Article: Power Shift from UM to Bozeman State

[wbtfg]

I remember 10-12 years ago when recruits would choose a 1/2 schollie to um over a full schollie at UM. MSU hardly ever beat out UM on a high profile in-state kid. Recently (past 4-5 years), id say the the recruiting battles have been pretty even. So id agree with rachac that the competitive gap between the two schools has significantly narrowed.

 

[Paytonlives]

Give me Treshawn Favors over Gunnar Brekke any day. Not trying to knock Brekke, im a big fan of his, and it sucks we lost him to MSU but after seeing them both play in person......Favors is a far more gifted football player.

Is Roderick really that much better than Brez? Neither have any real college experience.

The only thing that Trod and Brekke have over Tre and Brez is that they receive an unreal amount of hype on websites like this one because they are Montana boys. We'll know if losing these two recruits is really a 'power shift' in 4 years. This article means nothing.

I am sure that both teams will have at least as good or better recruits from out of state, but winning the recruiting battle in state is huge, it brings in lots of support ($)

Winning brings support and money... Losing well it sucks.

You cant tell me that in the lean years for msu the did not have a lot of Montana kids... BS

 

[Cats2506]

Give me Treshawn Favors over Gunnar Brekke any day. Not trying to knock Brekke, im a big fan of his, and it sucks we lost him to MSU but after seeing them both play in person......Favors is a far more gifted football player.

Is Roderick really that much better than Brez? Neither have any real college experience.

The only thing that Trod and Brekke have over Tre and Brez is that they receive an unreal amount of hype on websites like this one because they are Montana boys. We'll know if losing these two recruits is really a 'power shift' in 4 years. This article means nothing.

I am sure that both teams will have at least as good or better recruits from out of state, but winning the recruiting battle in state is huge, it brings in lots of support ($)

Winning brings support and money... Losing well it sucks.

You cant tell me that in the lean years for msu the did not have a lot of Montana kids... BS

Those lean years were largely a result of not having many Montana kids, remember we had a coach that basically cut all ties with Montana High Schools, It took many years to dig out of the hole that was created.

Look, I am not one of those that think the teams should be all Montana, I know that in order to get enough talent to be competitive at this level you will need to recruit out of state, there simply is not enough talent within the state for 1 let alone 2 FCS programs, Its a factor of population, not a critique of the state of football in Montana HS.

But in order to have a solid base of support from within the state, both teams need to have a solid core of players from within the state. If anything, MSU's history through the late 80's and 90's show that to be true.

 

[grizpack]

I am not sure why that article would upset anyone. It is pretty accurate. The gap has closed considerably. That is probably a good thing. The days of UM getting all of the good Montana recruits simply because we are the Griz is over. Whether we like it or not, Ash is building a good program, and appears to be doing it the right way. Whether we like it or not, the past year has been very detrimental to the Griz.

Unless the Griz get their act together, from Main Hall down through the football program, I believe the situation will only get worse.

I lived through the years when we actually partied hard when we won a game, and didn't bitch because we only won by 7. Hell, we partied hard when we didn't win (which was most of the time). Winning makes people much happier than losing. Players. Coaches. Fans. Boosters. ....

 

[Walkon79]

I am not sure why that article would upset anyone. It is pretty accurate. The gap has closed considerably. That is probably a good thing. The days of UM getting all of the good Montana recruits simply because we are the Griz is over. Whether we like it or not, Ash is building a good program, and appears to be doing it the right way. Whether we like it or not, the past year has been very detrimental to the Griz.

Unless the Griz get their act together, from Main Hall down through the football program, I believe the situation will only get worse.

I lived through the years when we actually partied hard when we won a game, and didn't bitch because we only won by 7. Hell, we partied hard when we didn't win (which was most of the time). Winning makes people much happier than losing. Players. Coaches. Fans. Boosters. ....

Where can you give rep points on this board?! This guy gets it, unlike alot of you who didn't see the Griz in the 60's, 70's and early 80's!

 

[BDizzle]

I have no problem with this article for the most part. The gap is closing which means UM is still on top. Rachac just kind of cherry picked his information. Didn't mention that Tanners dad played for the cats and that Tanner was born and raised in Bozeman. Didn't mention that the Griz are loaded at RB and after next year the cats will have quite the competition for RB. While it sucks we lost 2 of the better Montana recruits I don't think its the end of the world. But the gap has closed a little. Which is good for Montana football.

 

[AZGrizFan]

I am not sure why that article would upset anyone. It is pretty accurate. The gap has closed considerably. That is probably a good thing. The days of UM getting all of the good Montana recruits simply because we are the Griz is over. Whether we like it or not, Ash is building a good program, and appears to be doing it the right way. Whether we like it or not, the past year has been very detrimental to the Griz.

Unless the Griz get their act together, from Main Hall down through the football program, I believe the situation will only get worse.

I lived through the years when we actually partied hard when we won a game, and didn't bitch because we only won by 7. Hell, we partied hard when we didn't win (which was most of the time). Winning makes people much happier than losing. Players. Coaches. Fans. Boosters. ....

Where can you give rep points on this board?! This guy gets it, unlike alot of you who didn't see the Griz in the 60's, 70's and early 80's!

Or the 'scats in the late '80's, 90's and 2000's.

 

[getgrizzy]

i thought he was being kind by saying "the gap is closing." it looks like it has closed completely to me. actually i'd be a little insulted if i were a m.s.u. player. it was bound to happen someday and now it has. the only thing we outdo them in is ticket sales, but that has a lot to do with the population in the missoula area vs the population around bozeman. there's almost twice as many people to draw from here. we'll always outdraw them by several thousand a year even when they expand. they do sell out their stadium just like us, but they're about 8,000 seats smaller. sure you can fall back on the fact that m.s.u. has only won two playoff games these past three years, but look at who they lost to. it isn't like they've had some cream puffs beating them. their wins have been against very good teams, too. a lot of how you do in the playoffs depends on who is in your bracket. m.s.u. has just happened to get bracketed against n.d.s.u. and s.h.s.u.

having brekke dump us for m.s.u. was the big one. roderick was less shocking. i never thought i'd see the day that a player of brekke's caliber would drop us for m.s.u.

but at the end of the day it's just a game. this kind of stuff may or may not mean anything, but it's very entertaining.

 

[Grizfan-24]

I have mentioned this many times and a few cat posters have alluded to this, but Montana didn't have to recruit Montana kids because MSU didn't. We were the recipient of some great talent in Montana because MSU policy towards Montana kids was decidedly lacking.

Enough of the blaming inbred hiring, NCAA conspiracy and so forth. Why not recognize that MSU isn't going away this time? Give MSU some credit, cause Ash and the Bobcat Atheltic Department have a pretty good plan in mind.

Go ahead and hold on to archaic sensibilities about our rival to the east and I guarantee it'll bite us in the arse. I know that coaches and players within the Grizzly program recognize that MSU is a legit BSC and national profile school, but apparently many fans cannot seem to grasp that MSU isn't going away. They might not have won a national title or two, but there are a lot of national profile schools that haven't either. There is some quality football being played in Bozeman. Will MSU get over the hump and win some playoff games? Who knows, but twenty years ago we were probably wondering the same thing in Missoula.

Rachac is right. The power may not be shifted, but it sure is as heck is more balanced than it has been at any point in the past 30 years. Personally think it is great for BSC football and more importantly for Montana High School football.

 

[tnt]

This pendulum has swung before. It involves more than just sports. What U of M is marketing/teaching isn't selling and graduates can't afford student loan payments on fast food jobs living in their parents basements. I don't think the Liberal arts will come back this time. They need to get relevent and fast. My grandson is is taking the small engines repair course at the "Missoula College" its a two- three semester course. This semester isn't taking a single "shop course" he is however taking a required a Algebra, psychology, and writing course, along with his required computer course. Apparently he will make my snowmobile run better by writing it a letter and making it feel better about itself.

Go east and you have business school graduates who are adept at IT (something we lack in our Business school), engineers, nurses and doctors and folks lined up to hire them. Frankly, I'm surprised enrollment isn't down further.

Even theathletes know there is a limited value to name recognition for insurance salesman, realestate salesman, stock brokers, and car salesman when their career is over and are getting degrees for real jobs

 

[Cats2506]

I am not sure why that article would upset anyone. It is pretty accurate. The gap has closed considerably. That is probably a good thing. The days of UM getting all of the good Montana recruits simply because we are the Griz is over. Whether we like it or not, Ash is building a good program, and appears to be doing it the right way. Whether we like it or not, the past year has been very detrimental to the Griz.

Unless the Griz get their act together, from Main Hall down through the football program, I believe the situation will only get worse.

I lived through the years when we actually partied hard when we won a game, and didn't bitch because we only won by 7. Hell, we partied hard when we didn't win (which was most of the time). Winning makes people much happier than losing. Players. Coaches. Fans. Boosters. ....

Where can you give rep points on this board?! This guy gets it, unlike alot of you who didn't see the Griz in the 60's, 70's and early 80's!

Or the 'scats in the late '80's, 90's and 2000's.

I guess there were a couple of down years in the 2000's, to be accurate you would say 1985-2001.

On my original subject, in 2000 Kramer was hired and one of the most important things he did was to recruit Montana hard, granted MSU wasn't winning that battle for top players, but he did build a support base within the state that has continued to grow to the present. In fairness I think that Hysell tried to recruit in state, but maybe didn't give it the emphasis that Kramer did. Of all the things that Kramer did, I think building instate support was probably his greatist achievment at MSU, Ash has continued building it from the first day he set foot on campus.

 

[Grizfan-24]

I am not sure why that article would upset anyone. It is pretty accurate. The gap has closed considerably. That is probably a good thing. The days of UM getting all of the good Montana recruits simply because we are the Griz is over. Whether we like it or not, Ash is building a good program, and appears to be doing it the right way. Whether we like it or not, the past year has been very detrimental to the Griz.

Unless the Griz get their act together, from Main Hall down through the football program, I believe the situation will only get worse.

I lived through the years when we actually partied hard when we won a game, and didn't bitch because we only won by 7. Hell, we partied hard when we didn't win (which was most of the time). Winning makes people much happier than losing. Players. Coaches. Fans. Boosters. ....

Where can you give rep points on this board?! This guy gets it, unlike alot of you who didn't see the Griz in the 60's, 70's and early 80's!

Or the 'scats in the late '80's, 90's and 2000's.

I guess there were a couple of down years in the 2000's, to be accurate you would say 1985-2001.

On my original subject, in 2000 Kramer was hired and one of the most important things he did was to recruit Montana hard, granted MSU wasn't winning that battle for top players, but he did build a support base within the state that has continued to grow to the present. In fairness I think that Hysell tried to recruit in state, but maybe didn't give it the emphasis that Kramer did. Of all the things that Kramer did, I think building instate support was probably his greatist achievment at MSU, Ash has continued building it from the first day he set foot on campus.

I was in Montana coaching at the time, and you can talk to a lot of coaches at the high school level, while Kramer recruited Montana hard...and he did, he alienated a lot of high school coaches. His attitude at times was incredibly flippant towards Montana kids and wouldn't give some coaches the time of day if he didn't have something that year that he wanted. incidentally, now that I am in Idaho, with Kramer at Idaho State, we are seeing that same thing. Kramer recruits Idaho hard for kids that he wants, but at the same time he has made it clear that Idaho wasn't going to be the key to him bring ISU into relevance on the football field. He has a line of high school coaches who used to be pipelines to ISU that won't give him the time of day anymore. That being said Kramer did create a lot of allies at larger schools (Capital being one) in Montana that Ash did well to keep.

 

[firstdown-montana...]

Greg Rachac and Gwen Florio wear the same jeans... (genes) :flash: :grenade: Fu*k Lee Enterprise!!!

 

[Jerry Punch]

F*ck west dakota state.

Smart. The Eastern part of Montana is keeping this State economically viable. Your s*%thole, cloudy, end of Mordor suffers from a malaise that will always make it second best to the rest of the sunshine and beauty of "West Dakota."

 

[Jerry Punch]

Greg Rachac and Gwen Florio wear the same jeans... (genes) :flash: :grenade: Fu*k Lee Enterprise!!!

Are you seriously comapring Rachac to Gwen Florio? You might not agree with what Rachac just wrote (even if you're too dumb to articulate it) but at least he didn't do a drive by character assassination of everyone on your team without sources to back it up. No one likes Gwen Florio, even Cat fans. She is a clueless, character-deprived man-hater.

 

[bigkid]

Not to mention I believe the scats have more schollies to offer. The fact is we NEED a qb! Roderick may be a good athlete from Montana but he is not a proven college qb. He was buried in the depth chart for a reason(Nevada was probably happy to free up his scholarship) We have good receivers and by all counts the cats could use a good receiver. Time will tell if thats the case. Brekke was coming into probably pay safety because the rb spot is more than covered and I'm not convinced he could out rush the kids we have. That leaves the Lebsock discussion. Last report he is a Montana native who can play safety. I would rather have a kid who wants to be a Griz than a flip-flop. This whole discussion is rediculous and is about nothing but bragging rights and chest pumping. Right now I'm more interested in JJ's issue and NCAA reports than I am about two montana made cat commits. Montana has a good solid base of kids from the state so lets be excited about what we have and not concern ourselves with what we don't. Remember folks this last Griz/cat game was quite competitve and Montana returns nearly everyone. 2013 or bust!
Go Griz!!

 

[OptimusPrime]

Not to mention I believe the scats have more schollies to offer. The fact is we NEED a qb! Roderick may be a good athlete from Montana but he is not a proven college qb. He was buried in the depth chart for a reason(Nevada was probably happy to free up his scholarship) We have good receivers and by all counts the cats could use a good receiver. Time will tell if thats the case. Brekke was coming into probably pay safety because the rb spot is more than covered and I'm not convinced he could out rush the kids we have. That leaves the Lebsock discussion. Last report he is a Montana native who can play safety. I would rather have a kid who wants to be a Griz than a flip-flop. This whole discussion is rediculous and is about nothing but bragging rights and chest pumping. Right now I'm more interested in JJ's issue and NCAA reports than I am about two montana made cat commits. Montana has a good solid base of kids from the state so lets be excited about what we have and not concern ourselves with what we don't. Remember folks this last Griz/cat game was quite competitve and Montana returns nearly everyone. 2013 or bust!
Go Griz!!

Let's keep that line "We didn't want him anyway" going strong. The kid didn't sign with UM so let's bash him to make ourselves feel better! Then after, we all will gather in a big circle and sing songs. A lot were pretty high on him and one claimed they made you instant title contenders, now he's awful and there's a reason Nevada let him go. GOOD JOB, GOOD EFFORT.
You guys are better than this....

 

[AZGrizFan]

I guess there were a couple of down years in the 2000's, to be accurate you would say 1985-2001.

Guess that's the ultimate difference between Griz and 'scat fans. We think 4-5 losses is a down year. 2010 was a down year for the Griz. Apparently 7-6, 7-5, 6-5, isn't considered down for the 'scats? Or would it NOW, after 3 years of sustained "success" (and I use that term loosely).

 

[kemajic]

Yet Royce is seldom seen east of Helena.

Thank God.

 

[kemajic]

In that same time span (3 years), the Cats have made the playoffs every year, while the Griz have only once. Also, the Cats have won 2 out of those 3 years.

In that same time span Montana has advanced to the Semis and almost won. Cats not close; blown out.