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LadyGriz Nate Harris new head coach of the Lady Griz!

If only I could go back in time. I would go back to early 1990's when I worked in the Sears receiving department and Former Lady Griz player Vicki Austin was peddling shoes in the shoe department. I would have tried to convince her to call Robin and have him hire her as an assistant coach. But, alas, that never happened and he hired Shannon Cate instead. That may have been the only time in history there was a chance at hiring a black assistant coach, but Vicki peddled shoes instead.
 
If we want to tecruit some inner city girls, and I absolutely think we should to improve our team's speed, strength, and athleticism, it really would help to have a coach that is herself or himself from the inner city.

And if you still don't get it, watch when we play Wisconsin on Thursday. Te'Jon Sawyer, Branden Whitney, Malik Moore, and Joe Pridgen are black, Kai Johnson is white, and our first kid off the bench and 6th Man of The Year Money Williams is also black If our men's team was composed only of our all-white kids, we wouldn't be playing Wisconsin on Thursday.
 
billingsgriz said:
If we want to tecruit some inner city girls, and I absolutely think we should to improve our team's speed, strength, and athleticism, it really would help to have a coach that is herself or himself from the inner city.

And if you still don't get it, watch when we play Wisconsin on Thursday. Te'Jon Sawyer, Branden Whitney, Malik Moore, and Joe Pridgen are black, Kai Johnson is white, and our first kid off the bench and 6th Man of The Year Money Williams is also black If our men's team was composed only of our all-white kids, we wouldn't be playing Wisconsin on Thursday.
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Hmmm.... and, what if the Griz football team were all white?
 
billingsgriz said:
If we want to tecruit some inner city girls, and I absolutely think we should to improve our team's speed, strength, and athleticism, it really would help to have a coach that is herself or himself from the inner city.

And if you still don't get it, watch when we play Wisconsin on Thursday. Te'Jon Sawyer, Branden Whitney, Malik Moore, and Joe Pridgen are black, Kai Johnson is white, and our first kid off the bench and 6th Man of The Year Money Williams is also black If our men's team was composed only of our all-white kids, we wouldn't be playing Wisconsin on Thursday.
Click to expand...
giphy.gif
 
billingsgriz said:
If we want to tecruit some inner city girls, and I absolutely think we should to improve our team's speed, strength, and athleticism, it really would help to have a coach that is herself or himself from the inner city.

And if you still don't get it, watch when we play Wisconsin on Thursday. Te'Jon Sawyer, Branden Whitney, Malik Moore, and Joe Pridgen are black, Kai Johnson is white, and our first kid off the bench and 6th Man of The Year Money Williams is also black If our men's team was composed only of our all-white kids, we wouldn't be playing Wisconsin on Thursday.
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Are you saying the only kids who can play high-level basketball are black?
 
MissoulaCanucksFan said:
I would agree with this 100%. I really feel that a former LG player on the coaching staff (the last former LG player on staff was Jordan MacIntyre before she went to Utah) is never a bad idea. I feel that Carmen Gfeller would get a great deal of consideration if Nate reached out to her.

McKenzie Johnston would be another name to consider. She just wrapped up her first season as an assistant at Carroll College.

Maggie Espenmiller-McGraw should be considered, too. She was an assistant at Fort Lewis College this season.
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Not Johnston
 
billingsgriz said:
If we want to tecruit some inner city girls, and I absolutely think we should to improve our team's speed, strength, and athleticism, it really would help to have a coach that is herself or himself from the inner city.

And if you still don't get it, watch when we play Wisconsin on Thursday. Te'Jon Sawyer, Branden Whitney, Malik Moore, and Joe Pridgen are black, Kai Johnson is white, and our first kid off the bench and 6th Man of The Year Money Williams is also black If our men's team was composed only of our all-white kids, we wouldn't be playing Wisconsin on Thursday.
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Why not involve those on the men's team to refer those they know might be good recruits! Good BB players know of those who are quality.
 
MTbest said:
Why not involve those on the men's team to refer those they know might be good recruits! Good BB players know of those who are quality.
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If the LG wamt to break the barrier that is being discussed they absolutely need an asst coach that understands, relates and most likley looks the same as those recruits.

How can a staff talk about opportunity in Missoula with a recruit if they don't have a staff member that looks like what they wish to recruit getting that same opportunity?

Doesn't mean that it can not be done, but when the coaches go into a home of a inner city kid they better know how to speak the language. They better be prepared for questions they may not be used to being asked. Wrong answer and a blown opportunity.

We dont see this happening for the LG. The geographic recruiting regions most likley will not change in our opinion.

Also...not that a team of all white kids can't win, only presenting some thoughts on the topic
 
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GriznMN said:
Are you saying the only kids who can play high-level basketball are black?
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I am saying that in 2023, 70.4 % of The NBA was African-American and only 17.5 % were white, according to Statista Research.

And 67% of The WNBA was Black, with 83% of all players being persons of color: African-American, Hispanic and Asian players, some players being Americans and some from overseas, Spain, China
and India, for example.

And also in 2023, 28% of NCAA women's basketball players were Black, the highest % of African-American girls in any NCAA women's collegiate sport.

If a picture of the 2024-25 GRIZ men's basketball team is juxtaposed next to a picture of the 2024-25 LG,there is an obvious stunning visible difference: our men's team is 56% Black, 9 of 16 student athletes, and our LG team was 100 %, 14 /14 LG players were White.

I am not saying our Lady GRIZ team needs to be over 50 % Black, like our men's team. I am saying the LG have not historically been recruiting nearby regional big cities--Seattle-Tacoma, Portland, SF-Oakland, LA, etc. and if we want our LG to be more competitive both within and outside of The Big Sky Conference, Coach Harris and staff need to start recruiting these nearby regional big cities, just like Coach DeCuire does and having assistant coach or coaches of color from the inner city themselves can greatly help that effort. Of our 6 GRIZ men's coaches, 50 % are Black: Coach DeCuire, and Asst. Coaches DJ Broome and Reuben Williams.

Diversity in general is good for a university as hopefully our campus at least reflects somewhat the diversity of our country, and diversity in our sports teams as reflected by both our GRIZ men's basketball team and, as noted by grizjournal, our football team. has greatly enhanced their athletic performance and all of our student-athletes are first and foremost good-to-great students that will leave UM with degree in hand not withstanding student-athletes that
 
Mack has also posted to her Instagram story so one would assume she's sticking around for her senior year. She was the one I wondered aboutcoming back given the game off. You don't want to jump to conclusions but I think everyone wondered what would happen with her before the first game back. I'm glad to see she seemingly not just persevered but thrived the last few games. That lady is a stud! (Given the entomology of the word "stud" can you say that? Lol)
 
Allezchat said:
Mack has also posted to her Instagram story so one would assume she's sticking around for her senior year. She was the one I wondered aboutcoming back given the game off. You don't want to jump to conclusions but I think everyone wondered what would happen with her before the first game back. I'm glad to see she seemingly not just persevered but thrived the last few games. That lady is a stud! (Given the entomology of the word "stud" can you say that? Lol)
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WOW, This news about Mack is huge, It all starts with a great point guard, very few teams are successful with out a great point guard, and Mack is a great point.
 
billingsgriz said:
I am saying that in 2023, 70.4 % of The NBA was African-American and only 17.5 % were white, according to Statista Research.

And 67% of The WNBA was Black, with 83% of all players being persons of color: African-American, Hispanic and Asian players, some players being Americans and some from overseas, Spain, China
and India, for example.

And also in 2023, 28% of NCAA women's basketball players were Black, the highest % of African-American girls in any NCAA women's collegiate sport.

If a picture of the 2024-25 GRIZ men's basketball team is juxtaposed next to a picture of the 2024-25 LG,there is an obvious stunning visible difference: our men's team is 56% Black, 9 of 16 student athletes, and our LG team was 100 %, 14 /14 LG players were White.

I am not saying our Lady GRIZ team needs to be over 50 % Black, like our men's team. I am saying the LG have not historically been recruiting nearby regional big cities--Seattle-Tacoma, Portland, SF-Oakland, LA, etc. and if we want our LG to be more competitive both within and outside of The Big Sky Conference, Coach Harris and staff need to start recruiting these nearby regional big cities, just like Coach DeCuire does and having assistant coach or coaches of color from the inner city themselves can greatly help that effort. Of our 6 GRIZ men's coaches, 50 % are Black: Coach DeCuire, and Asst. Coaches DJ Broome and Reuben Williams.

Diversity in general is good for a university as hopefully our campus at least reflects somewhat the diversity of our country, and diversity in our sports teams as reflected by both our GRIZ men's basketball team and, as noted by grizjournal, our football team. has greatly enhanced their athletic performance and all of our student-athletes are first and foremost good-to-great students that will leave UM with degree in hand not withstanding student-athletes that
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Ya think? I’ve been on this case for so long that Ronald Reagan called me to say, “Citay, there you go again!”

It got tiresome to see our Big Sky Power Lady Griz go to the national tournament most years and get demolished by a team of salivating Sistah’s.

The men have been recruiting black players going back to the 50’s and 60’s—Ray Howard, Zip Rhodes, Ray Lucien, Marv Suttles, Ed Samuelson, Wade Hughes, not to forget Nase Rhinehart. The Lady Griz for years had one black player, Vickie Austin, one of Shannon Cate’s all-time fave teammates. And her recruitment was a complete fluke.

So I say again: It’s not only time—it’s way past time!
 
citygriz said:
Ya think? I’ve been on this case for so long that Ronald Reagan called me to say, “Citay, there you go again!”

It got tiresome to see our Big Sky Power Lady Griz go to the national tournament most years and get demolished by a team of salivating Sistah’s.

The men have been recruiting black players going back to the 50’s and 60’s—Ray Howard, Zip Rhodes, Ray Lucien, Marv Suttles, Ed Samuelson, Wade Hughes, not to forget Nase Rhinehart. The Lady Griz for years had one black player, Vickie Austin, one of Shannon Cate’s all-time fave teammates. And her recruitment was a complete fluke.

So I say again: It’s not only time—it’s way past time!
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You are 100 % correct, City, the LG have had some Black student-athletes over the years like Vickie Austin, but they almost had to recruit themselves. LG assistants and the HC are not driving into Tacoma, Seattle, Portland-Vancouver, South-Central LA, etc. and recruiting inner-city girls.

And having accomplished former players that are now accomplished assistant coach(es) that are Black will only help that effort because a key question these inner-city girls and their parents are going to ask is, " Does anyone at The University of Montana look like us ? " And who's not to say after Coaches Harris and/or Woolley retire from UM after winning 400-500 games and graduating their kids or leaving for another job, that one of those Black LG assistants and/or players won't become a future LG Head Coach, aka Coach DeCuire ?
 
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