This summer’s “Montana Griz Who’s Back of the Week Award” went (surprise!) to the Montana Grizzlies – not shocking, of course, but still one had to feel a little jolt of possibility on seeing it confirmed by first-place billing in both the coaches and media polls of the Big Sky Conference.
Bobby Hauck, forever the most astute at seeing the yearly Big Sky media days for what they are – a place to break news that’s obvious and ask questions that can’t possibly have answers yet – even allowed himself a little satisfaction that his peers seem to agree with his own evaluation of his roster.
“I think we have a good team, and I was…I suppose I’d say I was pleased that other people feel the same way,” Hauck said. “It’s always nice to have that recognition.” (Two weeks later, Hauck was more typically taciturn at Montana’s opening practice of fall camp: “Now that we’re started, I don’t have to talk about that anymore,” he quipped, and then later, a perfect deadpan, “Well, I don’t want to be picked last.”)
This will be Hauck’s fourth season in his second stint back at his alma mater, a return marked a half-decade ago by general rejoicing among some elements of the Griz fan base and the immediate appearance on social media of the hashtag #RTD, or Return to Dominance. If that means a consistent top-10 place in the national rankings and a playoff win or two every year (it doesn’t, and Hauck would stare silently, in his well-practiced manner, at anyone foolish enough to suggest that it does), the Griz are already there; if it means national titles, they might never be, at least as long as the North Dakota State steamroller stubbornly remains in the subdivision.
Consider the Big Sky crown a happy middle ground, a worthy goal and one that would invigorate a demanding Montana fan base – Hauck’s last conference title, won in 2009 before his departure for UNLV, capped a run of 12 straight for the Griz and they haven’t won that prize since.
That fallow period has done little to stunt the sense of importance around the Montana program, or the resources the Griz use to maintain it. While most schools bring to the Big Sky Kickoff, along with the required coach and two players, one chief and perhaps one assistant SID, Montana had its own three-person backfield – SID Eric Taber, assistant AJ Crooks and radio play-by-play man Riley Corcoran, surrounding Hauck like a flotilla whenever he got up to do TV appearances.
The Montana players at the event – wide receiver Mitch Roberts and cornerback Justin Ford – toed the party line a little closer than their coach did. The protocol for Griz players at this event is well-defined – be confident but not interesting, gracious and courteous and well-spoken and above all, boring.
“Being ranked No. 1, it’s obviously an honor to get high regards from others,” Roberts said, “but at the end of the day, we still have to go work, go to fall camp ready to go and get ready for the season.”
Roberts, the picture-perfect Missoulian, attended Sentinel and went straight to the Griz, following in the footsteps of his older brother Ben, who also played receiver for UM (Ben recently had his first kid, making Mitch an uncle, which drew the biggest smile from him out of any topic raised at the Kickoff). Roberts, whose mother Cheri Bratt was an outstanding Lady Griz in the 1980s, will have plenty of expectations on him this year as the most experienced returning receiver on a team that’s also trying to break in a new quarterback. His summer prep? Working around town for a landscaping company.
Sitting just to Roberts’ right, Ford, in skinny dreadlocks and diamond earrings, seemed to be enjoying his newfound celebrity. The topic of the transfer portal has dominated conversation around college sports, with coaches and administrators alike droning warnings about career-ruining consequences. Ford is one of the few to find exactly the success he pictured for himself at his new school.
A cornerback from Cox Mill, North Carolina, Ford first attended Golden West College, a JUCO in California, then Louisville, had a brief dalliance with Kansas, and (back in the transfer portal again!) finally made his way to Missoula.
In his first fall with the Griz, he went on a jaw-dropping streak – nine straight games with an interception, a progressively shocking performance that combined skill and serendipity like a tightrope walker over Niagara Falls. He punctuated one of his three defensive touchdowns for the Griz last year with a flying tomahawk dunk over the goal line against Southern Utah, his spontaneous audition to be the next Jumpman logo. His reaction to the polls was slightly less flamboyant.
“It’s good to be acknowledged, but it doesn’t really change too much for us,” Ford said. “Regardless, it’s going to be game by game, we just have to get better.”
In their disparate career paths and synonymous, cliched responses, Ford and Roberts are just about the perfect avatars for Montana’s program heading into the season. Fifteen years ago, the spines of Hauck’s championship teams were almost exclusively Montana kids. Now, that’s impossible if you want to contend — but for as much as he grouses about the transfer portal, Hauck, more than just surviving the new world order, is characteristically demanding that his team be the best at it.
This season, along with players from Missoula and Kalispell and Helena, the Griz will start a quarterback from San Diego State, a running back from Citrus College and two offensive linemen from the University of Nebraska – and that’s just on offense. It might be more complicated than a decade ago, but whether they’re from Sentinel or Cox Mill, the mission is the same: Get talented players. Make them buy into the culture. Win games.
“I think that Division I college football has evolved into, you don’t plan for the future, you plan for this August,” Hauck said Monday. “That’s the way it’s got to be approached. … There’s certain aspects of any activity or job that you may not really embrace, but if it’s integral to the success, you’d better be good at it. I think we’re good at the recruiting piece and I think we’re good at putting a team together.”
It’s pragmatic. It can be boring, at least if you’re hunting for a quote. It also appears to work, and it’s why even the Death Valley-dry recitations at the Big Sky Kickoff revealed something about this fall’s Griz.
“This is my last year, and hopefully we can make the most of it,” Mitch Roberts said.
“I’m just excited to see our team come together,” Justin Ford said.
The Griz are back, the polls said.
We’ll soon see if they’re right.
