• Hi Guest, want to participate in the discussions, keep track of read/unread posts and more? Create your free account and increase the benefits of your eGriz.com experience today!

Golden Griz Boosters

citygriz

Well-known member
Given the underwhelming response to my previous thread, “Our Boosters—Who are they?”, I decided to create my own list. Understand, while I have met a couple of these people, I have no relationship with any of them; my name would mean Jack. Nor do I believe I am defaming them in any manner since any information imparted here is open source, readily available on the internet. But if I wanted to insure that we keep a DeCuire, and I needed bucks to do that, here’s where I’d look.

FORMER GRIZ IN THE NBA: Oops, bad start. Unlike football, where Kroy Biermann, Tim Hauck, Trumaine Johnson and Dan Carpenter have savored some of the incredible riches out there for today’s pro athletes, we’ve hit a goose egg when it comes to basketball. But if you can imagine the largesse a Damian Lilliard has showered on Weber State, it gives us hope for the future. Michael Oguine?

THE MONTANA COACHING TREE: Okay, so we don’t have a Lillard, but we do have several coaches who have used Montana as a springboard to great success and considerable wealth in the coaching profession. To wit:
--Mike Montgomery: Back in my days as a callow youth, I asked Montgomery, then still at Montana, if he intended to leave us. “Make me an offer!” he shot back. And boy, did they. First Stanford, then the Warriors, and finally Cal. After 18 years at Stanford, Montgomery signed a four-year, $10 million contract with Golden State. Though he was fired after two years, he finished his coaching career at Cal, where he made roughly $1.45 million per year for six years.
--Larry Krystkowiak: The ex-coach of the Bucks has, well, the other kind of bucks too. In 2015, on top of the money he made as a player and coach in the NBA, he signed a contract extension with Utah that will make him $19 million through 2022-23. He does have a lot of mouths to feed, but hopefully a residual loyalty to his Alma Mater as well.
--Wayne Tinkle: Ditto above. In 2016, Tinks signed an extension through the 2022-23 season , such that if he finishes his tenure there will have made him $13.4 million.

THE DENNIS WASHINGTON FAMILY: Nuff said! The legendary namesake of Washington Grizzly Stadium, married to our ex-Homecoming Queen, Phyllis Johnson, parlayed a small road construction company into a vast, multi-industry empire. The sons Kyle and Kevin have carried on the tradition, with their recent $7 million donation to the Champions Center. When you’ve got a yacht worth $250 million, you’re not going to be homeless anytime soon.

THE NIKE CONNECTION: Former Griz basketball stars Scott and Craig Zanon have long been associated with Nike, but the big hitter here is Eric Sprunk, a Montana native now Chief Operating Officer at Nike. Sprunk was at Price Waterhouse, the prestigious accounting firm, before joining Nike, where his most recent salary is listed at $2.9 million per year, before the exercising of stock options, worth a lot more. Doesn’t take much research to learn Sprunk loves Montana, and returns at every opportunity, especially to Flathead Lake.

JEFF AMENT: Bass guitarist and one of the founding members of Pearl Jam. Ament is an odd talent—a musician who also excelled at sports, especially basketball, where he was a high school star at Big Sandy. According to press reports, the Montana grad remains a big Griz fan, and catches games whenever he can. One somewhat spurious website lists his net worth at $70 million, but whether that’s accurate or not, he’s got some bucks in his pocket—and loves Griz basketball.

DEBORAH MCWHINNEY: The daughter of legendary Montana athlete, Dick Doyle, the NCAA discus champion in 1950, McWhinney has forged an amazing career as a wealth management specialist, first at Charles Schwab, later at Citicorp. Though I believe she is now retired, she remains a board director at numerous corporations. According to Fortune Magazine, back in 2007 she was one of the highest paid corporate women in America, with total compensation for that one year of $8.9 million. I believe she contributed to the construction of the Champions Center.

BOH DICKEY: Boh, from Helena, majored in Accounting at Montana, where he met his future wife, Marilyn (nee Brown) before embarking on a career at the accounting firm, Haskins & Sells in Seattle. Like Eric Sprunk, he used his accounting knowledge and connections as a springboard to a career at major corporations, eventually becoming President and Chief Operating Officer at Safeco, before moving on to become Chairman of Clearwater Paper Corp. He is an avid golfer and sports fan, but I have no idea of his connection to Montana or Griz athletics.

CONCLUSION: Let’s not forget that the incredible post-World War II economic boom in America has showered great wealth on many Americans— not a few of whom are Montana alums and Friends. This was evident to me last time I visited the campus, where the buildings, the athletic facilities, the landscaping and the manicured grounds would all have been an unimaginable dream in my day as a student. Let’s not cry broke. Let’s not let our best talent get away. Let’s fight for it. Believe me, the resources are there, if contacted and motivated.
 
Good post Citay. I liked your list and enjoyed reading it. Travis and Monty became close at Bezerkly -
Can Travis get a meeting with Monty & cultivate that relationship? Not sure how to spell Larry's name but that is a unique new derivation. Did MRR save any of his $$ from NBA ?

citay said:
--Mike Montgomery: Back in my days as a callow youth, I asked Montgomery, then still at Montana, if he intended to leave us. “Make me an offer!” he shot back. And boy, did they. First Stanford, then the Warriors, and finally Cal. After 18 years at Stanford, Montgomery signed a four-year, $10 million contract with Golden State. Though he was fired after two years, he finished his coaching career at Cal, where he made roughly $1.45 million per year for six years.
--Larry Kyrstkowiak: The ex-coach of the Bucks has, well, the other kind of bucks too. In 2015, on top of the money he made as a player and coach in the NBA, he signed a contract extension with Utah that will make him $19 million through 2022-23. He does have a lot of mouths to feed, but hopefully a residual loyalty to his Alma Mater as well.
JEFF AMENT: Bass guitarist and one of the founding members of Pearl Jam. Ament is an odd talent—a musician who also excelled at sports, especially basketball, where he was a high school star at Big Sandy. According to press reports, the Montana grad remains a big Griz fan, and catches games whenever he can. One somewhat spurious website lists his net worth at $70 million, but whether that’s accurate or not, he’s got some bucks in his pocket—and loves Griz basketball.
the manicured grounds would all have been an unimaginable dream in my day as a student. Let’s not cry broke. Let’s not let our best talent get away. Let’s fight for it. Believe me, the resources are there, if contacted and motivated.
 
I have stated this before and will one more time. I was at the press conference to introduce Bobby Hauck. AD Kent Haslem was asked the specific question of boosters contributing to coach's salaries by a member of the press. He was very clear in his response, and was seconded by Greg Sundberg of the GSA, that boosters cannot pay coach's salaries.

I'll add my own opinion, and that is that boosters paying for salaries is a stupid idea. If a booster or group of boosters pay the coach's salaries, the said booster or group gains power to hire and fire. That might be the reason for this rule.
 
maroonandsilver said:
I have stated this before and will one more time. I was at the press conference to introduce Bobby Hauck. AD Kent Haslem was asked the specific question of boosters contributing to coach's salaries by a member of the press. He was very clear in his response, and was seconded by Greg Sundberg of the GSA, that boosters cannot pay coach's salaries.

I'll add my own opinion, and that is that boosters paying for salaries is a stupid idea. If a booster or group of boosters pay the coach's salaries, the said booster or group gains power to hire and fire. That might be the reason for this rule.
But may they contribute to a fund much like a scholarship fund for students. Interest from this fund could then I be used to fund a salary for coaches.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 
good post M&S. Booster influence is a slippery slope - no matter what. UM education is a state-government sponsored entity. There are various ways to fund college athletics using the capitalist economy. Advertising at the stadium or apparel/shoes.

https%3A%2F%2Fblogs-images.forbes.com%2Fcarlybenjamin%2Ffiles%2F2016%2F07%2Fcollege-apparel-deals-img.jpg%3Fwidth%3D960


maroonandsilver said:
I have stated this before and will one more time. I was at the press conference to introduce Bobby Hauck. AD Kent Haslem was asked the specific question of boosters contributing to coach's salaries by a member of the press. He was very clear in his response, and was seconded by Greg Sundberg of the GSA, that boosters cannot pay coach's salaries.

I'll add my own opinion, and that is that boosters paying for salaries is a stupid idea. If a booster or group of boosters pay the coach's salaries, the said booster or group gains power to hire and fire. That might be the reason for this rule.
 
Sports is fun but you’d have to have the unevolved mind of a child to want to make any substantial contributions to something as ridiculous and trivial as a coach’s salary -- already obscenely inflated -- in a world with as many serious needs as this one has. Any decent person who contributed a dime to a sports facility instead of, for instance, an animal shelter or a conservation cause, should be embarrassed. And, any university which invests heavily in infrastructure for a dying obsession like big time college sports better have a plan to convert those installments to academic use in the near future. These things are already in their declining phase and that will rapidly escalate as the coming generation supplants the current one. Good riddance.
 
See what I mean ... it's guys who can't read past the first three words in anything who make up the lofty world of sport.
 
Fat Bruno said:
Sports is fun but you’d have to have the unevolved mind of a child to want to make any substantial contributions to something as ridiculous and trivial as a coach’s salary -- already obscenely inflated -- in a world with as many serious needs as this one has. Any decent person who contributed a dime to a sports facility instead of, for instance, an animal shelter or a conservation cause, should be embarrassed. And, any university which invests heavily in infrastructure for a dying obsession like big time college sports better have a plan to convert those installments to academic use in the near future. These things are already in their declining phase and that will rapidly escalate as the coming generation supplants the current one. Good riddance.

Well-stated, but you could take that a lot further. How about women who are always shopping for inane things like more pillows for the couch; a third, fourth or fifth handbag, at designer prices; expensive cosmetics and dresses when their husbands like them just the way they are? How about men who play golf, drink beer, play the slots or gamble more seriously when they go to Las Vegas? How about a government that spends billions and billions on armaments, way more than the Defense Department requests, and wastes a great deal of that, such as the F-35 fighter jet that has cost us taxpayers 1.5 TRILLION dollars, and still can't fly in a storm? That's a lot of pet shelters!

You obviously have a social conscience, and I admire you for that. But several things can be true at the same time, such that if we spent our public monies more wisely, we could accomplish most of your aims, including quality education with low tuition, while I could remain a diehard Griz fan that wants only the best for his team. I believe on a scale of indulgences, this is one of the lesser evils in life, and fun too.
 
citay said:
Fat Bruno said:
Sports is fun but you’d have to have the unevolved mind of a child to want to make any substantial contributions to something as ridiculous and trivial as a coach’s salary -- already obscenely inflated -- in a world with as many serious needs as this one has. Any decent person who contributed a dime to a sports facility instead of, for instance, an animal shelter or a conservation cause, should be embarrassed. And, any university which invests heavily in infrastructure for a dying obsession like big time college sports better have a plan to convert those installments to academic use in the near future. These things are already in their declining phase and that will rapidly escalate as the coming generation supplants the current one. Good riddance.

Well-stated, but you could take that a lot further. How about women who are always shopping for inane things like more pillows for the couch; a third, fourth or fifth handbag, at designer prices; expensive cosmetics and dresses when their husbands like them just the way they are? How about men who play golf, drink beer, play the slots or gamble more seriously when they go to Las Vegas? How about a government that spends billions and billions on armaments, way more than the Defense Department requests, and wastes a great deal of that, such as the F-35 fighter jet that has cost us taxpayers 1.5 TRILLION dollars, and still can't fly in a storm? That's a lot of pet shelters!

You obviously have a social conscience, and I admire you for that. But several things can be true at the same time, such that if we spent our public monies more wisely, we could accomplish most of your aims, including quality education with low tuition, while I could remain a diehard Griz fan that wants only the best for his team. I believe on a scale of indulgences, this is one of the lesser evils in life, and fun too.

And, I agree with most of that, but I'd cut down on all those frivolities, military obscenities and sports expenditures. I don't contribute to any hominid causes now and won't until we can get local voters to accept a small mill levy to fund a no-kill animal shelter, for instance.
 
Good list. Regarding Nike, a UM grad is also a longtime member of the board of directors. See below. He is more of a UM football guy. Knows and supports Hauck. Also, he and his wife, a UW grad, are big supporters of UW sports. John's dad was a coach, including a college basketball coach at the end of his coaching career. Sprunk's son was the Griz starting center in football the past several years. Sprunk played sports including hoops at Missoula Hellgate. Think the major donation for the Academic Center was Sprunk, and also a big chunk for the Performance Center.

"John G. Connors

Mr. Connors, 58, a director since 2005, is a partner in Ignition Partners LLC, a Seattle-area venture capital firm. Mr. Connors served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Microsoft Corporation from December 1999 to May 2005. He joined Microsoft in 1989 and held various management positions, including Corporate Controller from 1994 to 1996, Vice President, Worldwide Enterprise Group in 1999, and Chief Information Officer from 1996 to 1999. Mr. Connors is currently a member of the board of directors of Splunk, Inc. and privately held companies Chef, Inc., Motif Investing, Inc., FiREapps, Inc., Xamarin, Inc., DataSphere Technologies, Inc., the Washington Policy Center, and the University of Washington Tyee Club."

http://investors.nike.com/investors/corporate-governance/?toggle=directors
 
Back
Top