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The Lady Caucasians

citygriz

Well-known member
My maroon blood is not gender specific; I'd love to resume my early passion for the Lady Griz. I was hoping Shannon would shake up the tradition a bit, and maybe she still will. But here are the facts, 43 years (!) after Montana began playing intercollegiate women's basketball:
--No African-American coaches;
--Three African-American players (one a concession to Tinks's recruitment of Anthony Johnson);
--No African-Canadian players;
For somebody who is so proud of Montana for its early early recruitment of black players (Naesby Rinehart, Ray Howard, Zip Rhoades, Marv Suttles, John Lands, Ray Luicien, et.al), not to mention all the fabulous black talent that has come subsequently in both football and basketball, I remain absolutely flabbergasted by this record.

Y'all know my feelings about this. And you should all know that I ain't shuttin' up about it either.
 
Citay do you believe it a conscious decision by Montana coaches not to recruit African-American players, or is it simply too difficult to convince good African-American players to come to Montana?
 
Bengal visitor said:
Citay do you believe it a conscious decision by Montana coaches not to recruit African-American players, or is it simply too difficult to convince good African-American players to come to Montana?

We get male african-american players to come here just fine. So is it just a male/female thing? I doubt it.
 
A black coach could very well help to recruit a black player.

Robin could have hired a black women to be an assistant coach way back in 1992. Vicki Austin was working the shoe department of a national retail store and all robin had to do was call the store and ask for Vicki to be a coach instead of a shoe salesperson. but, Robin hired Shannon instead.
 
Citay, I applaud you for bringing this up again. I too have always been more than surprised at the lack of african-american players in Lady Griz basketball. And when you say the number: 3, it's actually shocking. Chris Mouat has had three african-american players at MSU-Northern in just the last six seasons.

Having said that, I don't believe for one second Robin intentionally refused to recruit black players. I know him some and I know coaches who know him really well, and I just know that's not the case. I think it is more a bye-product of a recruiting base/strategy that Robin had and absolutely never really wavered on. He always recruited Montana FIRST. At all times, that was his No. 1 focus. Then, the higher classifications in Idaho. Not a lot of black players playing at those schools. After that, he recruited small-town, lower-classification areas in Washington and Oregon. Again, those size schools in those states do not have a lot of african-american players either. That was Robin's recruiting base, that was as wide a net as he liked to cast, and it worked for him, for a long, long time. And as a result, the areas he recruited just didn't have a lot of african-american girls playing hoops.
 
George Ferguson said:
I think it is more a bye-product of a recruiting base/strategy that Robin had and absolutely never really wavered on. He always recruited Montana FIRST. At all times, that was his No. 1 focus. Then, the higher classifications in Idaho. Not a lot of black players playing at those schools. After that, he recruited small-town, lower-classification areas in Washington and Oregon. Again, those size schools in those states do not have a lot of african-american players either. That was Robin's recruiting base, that was as wide a net as he liked to cast, and it worked for him, for a long, long time. And as a result, the areas he recruited just didn't have a lot of african-american girls playing hoops.

George nailed it.
 
The racism in you bears it's ugly head once again.

Thread needs to be deleted....and you need to be banned for a few weeks.
 
HelenaHandBasket said:
George Ferguson said:
I think it is more a bye-product of a recruiting base/strategy that Robin had and absolutely never really wavered on. He always recruited Montana FIRST. At all times, that was his No. 1 focus. Then, the higher classifications in Idaho. Not a lot of black players playing at those schools. After that, he recruited small-town, lower-classification areas in Washington and Oregon. Again, those size schools in those states do not have a lot of african-american players either. That was Robin's recruiting base, that was as wide a net as he liked to cast, and it worked for him, for a long, long time. And as a result, the areas he recruited just didn't have a lot of african-american girls playing hoops.

George nailed it.


+1 At least some get it.
 
As it's already been stated, Selvig recruited mostly in MT and surrounding areas. I would believe that the recruiting budget was quite minimal in the infantile stages of Lady Griz BB. I am a firm believer that success and having "local" girls led to the LG having strong attendance for such a long time. I would also say that the talent gap between white girls and black girls is a lot smaller than between white guys and black guys. Some of the best women's players in the world are white: Elena Della Donne, Dianna Taurasi, Sue Bird, etc... Can we say the say the same about American white men? It's a different game altogether. There are a few MT girls playing elsewhere right now that are making a pretty good name for themselves (Barta & Roberts). Maybe Kailee Oliverson from Twin Bridges will commit, giving us both an African American and a local girl, and then we will win four consecutive national titles. Or maybe MSU will win the championship because they have two out of state African American players.
 
citay said:
My maroon blood is not gender specific; I'd love to resume my early passion for the Lady Griz. I was hoping Shannon would shake up the tradition a bit, and maybe she still will. But here are the facts, 43 years (!) after Montana began playing intercollegiate women's basketball:
--No African-American coaches;
--Three African-American players (one a concession to Tinks's recruitment of Anthony Johnson);
--No African-Canadian players;
For somebody who is so proud of Montana for its early early recruitment of black players (Naesby Rinehart, Ray Howard, Zip Rhoades, Marv Suttles, John Lands, Ray Luicien, et.al), not to mention all the fabulous black talent that has come subsequently in both football and basketball, I remain absolutely flabbergasted by this record.

Y'all know my feelings about this. And you should all know that I ain't shuttin' up about it either.

Irony..South Carolina women won the NCAA last year. Down here, that is not unusal. There is always a token Caucasian girl...they git it dun..
 
Citay, I cannot wait for basketball season. I worry about you the last few months, before a new season begins. I think you suffer from GRIZ basketball withdrawals. Hopefully, football season will help a little. :)
 
Lady Griz goals:
1. Beat Montana State
2. Be Big Sky Conference Champions
3. Win BSC Tourney
4. Participate in NCAA Tourney
5. UM Classroom success + graduate
 
mtgrizrule said:
Citay, I cannot wait for basketball season. I worry about you the last few months, before a new season begins. I think you suffer from GRIZ basketball withdrawals. Hopefully, football season will help a little. :)
Exactly!
 
This thread is embarrassing. Skin color doesn't guarantee anything. Where the lady griz have missed lately is not getting great athletes, regardless of color. The rest of this topic is sad.
 
If you want to make a great decision about anything in your life, you need to consider all the alternatives. Bad decisions happen when you overlook possible solutions.

If you want to recruit great athletes, you look at all possibilities, regardless of color.

Not doing this is what is sad.
 
citay said:
If you want to make a great decision about anything in your life, you need to consider all the alternatives. Bad decisions happen when you overlook possible solutions.

If you want to recruit great athletes, you look at all possibilities, regardless of color.

Not doing this is what is sad.

But sometimes there are limiting factors and you have to choose from the alternatives available.
 
citay said:
If you want to make a great decision about anything in your life, you need to consider all the alternatives. Bad decisions happen when you overlook possible solutions.

If you want to recruit great athletes, you look at all possibilities, regardless of color.

Not doing this is what is sad.

Sophia Stiles. 9x state champion in hurdles and jumps. Multi GPOY in Montana. Pretty athletic.

To insinuate the staff (on a public message board) is racist is a pretty strong stance. And I don't agree with it.
 
Proud Griz Man said:
Lady Griz goals:
1. Beat Montana State
2. Be Big Sky Conference Champions
3. Win BSC Tourney
4. Participate in NCAA Tourney
5. UM Classroom success + graduate

If they achieve #1-5 above, why would any logical individual care about the LG skin color, nationality, ethnicity, religion, political affiliation, sexual orientation, coffee-drinker or tea-drinker, iPhone or Android, etc. ?
 
I have nothing but respect for Robin Selvig and what he accomplished at Montana. He took a fledgling program and built it into a "Big Sky power." He recruited Montana first. If he'd had a racist bone in his body, he would not have recruited Native Americans, which he did probably better than any other program in the country. So he had a limited recruiting budget. Could only go to Idaho, Oregon and Washington out of state. He pulled some very good players in from those states. And he remained loyal to Montana when he could have made a lot more money elsewhere.

This is not about racism; this is about widening our scope of recruiting, to include the best possible players we can recruit.

So now you're the Lady Griz coach, citay. What do you do? Glad you asked!

I go to "Go Griz."
I click first on "Football", then "Basketball."
I click on "Roster" for each one.
I identify all the black athletes, probably thirty or more.
I ask, one at a time, if I could have a quick meeting with them in my office.
I offer coffee and donuts. (Would that get me in trouble with the NCAA?)
"Hi, Ahmaad. I notice you're pretty good, or you wouldn't be on scholarship at Montana."
(Side note: I met Ahmaad's Mom at a USF game. Very cool lady!)
"Say, Ahmaad. Let me ask you. In your high school, in your neighborhood, even in your family, do you know of any female players that might be good enough to play for us here at Montana? Even a player just slightly under the radar?"
No? Okay, thanks Ahmad.
"Hi Michael."
"Hi Sayeed."
"Hi Donaven."
I say to the current staff--what is so difficult about this? Are you telling me you would not come up with ONE prospect out of such meetings? That over the next 47 years you couldn't come up with...THREE?
C'mon all you football fans! The state of Montana has produced some great football players, several of NFL caliber. We should all be proud of that. But where would our football program be without all the great black athletes that have come through Wash-Griz?
To me, this is just a no-brainer.
I fervently hope Shannan and her staff turn over this new leaf at Montana. Maybe next time we get one of those 16-seeds in an NCAA tournament, we won't be humbled like we've been the past decade.
(And in anticipation of the naysayers, let me remind you. The last four times the men went to the Big Dance they too were humbled twice--but did beat Nevada, and almost took down New Mexico. That would never have happened without the black talent on those teams.)
 
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