Everywhere you look, there’s a bit of Montana
Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 2:30 pm
The dancing bears are everywhere.
Grizzly bears, that is.
This year’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament has a distinct Montana flavor. Three former Griz coaches join current skipper Wayne Tinkle in leading their teams into the Big Dance.
The ex-coaches are Old Dominion’s Blaine Taylor, Utah State’s Stew Morrill and California’s Mike Montgomery. They prowled the sidelines in Missoula from 1978 to 1998, starting with Montgomery and ending with Taylor.
“If you look at the field of 64 and start looking at numbers, I mean how many North Carolina guys are in there? How many Duke guys are in there?” said Taylor, who was raised in Missoula and coached UM from 1991 to 1998. “There’s more Montana guys in that tournament than anyplace. It’s a pretty good story really, just the common thread and background.”
Montgomery, Morrill, Taylor and Tinkle were all dedicated to Grizzly basketball at the same time for a short while. At least in a manner of speaking.
It was back in 1984 when Montgomery was head coach, Morrill was an assistant, Taylor a graduate assistant/JV coach and Tinkle a prized recruit from Spokane, Wash. Tinkle’s final season of prep basketball was in 1984-85.
“Then when I came to school here they did away with JV and Blaine went to Loyola (Sacred Heart),” recalled Tinkle, who played for Montgomery for one season. “Then Blaine came back two years later and was an assistant for Stew when I was playing for him.”
All four coaches credit Jud Heathcote, the first skipper to lead the Griz to an NCAA berth in 1975, with laying the groundwork. Taylor believes Heathcote has helped as many guys in coaching as Dean Smith and Bob Knight.
“I got a nice phone call from Jud on Monday, and it goes way back when to him, that tree,” Tinkle said. “It’s a neat deal when you think about it.”
What makes it remarkable is that many outsiders consider Missoula to be – in the words Everett McGill in the movie “O Brother Where Art Thou” – a geographical oddity, two weeks from everywhere. That may be an exaggeration, but the challenges for a men’s coach are many.
“I joke it’s kind of like New York – if you can make it there you can make it anywhere,” Taylor said. “It’s not an easy job by any stretch of the imagination. It’s a challenge recruiting-wise, it’s a challenge scheduling-wise because people don’t really want to come and play there because they don’t like to fight the weather and they don’t like the fact they don’t recruit there much.
“Then the expectations, given the success in women’s basketball and football. ... I remember when I was there we beat Washington four straight years. If we beat Washington in football we’d have a holiday for a week. We beat them in basketball and it’s kind of like, ‘Hey, that’s what we’re supposed to do.’ ”
Reaching the NCAA tournament has become a measuring stick at Montana. But if you review the history of the men’s program – noting that Montgomery never earned a bid in eight years at the helm – Tinkle’s feat of making it three times in six seasons, including two as Larry Krystkowiak’s assistant, is significant.
Credit Morrill for kick-starting Montana’s semi-regular string of NCAA berths 19 years ago. He ended a 17-year dry spell in 1991, then Taylor took the ball from there, matching Morrill’s feat the following season.
“Back in 1991 it was just our second trip ever,” Morrill said. “The eight years I was with Mike (Montgomery) we were just unfortunate. We were in the championship game of the Big Sky tourney four times but didn’t get there.
“Then my five years as head coach we were only in one time in the conference championship game and we won it. Part of that was because we were in Missoula.”
Although he hasn’t been on Montana’s staff for 20 years, Morrill’s presence is still felt here.
“Stew is the one guy I feel the most close to,” said Tinkle, who played for him for three seasons. “We’ve had conversations over the years, the last few years since I’ve been the coach here. We always see each other out when we’re recruiting at the same spot and we’ll have a meal together.
“Then Blaine is always great to sit down and visit with when we meet each other at the Final Four or tournaments in July, and Monty as well.”
Morrill and Taylor remember what it was like to be in Tinkle’s shoes, earning their first ticket to the Big Dance at Montana. It took Stew five years to get it done. Taylor did it in his first season, then fell short for four years before doing it again.
“All of a sudden it just seems like you’ve arrived when that happens,” Taylor said. “I remember we were really on a mission when I was an assistant there to get to the NCAAs. For all the good years that Mike Montgomery had, and even Stew Morrill’s early years, getting to the tournament seemed to be somewhat elusive.
“I was able to go as an assistant and twice as a head coach. People in Montana, they just love it. It kind of makes the world go round, makes people proud of where they’re from.”
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Grizzly bears, that is.
This year’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament has a distinct Montana flavor. Three former Griz coaches join current skipper Wayne Tinkle in leading their teams into the Big Dance.
The ex-coaches are Old Dominion’s Blaine Taylor, Utah State’s Stew Morrill and California’s Mike Montgomery. They prowled the sidelines in Missoula from 1978 to 1998, starting with Montgomery and ending with Taylor.
“If you look at the field of 64 and start looking at numbers, I mean how many North Carolina guys are in there? How many Duke guys are in there?” said Taylor, who was raised in Missoula and coached UM from 1991 to 1998. “There’s more Montana guys in that tournament than anyplace. It’s a pretty good story really, just the common thread and background.”
Montgomery, Morrill, Taylor and Tinkle were all dedicated to Grizzly basketball at the same time for a short while. At least in a manner of speaking.
It was back in 1984 when Montgomery was head coach, Morrill was an assistant, Taylor a graduate assistant/JV coach and Tinkle a prized recruit from Spokane, Wash. Tinkle’s final season of prep basketball was in 1984-85.
“Then when I came to school here they did away with JV and Blaine went to Loyola (Sacred Heart),” recalled Tinkle, who played for Montgomery for one season. “Then Blaine came back two years later and was an assistant for Stew when I was playing for him.”
All four coaches credit Jud Heathcote, the first skipper to lead the Griz to an NCAA berth in 1975, with laying the groundwork. Taylor believes Heathcote has helped as many guys in coaching as Dean Smith and Bob Knight.
“I got a nice phone call from Jud on Monday, and it goes way back when to him, that tree,” Tinkle said. “It’s a neat deal when you think about it.”
What makes it remarkable is that many outsiders consider Missoula to be – in the words Everett McGill in the movie “O Brother Where Art Thou” – a geographical oddity, two weeks from everywhere. That may be an exaggeration, but the challenges for a men’s coach are many.
“I joke it’s kind of like New York – if you can make it there you can make it anywhere,” Taylor said. “It’s not an easy job by any stretch of the imagination. It’s a challenge recruiting-wise, it’s a challenge scheduling-wise because people don’t really want to come and play there because they don’t like to fight the weather and they don’t like the fact they don’t recruit there much.
“Then the expectations, given the success in women’s basketball and football. ... I remember when I was there we beat Washington four straight years. If we beat Washington in football we’d have a holiday for a week. We beat them in basketball and it’s kind of like, ‘Hey, that’s what we’re supposed to do.’ ”
Reaching the NCAA tournament has become a measuring stick at Montana. But if you review the history of the men’s program – noting that Montgomery never earned a bid in eight years at the helm – Tinkle’s feat of making it three times in six seasons, including two as Larry Krystkowiak’s assistant, is significant.
Credit Morrill for kick-starting Montana’s semi-regular string of NCAA berths 19 years ago. He ended a 17-year dry spell in 1991, then Taylor took the ball from there, matching Morrill’s feat the following season.
“Back in 1991 it was just our second trip ever,” Morrill said. “The eight years I was with Mike (Montgomery) we were just unfortunate. We were in the championship game of the Big Sky tourney four times but didn’t get there.
“Then my five years as head coach we were only in one time in the conference championship game and we won it. Part of that was because we were in Missoula.”
Although he hasn’t been on Montana’s staff for 20 years, Morrill’s presence is still felt here.
“Stew is the one guy I feel the most close to,” said Tinkle, who played for him for three seasons. “We’ve had conversations over the years, the last few years since I’ve been the coach here. We always see each other out when we’re recruiting at the same spot and we’ll have a meal together.
“Then Blaine is always great to sit down and visit with when we meet each other at the Final Four or tournaments in July, and Monty as well.”
Morrill and Taylor remember what it was like to be in Tinkle’s shoes, earning their first ticket to the Big Dance at Montana. It took Stew five years to get it done. Taylor did it in his first season, then fell short for four years before doing it again.
“All of a sudden it just seems like you’ve arrived when that happens,” Taylor said. “I remember we were really on a mission when I was an assistant there to get to the NCAAs. For all the good years that Mike Montgomery had, and even Stew Morrill’s early years, getting to the tournament seemed to be somewhat elusive.
“I was able to go as an assistant and twice as a head coach. People in Montana, they just love it. It kind of makes the world go round, makes people proud of where they’re from.”
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