By now, anybody following Griz basketball is well aware of the lengthy relationships Travis DeCuire has with his assistant coaches. Montana’s third-year head coach has known Marlon Stewart and Rachi Wortham for more than two decades and discovered Chris Cobb during a job interview when DeCuire was still aiding former Montana head man Mike Montgomery at Cal.
What is not as well known is DeCuire’s bond with the staff at Whitworth, the Grizzlies’ only exhibition opponent.
“Mercer Island High School is the connection,” DeCuire said about 27 hours before the Grizzlies were scheduled to tip off with Whitworth Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Dahlberg Arena.
Legendary Mercer Island head coach Ed Pepple
Before DeCuire ever came to Montana to play for Blaine Taylor, he was a highly skilled point guard at Mercer Island High in the Seattle area. He was coached by Washington high school legend Ed Pepple and got his basketballs from a Pepple’s young grandson, Matt Logie.
Nearly three decades later, the friendship has endured, as Logie brings his Whitworth squad into Dahlberg Arena for the third straight exhibition game between the two schools.
“We’ve been crossing paths now for almost 30 years. For me there is a lot of history in the relationship,” said DeCuire, who returned to Mercer Island as an assistant to Pepple when Logie was finally old enough to play. With DeCuire on staff and Logie on the court, Mercer Island won a 3A state championship.
DeCuire then accepted the head coaching position at Sammamish High, coaching against Mercer Island as Pepple and Logie won a second straight 3A title.
While Logie has brought the Pirates to Missoula each of the last two seasons to help both teams prep for their respective seasons, Wednesday night will add a special touch to the ongoing series. Pepple, who won 952 games and four state championships before retiring in 2009 after 49 years on the bench, will be on the sideline as an honorary coach.
“I expect them all to be in maroon sport coats. Marlon and I will be the only islanders without maroon sport coats,” DeCuire joked.
In his time as the head man at Whitworth, Logie has built a Division III power. The Pirates have won the Northwest Conference title in each of Logie’s five seasons in Spokane and have reached the NCAA Division III tournament five times, extending their season to the Sweet 16 twice.
Logie has been named NWC coach of the year three times and has won at least 23 games each season. It’s that penchant for success that has factored into DeCuire’s decision to stick with Whitworth as Montana’s exhibition opponent.
“It’s a good game because it’s a team that runs offense, executes and knows how to find weaknesses in your defense and take advantage of it and force you to make adjustments,” DeCuire said. “We need that early. We need to be forced to come out of timeouts and execute and play the game the right way as opposed to just coming out and blow someone out by 50 doing all the wrong things. It’s a learning experience.”
That became obvious watching DeCuire lead his team through its pregame preparation. Montana’s coach walked his team through several defensive situations Tuesday afternoon to ready the Griz for Whitworth’s complex offensive sets.
Last season, the Pirates took an early second-half lead and remained competitive with Montana well into the second half before the Griz finally took control with a 16-0 run that put the game out of reach. The year before, Whitworth hung close for the better part of the first half before Montana strung together a 15-5 run to build a comfortable advantage before the teams went to half.
Contrary to last year, when Whitworth gave the Griz a good look at what they could expect in their 2015 opener against Boise State, DeCuire expects that this season’s game will provide Montana a chance to play against a few looks it will receive during conference play. Montana’s closed-door scrimmage against Colorado State in Fort Collins this weekend will help them prepare for their non-conference slate, which begins Nov. 11 at USC.
“Their deal is going to be 3-point shooting, ball movement, ball screens, things that stretch your defense out, which are weaknesses of the Pack,” DeCuire said of Whitworth. “On defense they will change some things up and make us a think a little bit and try to figure out where we can get a good shot. For them it’s more down the road in terms of what we will get out of our matchup with them.”
