I posted this on another subject, but am posting it here. Flame away you impatient bashers! Patience is a virtue, especially at program at the level of ours. Seriously overall what has this program done that scream excellence from any coach over any coaches tenure? Some of you treat this job like it is Duke, UNC, UCLA, AZ, etc. IT IS NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In my opinion the emphasis W/L's is the biggest problem in collegiate athletics today. Honestly to God, other than an occasional good year here and there, has Montana been consistently much better than average BSC record? Seriously, even the guys that were considered good to great did not have glowing records quickly with the GRIZ. Heathcote (sp?), Montgomery, Taylor all moved on but did not have great records. Morrill I think had the best record of the coaches that moved on. LK really did not stay here long enough to give him too much credit or too much blame.
Seriously, have the GRIZ ever had one MENS coach dominate every year from Heathcote on? Right now I am not going to take the time to look it up, but am rather pretty sure it would be hard to make a sure fire case for any coach here based on consistently winning. Jud, Monty, and Taylor all had great success after leaving the GRIZ. Do I consider them good to great coaches? I do as their careers turned out. Based on some peoples expectations, those guys too would have been bashed and considered as underachieving too.
Cold reality is all us GRIZ fans would love for our program to make a splash for many years. Cold reality is until we find a coach willing to take that time and recruit the better than average players we will never see this become reality. Tinkle is finally a coach looking at this position as more than a stepping stone. He is in a position in his life that finances are not as big a priority for him or his family. Damnit folks the coaches that could do what you want for this program as fast as you want are coaches that are retired, or at programs much larger than our, programs that can pay them top dollars? I know lets talk Bobby Knight out of retirement. Reality is that the top notch proven coaches are not going to fall into our laps. No matter who is coach we have to take risks on unproven coaches.
Had UCLA given up on Wooden, we would have never know the GREATEST college basketball coach to ever coach. Dean Smith had his growing pains at UNC. Coach K had many pains with Duke. All those schools were willing to ride out the storms, trials, and tribulations. Look what the results turned out to be. By the way, Appalachian State Football withstood many years of mediocrity with their coach. Despite that time, who is now the 3 time defending FCS champion?
When you are school of our size and history that is still searching for national respect it really is best to stick it out with someone that truely Bleeds GRIZ. That man is Tinkle, nobody here can doubt his love for this school, sincerity, morals, and respect. Be patient people, it will happen!!!! Sorry if it is not soon enough for some of the bashers wanting overnight dominance. Those stories are few and far between in college athletics.