The issue with Hauck was not just about offers. We offered some of the same kids for sure that the Cats landed. It was attitude.
Hauck had an attitude that these kids should be lucky to be Griz, that they should want to be a Grizzly and that he and his staff didn’t have to go out of their ways to make them feel wanted.
Vigen and his staff were the opposite. They put on the full court press on these kids. I talked to Adam Jones dad once and he said the recruiting of his son couldn’t have been more different between the two programs. It seems BK is reversing that and using the full court press method and making sure these kids know they are wanted.
That was the difference with Hauck and his lackadaisical effort. No less and no more. It’s not rocket science.
I try to never say anything negative about players or their families, because that is uncouth and just not who I want to be. That being said, the narrative that Adam Jones and his family have put out over the last couple of years is absolutely bullshit. Sometimes people say things so many times they start to believe it.
The actual facts of the situation were that Adam Jones was posting online about how much he was loving the recruiting from the Griz, great visits he had, etc. Then the Crews situation happens, who was his friend and teammate, and Jones chooses the Cats. Now his parents are telling people that he grew up wanting to be a Griz, his bedroom was full of Griz stuff, but the Griz staff didn't recruit him or even really try to get him.
How do we know that is a lie? Because ADAM JONES HIMSELF posted online at the time about loving his visit and the love he was getting from the Griz coaching staff. Yea, the Griz had Eli and probably weren't as desperately going after him as if he was water and the team was dying of thirst, but at the time he was very positive about the Griz recruiting him. Crews happened, and everything changed. Now the family has one hell of a narrative that they spread around.
It is dumb, and quite honestly bugged me over the last couple of years when I even hear from my family members about how one of his parents told them the Griz didn't even offer him or recruit him, which is probably not what they said but is how the game of telephone works in a town the size of Missoula.
I am glad for the CLEAR improvement in local attention from Coach BK and the staff, and I'm sure they will be at a lot more high school events locally this year, but the narrative put out by the Jones family has kept evolving to the point that it is just not honest.
Lets take a little trip back through memory lane and we can see if the Griz were putting effort into recruiting Jones....
I wish his family would just say that a lot of people locally were upset about Zac Crews' situation, and the MSU Bobcats were doing a hell of a job recruiting. But to spin it into "The Griz didn't even really try to recruit our son" is just factually wrong.