Here in the throes of yet another record setting-football season, it’s no doubt premature to talk about what the University of Montana program has done under the seven-year tutelage of Bobby Hauck.
While not one to ever take anything for granted, I can’t help myself.
Admittedly, I have become accustomed to winning over my tenure – first as the voice of Lady Griz basketball and for the past 17 years broadcasting football and men’s basketball – but the run of this football staff is at once unprecedented and amazing.
And because it is the nature and no doubt, I suppose, the right of fans in some corners, it also has gone unappreciated.
But here with less than one-third of the regular season remaining and post-season play in the offing and for the sake of pure enjoyment on my part, indulge me while I step back and smell a rose or two if you will.
The Grizzlies are in the midst of a dominant Big Sky Conference run that has seen them go undefeated in three of the last four years, with the only blemish since 2005 coming at Ogden in the league opener a year ago.
Four-year UM seniors have tasted defeat just once in their career and at this point the Grizzlies have lost six league games in seven years. In itself that conference domination is not unprecedented in school history, as the Lady Griz in the late ‘80s won 56 straight league games in the old Mountain West Conference, but when it comes to football nothing in history even approaches this kind of result.
They are on the verge of capturing a record 12th straight Big Sky championship and are guaranteed their 17th straight post-season appearance.
Not only is the school’s ranking in the weekly top 25 customary, so is their listing in the top 10 of FCS football. The Grizzlies have not finished lower than 14th-ranked in the last 16 years and in 12 of those seasons they completed the season in the top 10 of elite programs.
Hauck, who stands fourth in BSC victories, made it to 60 wins two years quicker than any coach in league history and trails only the venerable Don Read in the number of victories. And Hauck’s been at UM three less years.
Only the powerful Oklahoma teams of the late 1940s and early 50s won more consecutive league championships (14) and Hauck has won twice as many league titles as anyone before him and remains the only coach to win six championships in a row.
This phenomenal domination has not occurred because the University of Montana has far better football players than their opponents or has a home fan base that traditionally leads the nation in attendance.
It also isn’t because Washington Grizzly Stadium provides such a home-field advantage that the Grizzlies have only lost there 20 times since 1986, or because the schedule is lacking in quality opponents.
The program has kept progressing to unequalled heights – which in itself is far more difficult than getting a program rolling in the first place – because of Hauck’s leadership and sheer determination.
And while he is quick to point out the long tenure and quality of his staff, it’s the guy at the top that ultimately bears the responsibility for hiring the right coaches, selecting the right players, and then mentoring their academic and athletic progress. He’s also the guy who gets the heat when something goes wrong.
When you are dealing with young student-athletes, it doesn’t come without error or hardship, but in Hauck’s case nobody has done it better.