all those things. But he’s kind of worn that out to a frazzle.
My favorite guy is Bill Raftery, but I’m not sure he’s the best announcer. He’s just a great guy to be around. Most of the guys you hear do a good, professional job.
GT: Have you been able to follow the positive impact that Larry Krystkowiak has had at Montana in just over a year?
JH: To get to the NCAA (tournament) last year in his first year was unbelievable. Now he must have another good team, but we never get to see them on TV and never get to see them in action unless they play up here at Gonzaga.
I just know that he’s doing a great job and wish him the best of luck.
GT: Any parting message you’d like to send out to Griz Nation?
JH: Hey, support both the men’s and women’s programs, and keep up the good work on the football field because they’ve done a tremendous job to put Montana on the map with their program.
[Back to the Grizzly Times] |
JC transfer impacts Griz hoops
by Trent Makela, MontanaGrizzlies.com |
The change in the demeanor of the men’s basketball team at the University of Montana was rapid and immediately visible midway through the 2004-05 season.
Wins began to pile up and the confidence of the team swelled as the Grizzlies shattered the invisible ceiling that kept them near the middle of the conference for the first half of the season.
UM streaked into the Big Sky Conference tournament by winning it’s final three regular season games and then surprised everybody outside of Missoula by winning the tournament and earning the conference’s lone ticket to the NCAA tournament.
The excitement of making the tournament quickly wore out, however, as Montana’s lowly season record and insignificant home conference doomed them to a first round match-up against the University of Washington, one of the tournament’s four top seeds.
The Grizzlies were lucky in many ways, though, as the perimeter-oriented Huskies did not outsize UM like traditional top seeds. Also, Montana had a secret weapon against Washington’s myriad of talented guards; junior college transfer Virgil Matthews.
Matthews had played against UW 3-point specialist Tre Simmons more than once in the previous two years on the Washington junior college circuit. Also, he had spent entire summers playing with and against the Huskies’ Brandon Roy, the team’s best athlete and scorer.
Matthews’ effectiveness against the old foes did not come in the form of information about the players’ tendencies and styles, though. After all, what good would it have done if he told his teammates that Simmons was just as comfortable shooting with a hand in his face as he was open? Also, what problems would he solve by telling them that Roy could jump over them or through them with the same ease?
In all likelihood, his stories of his experience against the Huskies’ individual stars and other players of their caliber would have done little more than foster the intimidated, defeated attitude of most 16th-ranked seeds.
So, instead Matthews continued doing what he had done to help spark the change in the team when he was promoted to the role of backup point guard during the middle of the season; he relaxed, played his game and talked some trash.
“[The game against Washington] was like a big thing with me because I was from Washington and I was going home and playing against people I’d played against before,” Matthews said. “But we weren’t intimidated; or at least I wasn’t. The way we looked at it, they were a really overrated number one seed and we were really underrated. We didn’t even think about them like [a top seed] – we thought about them like a number four seed.”
Sparked by the surprisingly unanimous support of the Boise, Idaho crowd and paced by the effective scoring of senior post Kamaar Davis, the Grizzlies shook off a shaky start to the game and fought to keep their deficit between 9 and 13 points for most of the night.
When the Washington pressure rattled the Grizzly guards, UM called on Matthews’ calm hand to push the ball up the floor. When one of the Huskies’ scorers got hot, Matthews was soon denying him the ball.
The lead swayed between 13 and 9 until, with precious few minutes left in the game, the Grizzlies whittled the lead down to a lean nine points again and, after forcing a Washington turnover, stood to reduce the lead to seven or even six with a score.
At that moment, the change happened again. As the same Montana team who struggled to win half of their conference games stood to watch their coach diagram the possible defeat one of the nation’s best teams, Matthews said he saw the belief return to his teammates’ eyes.
The belief that they belonged in the game was there; the belief that they could win it, too; and the spark of swagger to prove it had finally shown up.
The Grizzlies failed to pull the score any closer, but continued the impressive streak of defensive stops that, at times, put the look of the 16th-seed in the eyes of the frustrated and out-hustled Huskies.
The stops simply lost their usefulness, though, as the opportunities they bore faded in a flurry of ill-advised shots and failures to execute that jettisoned the team from the tournament and, just as quickly, from the minds of the once-loyal crowd.
When the season ended for the Grizzlies, Montana head coach Larry Krystkowiak cited Matthews as one of the leading candidates for UM’s most valuable player. The thought was written off by most fans as a token pat on the back for a hearty role player. After all, a guard who averaged 3.5 points and 2 rebounds per game could hardly be a team’s most valuable player - right?
The loss, and its accompanying thoughts of what could have been, stayed with the Grizzlies, though. The seniors were forced to carry the bittersweet memory into their blossoming careers and lives. Most of the returning players chose to use the thought as motivation, and stayed in Missoula to play and train together.
Virgil Matthews carried the thought as well, but continued the routine he had followed for the past seven summers; the same routine that prepared him to embrace his first role as a leader at Centralia Junior College, where he led the team from the bottom of its conference to the third round of the national tournament; the same routine that prepared him to make the jump to a Division I school.
Matthews first returned to Federal Way, Wash. where his parents, his friends and his old teammates were. Aside from reconnecting with family, Federal Way gave him a chance to play every day with people that knew his game and would force him to work.
Then, Matthews boarded a plane and returned for his seventh-straight summer, formerly as a camper and now as a councilor, to his uncle’s basketball camp in Pennsylvania.
When Matthews returned to Missoula in the fall, he brought his confidence and his swagger back with him. As a senior, he was appointed as a captain, but expected to have the same role as he had during his junior year; backup and defensive specialist.
Prior to the season, however, senior center John Seyfert was hurt during practice and the Grizzlies lost a starter and one of their main contributors.
With few big bodies and even fewer who had earned the coach’s trust, Montana was forced to utilize a lineup with three guards. To the surprise of many, Matthews was the third guard who was thrust into the starting lineup.
In the team’s first game against Boise State, Matthews hardly left the floor; playing a game-high 39 minutes. he scored only four points, but hustled his way to nine rebounds and his defensive presence proved invaluable for the Grizzlies against the active Bronco guards.
While the Grizzlies led 40-34 at haltime, fatigue took it’s toll on the team’s green legs in the second half. The Bronco guards came out of halftime shooting and hot. The Grizzlies came out sluggish and never got their legs back under themselves, losing the game 90-69.
The game was disappointing, Matthews said, because his Montana team knew they were better than the Broncos. Also, because the Grizzlies expected more than to struggle through their conference schedule after promising practices and exhibition games to start the season.
Matthews said the team simply focused on starting halves stronger after the loss, hoping not to have another “Boise State”
The team seemed to buy in to coach Krystkowiak’s advice, as Montana won it’s next three games by an average of 15 points. Unfortunately, the team’s momentum stood to be broken by the visiting Stanford Cardinal.
The Cardinal had been ranked in the top-25 for much of the young season before falling to UC-Irvine days earlier. Stanford also had a starting lineup that boasted two All-American candidates in guards Chris Hernandez and Dan Grunfeld, and another potential NBA pick in center Matt Haryasz.
No Montana team had even sniffed the top 25 for decades, nor had they upset an elite opponent in nearly as long.
Once again, Matthews said that he was not intimidated, though. Stanford was not the caliber of team that they had been in the past, he said, despite starting the season ranked for the first time in a year and a half.
“We just took it like every other opponent,” Matthews said. “We didn’t even think about them like [a team to upset]. We wanted to beat them when they were undefeated and ranked, so when they got beat we knew they weren’t as good. We just worried about our defense and defensive principles and execution. We knew they’d exploit us if we made mistakes.”
The team did not discuss defensive match-ups before the game, Matthews said. Instead, they focused on playing defense together as a team and helping one another.
Then, just before the game tipped off in front of the largest crowd Missoula’s Adams Center had seen in years, Matthews was told he would be guarding Grunfeld for the game.
At a thick and nimble 6-foot-6, Grunfeld was at least three inches taller and roughly 30 pounds heavier than Matthews. The first team All-Pacific 10 selection was also infinitely better known and respected around the nation as an uncanny scorer.
Matthews had seen it before, though. He had already faced Tre Simmons and Brandon Roy and the occasional pro that showed up at his uncle’s basketball camp. He knew he belonged, he knew he could win and he knew what he had to do.
There was an unusual, excited vibe traveling through the stadium on that December night, and it grew and spread as Montana smacked the Cardinal in the mouth for a quick 13-point lead. It spiraled and widened as Montana held the lead into halftime by playing confident, brazen basketball.
Then, the feeling stalled and was replaced by a sickening silence as Grunfeld found his touch and exploded out of halftime. Matthews, still tired from his first half effort, was replaced and took a seat on the bench. Comparisons to Boise State were undeniable.
Matthews’ rest didn’t take long, though. “I just had to get my legs back under me,” he said.
When he returned the backpedaling stopped. First, he stole the ball from Grunsfeld and sprinted down the court for a two-handed dunk that put the crowd back on its feet. Then, just seconds later, he followed up a missed lay-up with another dunk that did more than raise the volume of the gym.
The crowd looked to Matthews and knew what his teammates had learned a season earlier, and again in the Washington game: they belonged, they could win and they were acting like it.
[Back to the Grizzly Times]
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New Year's Resolutions
by Joel Carlson, UM Sports Information |
After the Auld Lang Synes have been sung and the glasses of champagne raised for a toast, the morning of the first day of 2006 rolls around and the New Year’s resolutions that were made weeks ago – when all that was needed was some bold talk and nothing resembling action – sit there staring you in the face, begging for your attention. Will they get done, or will they get sent to the sideline to be addressed at some other time (maybe New Year’s 2007?).
The Montana head coaches and athletic director Jim O’Day are no different than you. They all have areas of their lives to which they’d like to make some changes. Here were the resolutions for 2006 that they made prior to getting out of the office before Christmas.
Tom Raunig - Cross Country, Track and Field |
Tom Raunig (cross country/track and field): My New Year’s resolution is to have a better track season than last year, which I feel is a pretty safe one, and also to continue the momentum we have going and sign some excellent recruits in April when the second signing period begins.
Kris Nord (tennis): My New Year’s resolution is to get on my new mountain bike as often as possible after the snow melts.
Allison Weston (volleyball): My number one resolution (which is so big that it will take all my resolution power to accomplish) is to stop procrastinating.
Robin Selvig (women’s basketball): To get back on my mountain bike and start working out.
Neil Sedgwick (women’s soccer): I resolve to enjoy Montana a little bit more than I have in the past. Fly fishing, more tubing, more hiking in the summer and more cross country skiing in the winter. They’re all things we’ve avoided because of the workload of being new to a program.
Bobby Hauck - Football |
Bobby Hauck (football): To be tougher, harder and pay more attention to detail. On the personal side, find more time with my kids somehow or someway.
Joanne Steele (women’s golf): My New Year’s resolution for the upcoming year is to be an advocate for organ donation. I just found out recently that I need to have a heart transplant. I want to try to touch as many people as I can and make them understand the need for organ donors and how it can save somebody’s life.
Larry Krystkowiak (men’s basketball): I need to find more quiet time with both my wife and my kids. My own boys and the boys on the basketball team are learning a lot at this time, so I need to be more patient with their mistakes and more thorough with their teaching.
Jim O'Day: My New Year’s resolution is to work on getting in better shape and taking time to exercise properly. I need to shed some pounds.
[Back to the Grizzly Times] |
| A letter from Director of Athletics Jim O'Day |
Montana A.D. Jim O'Day |
The future of Grizzly Athletics looks extremely bright as we head into 2006.
Men’s and women’s basketball had an incredible preseason run with Larry Krystkowiak’s squad sporting a 10-2 record heading into Big Sky Conference play. Robin Selvig’s Lady Griz are coming off another Holiday Inn Holiday Classic championship – their 23rd in 26 years - and have an equally impressive mark of 10-2. Both are expected to contend for league honors when March Madness rolls around. The last week of December was special for both programs as almost 16,000 fans filled the Adams Center for the two nights of the Holiday Inn Lady Griz Holiday Classic (vs. New Orleans: 3,862; vs. UNC Asheville: 4,349) and the Montana-University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee game (7,213).
It won’t be long until track and field, tennis and golf are in action, as well as spring schedules for soccer and women’s volleyball. Football spring drills will start in March, and finish in mid-April. The spring football game will take place Saturday, April 8, in Kalispell. After a short Christmas break, things heat up soon for many of our student-athletes. It’s that time of year.
***
Looking back on my first six months on the job, it’s easy to see why Grizzly Athletics is the envy of so many others: We have a great staff, and talented and dedicated student-athletes.
Each and every person within the department has something to do with the successes we enjoy. They spend countless hours trying to make UM Athletics better, and their talents do not go unnoticed. From the coaches who recruit outstanding student-athletes… to the support staff and administrative assistants who make the machine run so effectively… to those who keep the building maintained / cleaned / operational… to those within our administration. Everyone brings something special to the table. We are very fortunate!
***
As we end 2005, just a few notes of interest:
--- Because of the success of the revenue generating sports of football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball, it appears UM Athletics could be in a surplus situation for the second straight year following the deficit of Fiscal Year 2004. The more dollars we can generate in men’s and women’s basketball, the faster we will be able to pay off that $1 million deficit. Right now, it appears we will be able to pay off the debt at least two years early.
--- The Grizzly Scholarship Association has already made its scholarship commitments (more than $1 million) for Fiscal Year 2006 --- one of the earliest times ever. This is due to the great fund-raising work of the organization, its many dedicated volunteers and you, the fans. The GSA’s new license plate program has also topped the $40,000 mark in six short months, with funds toward an endowment for fifth-year scholarship assistance. This is a team effort on everyone’s part.
--- Our coaches, their staffs and the student-athletes should be congratulated on the excellent academic news from last semester (an average cumulative GPA of 3.00, 9 of 12 teams with a term GPA of 3.0 or better and 53% of our student-athletes with a term GPA of 3.0 or better. Women’s golf leads the way at 3.46, followed by women’s cross country at 3.42, women’s volleyball at 3.39 and men’s basketball at 3.21. Next up are women’s basketball at 3.18, women’s soccer at 3.14, women’s tennis at 3.11, women’s track at 3.10 and men’s tennis at 3.03). UM Athletics is doing things right, and it shows on the fields / courts / golf courses and in the classrooms.
--- Kent Haslam is joining our staff as the new Assistant Athletic Director of Development. He will split duties between UM Athletics and the UM Foundation, and comes to us from Northern Arizona. He will be a real asset to the department. Soon, we will also be hiring a new strength and conditioning coach for football, a head volleyball coach, and an executive director and assistant director for the Grizzly Scholarship Association. Greg Sundberg is currently filling the position of interim director of the GSA.
***
Best wishes as we head into 2006. It will be an exciting and great year for Grizzly Athletics. Happy New Year!
Jim O'Day - Director of Athletics
[Back to the Grizzly Times] |
| UM Athletic Department and GSA announcements |
Football signing day function slated for Feb. 1
The Griz Football Signing Day reception will be held Wednesday, Feb. 1, at the Doubletree Hotel Edgewater. The reception, which is open to the public, will start at 6:30 p.m. and last until 8:30 p.m. The cost of the event is $10 per person, $5 for those under the age of 12.
Come meet the Grizzly coaching staff as well as head coach Bobby Hauck, who will introduce and show film clips of the newest crop of Grizzly football players.
OFFICIAL RELEASE
Griz and Lady Griz merchandise available online
The Griz Shop on MontanaGrizzlies.com has all the latest Griz and Lady Griz logo wear for Montana fans of all shapes and sizes. Click below to visit the best online shopping anywhere for UM logo wear, keepsakes and memorabilia.
ORDER GRIZ AND LADY GRIZ MERCHANDISE
12th man jerseys on sale, funds to support Grizzly
Athletes
The Bookstore at The University of Montana, the Grizzly Scholarship
Association and UM Athletics have teamed up to create the 12th Man Program.
White Nike replica jerseys with the No. 12 are being sold with proceeds
going to the GSA for purchase of lettermen's jackets for all Griz letterwinners.
Be part of the team and get in the game buy picking up your 12th man jersey
only at The Bookstore or online (link below) at the Griz Shop.
ORDER
12TH MAN PROMOTIONAL JERSEY
Griz Nation wristbands on sale
All proceeds from the Griz Nation wristband will go to the Grizzly Scholarship Association at The University of Montana. Help Support the Griz by wearing the wristband and showing your pride in being the best fans in the country, which is now known as “Griz Nation." Thanks you for your support! Go Griz!
ORDER
ONLINE AT
THE GRIZ SHOP
Tickets on sale for annual "Driving the Griz" car raffle
Attention Griz fans, tickets are on sale for the third annual “Driving the Griz@ car raffle, sponsored by the Grizzly Scholarship Association. This 1998 Ford Mustang Cobra SVT will be raffled at halftime of the Griz-Sac State basketball game on Monday, February 27, 2006. Tickets are available at the GSA tailgate, GSA offices and Blue Ribbon Auto Body. All proceeds from the raffle benefit the Grizzly Athletic Scholarship Association. This is 1 of 542 Mustang Cobra SVT’s made in 1998 and was painted and detailed in Griz spirit by Blue Ribbon Auto Body. For more information, contact the Grizzly Scholarship Association at 243-6481.
Thanks again to Blue Ribbon Auto Body for their support of the G.S.A.
GSA apparel available
Grizzly Scholarship Association apparel is available at the GSA
offices in the Adams Event Center. There is an open invitation to all Griz
fans to check out the selection and help support the Montana
Grizzly Scholarship Association.
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