It was a lighthearted moment during a press conference that often touched on difficult issues. It put everybody at ease and it reaffirmed why Montana boosters and administrators zeroed in on Bobby Hauck from the early moments of a stressful coaching search.
Sitting with athletic director Kent Haslam to his right and his wife and three daughters to his left in front of a packed crowd at Washington-Grizzly Stadium’s Canyon Club, Hauck was queried by a reporter wanting to know how the coach would make the changes necessary to welcome current players into his system.
[restrict paid=”true”]“How do you make that amalgamation?” the reporter asked.
“Well, we are – what was that last word? You’re not from Butte,” Hauck said as the room exploded in laugher.
Eleven days ago as Montana’s search began, Haslam said he wanted a coach who knew it was Lewistown and not Lewiston and one who knew how to correctly pronounce Havre (it’s Have-er). What he got was a coach who could wisecrack about the history of Butte with one reporter and jokingly squabble with another about who was Big Timber’s finest citizen.
“I’m thrilled to be back as the head coach of my alma mater for the second time,” said Hauck, who was fittingly introduced as the Grizzlies’ 37th head coach Friday morning. “It’s a real privilege and an honor to be the head coach here. This place is a special place for the Hauck family.”
Aside from his famous brother Tim, who became a Montana legend in the No. 37 jersey before a long NFL career, Bobby listed his wife, Stacy, parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles, brothers, sisters and cousins who attended the university and expressed hope that his youngest daughter Elise would eventually carry on the tradition of Hauck’s studying at Montana.
On Friday, Hauck wasn’t just returning to the university where he studied, ran track and later coached. Hauck was returning home – and it couldn’t have come at a more important time for his beloved Grizzlies.
Fifteen years ago when Hauck was introduced as the program’s 33rd head coach, the football team was a year removed from a national championship and the school was in the beginning of an attendance boom that saw money pour in with freshmen attending at such rates some were stashed in dormitory study rooms.
This time around, budget issues loom heavy as the school’s attendance has cratered and the football team is in the midst of its worst three-year stretch in three decades. The Grizzlies have missed the playoffs each of the last two seasons, both times losing in decided fashion to their rival Montana State in the games that decided their fate.
It is an unthinkable low – so Montana turned to Hauck. He is the only one who could fix the issues that have persisted since he left. Well, maybe one of the only ones.
“I appreciate Dave Dickenson for not taking the job,” Hauck joked.
The coaching search was quick. Sources told Skyline Sports the day it began, that Hauck had emerged as a favorite to return as coach before the Grizzlies ever publicly ended their relationship with former coach Bob Stitt. There was little to indicate that ever changed in the 11 days the search lasted. Matters were pressing and powerful people – those with money and those with university titles alongside their names – needed a fix and they thought it would be Hauck.
There is plenty of reason to think that it would work: During Hauck’s seven years as coach Montana won 80 games, dominated the Big Sky Conference, visited the national championship game three times, and sent 17 players to the NFL. Yet, there were a few reasons that struck doubt in some people’s minds: Contrary to his first experience as Montana’s head coach when he inherited a roster full of kids who only knew the Griz as a dominant FCS team, he will this time oversee a team consisting of players who were no older than 13 the last time UM won a conference title. There is some concern that the Big Sky has become more difficult, an assertion Hauck found a way to disagree with, endearing himself to Griz faithful once again.
“I think the Big Sky Conference is what it is and is what is has been,” Hauck said. “I think the one difference right now and has been for the numerous years is there is not Montana at the top. When Joe (Glenn) was here, and Mick (Dennehy) and in Don (Read)’s tenure and my seven years here there was always Montana at the top.”
Three years ago Hauck wanted to come back to Montana, but his candidacy didn’t survive the interview process. When he retires, he’ll return to the state where “90 percent of his friends reside”.
To Hauck, it’s a good thing he didn’t get the job because he needed to step away from leading a program. He felt burned out and even stale in his approach.
“Both from a research standpoint,” Hauck said, “and an affirmation standpoint of what I believe it takes to be a good football team, the trip to San Diego State was good. It was a productive three years.”
Added Haslam, “I believe he is even more prepared to assume this position in Grizzly athletics.”
Hauck certainly appeared to be all the while retaining his trademark charisma. He accepted blame for his highly publicized spat with the Kaimin, even giving the first question of the media portion of the press conference to student reporter Nick Puckett as an olive branch. Before handing the microphone over to the media, Hauck expressed his desire to make Montana the gold standard in combating sexual assault.
While Hauck appeared to have matured, when it came to football he seemed like the same old Bobby. He talked about loving being on the sidelines. About loving practice. About loving spring ball “because you’re just coaching guys.” When he got a chance to remind people of his hate for the Bobcats, he took it, ribbing a young relative wearing blue shirt to the press conference. When he got the chance to reassure fans that he was the same coach, he harkened back to his roots.
“We’re going to go back to playing hard,” Hauck assured. “ … We are going to play hard. We are going to be physical. We’re going to play Montana football. We’re going to be Montana tough, Montana strong – all those things we were the last time I was here.”
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