When I saw this "Jud Heathcote" thread, my heart dropped. I knew what it meant. A tear? Definitely.
And knew of course what "Jud" meant to this program. He was to Montana basketball what Don Read was to Montana football. Not only did he start the Montana coaching tree and lead Montana to what nearly was one of the great upsets ever in college basketball against almighty UCLA, he recruited to Montana its best player ever, the legendary Micheal Ray Richardson. Then insisted that Micheal Ray stay at Montana, when he wanted to go wherever Jud was going.
But for all our reverence for him, remember this: Montana was good for him as well. The writer Scott Fitzgerald once said, "There are no second acts in American lives." But Jud did have a second act. It was his best act by far. And it all started with us.
Remember, he'd been a high school coach for 14 years and an assistant at Washington State under Marv Harshman for seven when he arrived here. He was 44 years old. Back then, before widespread TV coverage, and the incredible money and fame TV showered on college coaches with winning records, college coaches were sort of like tenured professors. Slats Gill at Oregon State, Marv Harshman at Washington State, even John Wooden at UCLA, all had long tenured positions, and endured losing years that would probably get them fired today. College coaching was not the musical chairs profession it is today, and so openings at the head position were much rarer. Montana took a real risk on a 44-year-old who'd never been a college head coach, and had no real ties to this state or this program, and provided him the platform to demonstrate his fabulous coaching skills.
All which left me a little baffled about Jud's reaction to Montana in the subsequent years. It seemed to me--and I'd be happy to be corrected in this opinion--that he sort of left us in the rear view mirror. There are those like myself who have lived away from Montana for years but retain a fierce loyalty and affection for the state, but I never sensed that Jud shared that feeling. The news is always about his ties to Michigan State, to Tom Izzo, even after retirement to Gonzaga and Mark Few and John Stockton, but little mention ever of Montana.
For those of you more in the know, I'd like to know: After his retirement, and except for the times he was asked back to speak, did he ever come back to attend games here? Or hang out? Maybe you don't do that if you're a legend. Maybe you just let the legend be. If so, I understand. But it remains my conviction that when it came to Montana, he was more than happy to leave behind the legend, absent the man.