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Soccer Citowicki leaving for Wazzu?

just because he’s done well at Washburn doesn’t automatically mean he’ll do well here. Missouri/Kansas are soccer rich states. Girls from there aren’t coming up here. Cavallo had coached in D1, recruited all over the country. Philips hasn’t left that area in over 15 years, he lives in Lawrence meaning he’s only 35 minutes from Kansas City, wife, 2 kids, could be a tough sell to get her to move up here. Also the our cost of living is 2x of his current situation.
Totally agree. Plus he recruits in totally different environments, where Montana goes to ECNL showcases Washburn goes to more local/regional non ECNL so talent level is less. He also has no recruiting connections to the Pacific Northwest.

Can anyone find out why BSU coach said no, what was the major discrepancy. Is the AD splitting hairs here.
 
I took it as a back handed shot at Montana. He has been trying to leave for years and now what he did to the program should make the picture clearer. The former WSU coach took what 4 or 5 players with him to his new program, that seems like a normal number. Part of me believes that Chris doesn't want this program to maintain success right away after he's gone.
It was a backhanded slap. He also pointing out that he recommend Cavallo for the job and AD messed that up. He’s putting it out for potential coaches and recruits that MT AD can’t handle the situation. Recruiting gets nasty and wouldn’t surprise me if he’s using this in his recruiting.

The former WSU coach only took 4-5 players because the rest were not good enough to play SEC. Molly Rouse took a lot of Utah Tech players with her to Ole Miss and look at her results fired in 3 years. I think the same happens at WSU, don’t see them getting to PAC championship anytime soon. Plus the PAC is a one bid league just like the big sky.

There are players wanting to come to Montana but are waiting on who the coach is. Can anyone on here talk sense into AD and go back hire BSU coach. He has made it known that he wants the Montana job.
 
He’s not wrong, he was calculated when he left and timing was bad for MT. Everyone is saying for years chris wanted out of MT did the AD know this bc it doesn’t seem so, either no succession plan or just bad at his job in finding a new coach.

Hire a good coach and go recruit there are players wanting to come just waiting to see who the coach is. J does have his hands tied as most players don’t want to sign with an interim coach.
Yes I believe the AD knew, what is starting to become clear is how important the AD views Women's Soccer. That also is likely linked to why Chris was trying to leave for years.
 
PAC12 doesn’t have a conference tournament. So Chris might not win another trophy ever again.

Also looking into Philips, if it’s true that Gore zoom interviewed. They crossed paths in the NAIA and Philips went to 1 final four in his time at Baker and Gore when to 4 straight at won a national championship.

Again just an AD that wants to hire a HC so they steal their players and bring them to us. Haslam must feel jaded, but bring in weaker players is only going to make the problem worse which we might not recover from.
 
PAC12 doesn’t have a conference tournament. So Chris might not win another trophy ever again.

Also looking into Philips, if it’s true that Gore zoom interviewed. They crossed paths in the NAIA and Philips went to 1 final four in his time at Baker and Gore when to 4 straight at won a national championship.

Again just an AD that wants to hire a HC so they steal their players and bring them to us. Haslam must feel jaded, but bring in weaker players is only going to make the problem worse which we might not recover from.
The PAC will get a conference tournament for all sports, they don't have a conference tournament for football either at the moment. The PAC is meeting in the two weeks for this reason. Coach Gore resigned from Troy back in October so he has no current players to bring over. If the strategy is to hire a coach to bring over players, its flawed as you don't know who/how many want to move across the country. In Chris's cases it worked out due to close proximity to MT and a lot of the players are from the area.
 
The PAC will get a conference tournament for all sports, they don't have a conference tournament for football either at the moment. The PAC is meeting in the two weeks for this reason. Coach Gore resigned from Troy back in October so he has no current players to bring over. If the strategy is to hire a coach to bring over players, its flawed as you don't know who/how many want to move across the country. In Chris's cases it worked out due to close proximity to MT and a lot of the players are from the area.
I completely agree it a flawed way that Haslam’s looking at it. The next transfer portal cycle will still have a lot of good players in it due to high turnover of P4 HC and new coaches wanting their own players. I just think Philips isn’t the answer, he’s a good fit for most job in Kansas or Missouri, not really for us.
 
I completely agree it a flawed way that Haslam’s looking at it. The next transfer portal cycle will still have a lot of good players in it due to high turnover of P4 HC and new coaches wanting their own players. I just think Philips isn’t the answer, he’s a good fit for most job in Kansas or Missouri, not really for us.
Is there anyone else they interviewed, were now going into February.
 
Nope they’ve bungled this whole process from start to finish. Fingers crossed the new President comes and gets athletics back on track. Kent’s leadership is lacking and the staff under him obviously aren’t feeling the urgency of this situation.
I mean this in the nicest way possible, but I don't think Soccer is the major focal point in the athletic department right now. After the way Football ended I think the primary focus is damage control with the fan base/boosters and ensuring no Football season ever ends like that again. I too am frustrated with how miserable this search has gone in Soccer, but I just don think the AD's head is totally focused right now.
 
I've never been to Missoula, but I became a casual Griz fan when a family member headed east to compete on a Griz team in a different sport years ago. WA news told of the Cougs hiring the Griz soccer coach, so I have paid some attention.

Regarding Davy Phillips and Washburn: That is the coach and team that beat Cavallo and UMSL two months ago to advance to the 2025 NCAA D-II Final Four. In 2023, Phillips' team made the D-II Championship match - but lost to a team from Florida which had a roster with several European players. D-II has relaxed recruiting rules compared to D-I which can attract Europeans to Florida D-II colleges.

Regarding Phillips: it is not where you are coaching - the question is "can you coach?"

Old guys have stories - here are two: Years ago a family member left Seattle to study engineering at Oregon State U. He lives and works near Portland but relates tales of two Beaver coaches - both hired from coaching positions at NCAA D-III George Fox University near Portland.

Pat Casey left G. Fox and coached the Beavers to three NCAA Baseball National Championships - 2006, 2007 and 2018.

Scott Rueck coached women's basketball at G Fox until OSU hired him in 2010. Rueck has led the Beaver women to eight NCAA post-season appearances - including to the Final Four in 2018.

Again - the question is " can you coach?" The numbers tell me that Davy Phillips can coach.

Please let your AD figure this out. Football pays the bills, but other Griz sports have been fantastic, too.
 
I've never been to Missoula, but I became a casual Griz fan when a family member headed east to compete on a Griz team in a different sport years ago. WA news told of the Cougs hiring the Griz soccer coach, so I have paid some attention.

Regarding Davy Phillips and Washburn: That is the coach and team that beat Cavallo and UMSL two months ago to advance to the 2025 NCAA D-II Final Four. In 2023, Phillips' team made the D-II Championship match - but lost to a team from Florida which had a roster with several European players. D-II has relaxed recruiting rules compared to D-I which can attract Europeans to Florida D-II colleges.

Regarding Phillips: it is not where you are coaching - the question is "can you coach?"

Old guys have stories - here are two: Years ago a family member left Seattle to study engineering at Oregon State U. He lives and works near Portland but relates tales of two Beaver coaches - both hired from coaching positions at NCAA D-III George Fox University near Portland.

Pat Casey left G. Fox and coached the Beavers to three NCAA Baseball National Championships - 2006, 2007 and 2018.

Scott Rueck coached women's basketball at G Fox until OSU hired him in 2010. Rueck has led the Beaver women to eight NCAA post-season appearances - including to the Final Four in 2018.

Again - the question is " can you coach?" The numbers tell me that Davy Phillips can coach.

Please let your AD figure this out. Football pays the bills, but other Griz sports have been fantastic, too.
I agree if you can coach, recruit and develop players that's what's needed, so it can be done, the frustrating part is lack of urgency, it's now going into February, we need a coach and players.
 
Its way more about can you recruit not as much as can you coach. Coach is important but no where near as important as recruiting. Is the Montana job really appealing to Philips or are we just getting another guy a pay raise. Does he think he can win a national championship in 2026 at Washburn.
 
Agree our AD has been a bit arrogant (for lack of better word) in this process - given how short the initial job opening was (basically open over a weekend and maybe 2 business days) and then seemed to think it'd all just fall into place without any leg work. He should have been actively recruiting potential coaches and selling them on the university, the city, the community and the program - and should still be especially after 2 candidates turn you down. If he had engaged with people that know soccer and know college soccer, they'd have been able to give him a list of potential coaches to call but instead they decided to operate in a silo of two. They (Kent and Jean) explicitly told everyone else they don't want their opinion or input - especially soccer input - and the short-sightedness of decision has been revealed. Hopefully they can make amends by making a solid hire in the next week...
 
Agree our AD has been a bit arrogant (for lack of better word) in this process - given how short the initial job opening was (basically open over a weekend and maybe 2 business days) and then seemed to think it'd all just fall into place without any leg work. He should have been actively recruiting potential coaches and selling them on the university, the city, the community and the program - and should still be especially after 2 candidates turn you down. If he had engaged with people that know soccer and know college soccer, they'd have been able to give him a list of potential coaches to call but instead they decided to operate in a silo of two. They (Kent and Jean) explicitly told everyone else they don't want their opinion or input - especially soccer input - and the short-sightedness of decision has been revealed. Hopefully they can make amends by making a solid hire in the next week...
Sad thing is Chris left them a list of potential candidates for UM to recruit but they ignored it.
 
In a press conference today, Chris threw major shade at the Griz soccer program and frankly shade at J. He said, “Our thing was getting enough players here that you can start building a game model to be ready for the fall. Because if you don’t have those pieces in place and you just have 12 to 13 players, you’re not doing anything but babysitting for that time, and you’re wasting time. And so for us to have 24 on the roster right now, says a lot.”
How is that shade? Seems accurate. It’s a testament to me that so many players were willing to follow him to WSU. I’ve been to Pullman they are definitely not going for Pullman over Missoula 😳

He said nice things about Montana and the Griz. Did people expect him to stay in Missoula forever with the AD lying about lights, etc?

People seem so bitter about him leaving. (That’s what coaches do when they are successful…)
 
How is that shade? Seems accurate. It’s a testament to me that so many players were willing to follow him to WSU. I’ve been to Pullman they are definitely not going for Pullman over Missoula 😳

He said nice things about Montana and the Griz. Did people expect him to stay in Missoula forever with the AD lying about lights, etc?

People seem so bitter about him leaving. (That’s what coaches do when they are successful…)
I'm not bitter that he moved on to WSU. If he had been fixing to move on and take a bigger job, that was 100 percent his decision and I respect that. But what really stunned me was many players from UM following him to WSU, and that is what truly decimated this program.

Now, the process of hiring a new coach just keeps dragging on with no end in sight. That cannot be good for this program, especially for those that stayed and for those recruits still considering UM. It's one thing for a school to take their time to find the right person for the job, but it's another when the decision makers can't seem to make up their mind.
 
I'm not bitter that he moved on to WSU. If he had been fixing to move on and take a bigger job, that was 100 percent his decision and I respect that. But what really stunned me was many players from UM following him to WSU, and that is what truly decimated this program.

Now, the process of hiring a new coach just keeps dragging on with no end in sight. That cannot be good for this program, especially for those that stayed and for those recruits still considering UM. It's one thing for a school to take their time to find the right person for the job, but it's another when the decision makers can't seem to make up their mind.
The University of Iowa coach just announced he's leaving and taking the University of Michigan soccer position so those players will be going through process of leaving/staying. Good luck to the players who left, unfortunately I don't think they will enjoy the success they had at Montana. There are plenty of players still in the portal that are difference makers plus the May portal and 2026s who have been cut due to roster limits still looking for a home, just need for coaching staff to find them.
 
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