Oh my lord. We are here again! Gruntled fans or parents. Disgruntled even.
First, I know for certain that prior coaches (including Holsinger) made cuts. Remember that Hoops spent four years eviscerating Holsinger for cutting Montana kids including Momberg. I also know that this team was given notice and it wasn't like this was a tightly held secret that roster changes were coming. Maybe they were surprised as to who was told to accept different roles, but I've heard enough to know this wasn't a surprise.
Second, it doesn't take much of a trained eye to know this roster wasn't talented enough to win games. They worked hard, but it wasn't a very complete group and missing a ton of pieces. Most of those girls, unfortunately got caught in what has been a rather unchecked dumpster fire within the women's program going back at least 10 years. I'm sorry that they got caught in it.
Third, no self-respecting Division 1 basketball coach who was given very clear directions by administration to do x,y, and z is going to stand pat on a team who won 4 games in conference and got boat raced by your in-state rival by a bajillion points this year. If Harris doesn't doesn't respond with a sense of urgency based upon how the season went, they continue to get waxed by Bozeman on and off the floor, he's not the guy to rebuild the program if he can't see the gap between UM and MSU on the floor is longer than the distance in miles between the schools.
Fourth, as a person who has been around the program and watched since my days in elementary school in the 80's, this isn't what older fans expect of this program. That isn't the reason why any program should do anything, but as a 50 year old, would never have considered in my wildest dreams as a 10, 20 or even 30 year old that we'd be talking about the womens program being a mediocre at best team the Big Sky. Harris was put into a bad position and has to make tough decisions if he wants to get this program heading in the right direction. Hard to know after a year of an incomplete roster that was a product of the continuing dumpster fire. I don't know yet if Harris has the chops to figure this out, but he isn't going to do it being saddled with legacy issues. I get that sounds harsh, but I am tired of watching this team 'compete,' but not actually turn the corner. The only way this happens is he and others within the athletic department are willing to reassess and recalculate. That means that girls might be asked to recalculate whether they are willing to accept smaller roles and see the writing on the wall. Is it unethical? In 1990 maybe, but we are in 2026 and the landscape of college basketball is a million times more cutthroat than it was then. These girls are paying for not only Harris's mistakes, but a whole bunch of people who aren't around the program anymore. But at some point this program has to stop the free-fall and some of it has to be the realization that Holsingers philsophy didn't work in as much as Schweyens didn't either. Harris has to make his mark on the program. I hope he does things in the right way, but as a coach who made the choice once or twice to carry on traditions and legacy practices and not do things that were the best reflection of who I was, I'll give Harris the benefit of the doubt for seeing that he had to do things his own way. Bout the only way he'll be successful and consequently the program.
I wish them all the luck. Really I do. I do think it is unfortunate they got caught in the cross-fire.
