Missoulian reports Krysko filled the last coaching spot. This looks like good move to me.
I hope our last games actually in the NCAA tourney myself :wink:
Krysko fills out UM staff
By BOB MESEROLL, Missoulian sports editor
The Montana men's basketball coaching staff is complete.
First-year coach Larry Krystkowiak announced Thursday he has hired Andy Hill to fill out his three-man staff.
Hill, a 2000 graduate of Eastern Washington University, was director of basketball operations at his alma mater for Coach Ray Giacoletti last season. Giacoletti has since left to become the head coach at Utah.
"He's a great fit for us," Krystkowiak said of Hill. "He's done a tremendous job on the phone as a recruiter and has a lot of ties in the Northwest, in particular, and all around the country. He's a guy who's chomping at the bit to get out on the road and do some recruiting."
Hill joins Wayne Tinkle and Brad Huse on Krystkowiak's staff. Krystkowiak announced that Tinkle, who was a finalist for the head job, and Huse, the head coach at Jamestown (N.D.) College, would be assistants when he was hired on May 13.
Hill was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Lewis-Clark State in Lewiston, Idaho, from 2001-03 after serving on year in the same capacity at Whitworth College in Spokane. Hill graduated in 1996 from Freeman, Wash., High School.
Krystkowiak said the entire staff will meet for the first time next Monday to develop a "game plan." The NCAA no longer requires schools to designate three of the coaches as recruiters; all four coaches will be involved in recruiting at various times.
"None of us is a proven recruiter, but we'll all work extremely hard at it," Krystkowiak said. "Starting June 21, we can pick up the phone and start calling kids. We have a staff with solid people skills. Then we have to get out and see how good we are at evaluating talent."
NOTES: Krystkowiak said the Grizzlies' schedule is "95 percent complete." The Griz, who will not host a tournament, will open the season at the University of Washington. They'll also face perennial Big 12 power Missouri on the road as part of a trip that includes Southeast Missouri. The Griz will also travel to Spokane to face Gonzaga. "It's not important to me to create a schedule to win 20 games," Krystkowiak said. "It's important to me to have a schedule that prepares us to win our last game, and that would be for the Big Sky championship."
Sports editor Bob Meseroll can be reached at 523-5265 or by e-mail at [email protected]..
I hope our last games actually in the NCAA tourney myself :wink: