As expected, Shannon Schweyen will been named as Robin Selvig’s successor as the head coach of the University of Montana women’s basketball team, according to four unattached sources close to the situation.
Schweyen, formerly Shannon Cate, was an All-American player for Selvig in the early 1990s before spending the last 24 years on his staff as an assistant, including the last three seasons as his head assistant. The hire is pending approval from the Montana Board of Regents and the approval of University of Montana president Royce Engstrom.
The official announcement from UM is expected next week, two sources within the athletic department confirmed.
Schweyen’s hiring comes on the heels of Selvig’s abrupt retirement announcement. Selvig took over for the UM women’s basketball program in 1978 and mounted one of the most successful runs in the history the sport. His teams produced 36 winning seasons, 31 20-win campaigns, 24 conference championships and 21 NCAA tournament appearances. Twenty-one times Selvig was voted by his peers as his conference’s coach of the year.
Under Selvig, Montana dominated the Northwest Women’s Basketball League, then the Mountain West Conference, then the Big Sky Conference. In Missoula, playing in front of some of the nation’s most dedicated fans, Montana went 511-61 (.893) at Dahlberg Arena with Selvig as coach.
Schweyen has played an integral role in the success. As a player, she led Montana to four NCAA Tournament bids, three regular-season conference titles and an overall record of 103-18. She was the Big Sky Conference MVP as a junior and a senior and earned Big Sky Tournament MVP honors her final three seasons. She finished her career as Montana’s all-time leading scorer with 2,172 points, a record that still stands. She was a Kodak first-team All-America her senior season in 1992, the last BSC women’s player to earn such a distinction. She scored 34 points in an 85-74 upset win over sixth-seeded Wisconsin in the 1992 NCAA Tournament.
During the Big Sky’s 50th anniversary in 2013, the league named Schweyen as the No. 1 greatest female athlete in the history of the conference. After a brief career playing professionally in Spain, Schweyen returned to Missoula and joined Selvig’s staff in 1993.
As a coach, Schweyen has had a hand in 13 more tournament teams, 14 regular-season Big Sky banners and 511 of Selvig’s 865 victories.
The Billings Central alum is married to Montana tack and field director Brian Schweyen. They have three daughters: Jordyn, Shelby and Sheridan.