MISSOULA, Montana — As the Montana Grizzlies burst into boisterous celebration, dancing and singing, carrying the Great Divide Trophy around Washington-Grizzly Stadium while the record-setting crowed reached bedlam, Bobby Hauck took a moment to stand at the center of the stadium that has defined most of his adult life.
The all-time wins leader in University of Montana and Big Sky Conference history took his time while his team sang the UM fight song to the student section, choosing to enjoy a moment of solace after affirming he, once again, is the king of the Big Sky Conference.
In Hauck’s first stint at Montana between 2003 and 2009, the Griz won like no one in the Big Sky ever had or has since. The Griz posted an absurd 47-6 record in Big Sky play, claiming seven consecutive Big Sky titles and winning 80 games total over Hauck’s seven seasons.
That level of achievement is what the Grizzlies’ faithful, rabid and uber-demanding fan base wanted and expected when Hauck returned. But first, Hauck had to confront the arduous task of remaking a roster of slick, flashy players recruited more for their star ratings then their fortitude. Montana showed flashes of competing for Big Sky titles — and Hauck will be the first to remind anyone of that — but the Griz could not get over the top.
So after Montana resoundingly stomped Montana State 37-7 on Saturday, winning the Big Sky Conference title and re-establishing the Griz as legitimate national championship contenders in the process, Hauck took a moment to let it all soak in.
“I got to see some of my old players from what’s getting to be longer ago, including Trumaine Johnson. There was a bunch of them, so I got to say hi to them and hug them up, and they were damn near as excited as our team,” Hauck said.
“Then you give thanks to God and think about how grateful you are to have the greatest job in the world. That’s what I was doing. Plus, I can’t sing worth a damn.”
After he finished contemplating what his team had just accomplished — a Big Sky trophy for the first time since 2009, a 10th win for the third time in the last five seasons, home-field advantage for the duration of the playoffs — Hauck was quite literally met by his past. When he turned around, Trumaine Johnson – maybe the greatest player from Hauck’s first, historic run – stood waiting for a celebratory embrace.
Hauck and Johnson squeezed one another, the symbolism of the moment resonating as several photographers took pictures of one of the greatest Grizzlies ever paying homage to the greatest Griz head coach in the storied history of one of the most tradition-laden football programs in the entire country.
After hugging Johnson, Hauck was met by a trio of the greatest Griz wide receivers in school history. Jamaal Jones came to play for Robin Pflugrad only to end up playing for Mick Delaney, but still finished as the program’s all-time leader in receiving yards. Keenan Curran and Samuel Akem came to play in Bob Stitt’s up-tempo, 90-plays-per-game spread attack and ended up finishing their careers under Hauck.
All of them experienced immense success individually and good success on their respective teams. None ever hoisted a Big Sky championship trophy, but all three reveled in the experience of watching Hauck and his team do just that.
“I know we helped lay the foundation for this team and today made me SO proud to be a Griz,” Curran said as the celebration raged on, with barely any of the 27,000+ Griz faithful leaving for close to an hour after the game went final.
Akem, who’s now contributing at Skyline Sports as an analyst, has followed the Griz as closely as any former player.
“The fact that a month-and-a-half ago people were contemplating if Hauck’s time in Missoula was done and now he has cemented his legacy as not only Big Sky royalty, but a Montana legend for life, is just crazy,” Akem said. “Coach Hauck reminded everyone why “Bobby Ball” was the best from 2003-2009 and he showed me what Montana football is SUPPOSED to look like.
“The expectations exist at Montana because we all know they can do what they did yesterday year in and year out, and now they are there.”
Part of the finishing within the scope of a season eluded Hauck and the Griz because they simply couldn’t beat the rival. In 2018, Montana State won in such shocking fashion, they made a movie and called it a miracle.
In 2019, Bobcat Stadium shook like a San Francisco earthquake from Jahque Alleyne’s tone-setting hit until Isaiah Ifanse was dancing in the end zone for the second time in the fourth quarter and third time on the day in the most lopsided Bobcat rivalry win in the modern era…until last year.
But the 55-21 beatdown by the Bobcats last season was a stroke of redemption after Montana boat-raced the Bobcats in Missoula the year before, causing many of the MSU faithful to clamor for former head coach Jeff Choate, the anointed Griz Slayer who won four in a row in the rivalry.
The 2021 rivalry win showed the promise of Hauck’s Griz but a quarterfinal loss at James Madison re-surfaced certain questions.
Were the Grizzlies too aggressive? Why was Montana so vulnerable to gash plays even with a suffocating defense filled with All-Americans? When would a transfer quarterback actually be able to rise to the occasion in a big game? Would Hauck’s old-school ways be able to help the Griz return to dominance?
It took five seasons and six years for this version of Hauck’s Griz to look like the previous versions of the Hauck Griz. Montana made wholesale changes in the off-season, moving and reassigning pretty much every assistant coach on the staff.
The first month of this season, the offense looked clunky as new offensive coordinator Brent Pease tried to institute a two-quarterback system that never came to fruition.
A horrific loss at Northern Arizona conjured up trauma from previous losses, particularly the debacle in Bozeman the previous season. Did the Griz simply not have the horses to compete? Why, despite Hauck’s assertions that UM would run a two-quarterback system this season, did only Sam Vidlak play while Clifton McDowell paced the sideline in frustration?
But entering Montana’s homecoming game against Idaho State, Hauck and his staff decided to lean into an identity and a quarterback, anointing McDowell and tinkering the offense to fit around him. Another change saw the coaching staff putting the ultimate priority on playing a full 19-man rotation defensively that includes five defensive linemen, five linebackers, four corners and four safeties that roll like a tidal wave.
Starting with Idaho State, the Griz won six straight heading into the rivalry game, and after the beatdown on Saturday, this ferocious, deep, driven group of Grizzlies looks like a squad primed to make a run at the national title for the first time since Hauck bounced to Sin City following the 2009 campaign.
“It’s just so awesome knowing all the hard work that this team, this program has put in has finally paid off,” Montana senior captain and linebacker Braxton Hill said. “The brotherhood inside that locker room and all the coaches, we’ve put a lot of work in during the offseason and in this season. It’s just special, and I couldn’t be more proud to be a Griz.”
When the Griz lost to NAU and the magic looked like it was gone, the traumas of the past reared their head to influence the narrative of the present. Many began wondering if Hauck, in a contract year and without an extension, was in his swan-song season and the #RTD he prophesized upon his return would in fact not come to fruition.
There’s still no answer to the question of Hauck’s future, but Hauck has made it nearly impossible to move on from him. He could ride off into the sunset after another playoff run, chasing FBS dreams, retiring on the beach in San Diego or spending his golden years fishing around his home state. Or he could demand a contract extension and try to add to his peerless coaching legacy among the Big Sky Conference.
“A couple of months ago, nobody believed in us but the guys in the room, but we put our heads down, went back to work and ended up in the spot we are in now,” said Junior Bergen, one of the biggest in-state recruits to pick the Grizzlies in recent years when Hauck flipped him from Montana State to Montana after Choate bolted for an assistant job at Texas.
Before any of that though, there’s more business to handle on the field. As the FCS Selection Show made official on Sunday, the Griz go into the playoffs as the No. 2 seed, meaning they won’t have to leave the cacophonous confines of Washington-Grizzly Stadium unless and until they make it to the national championship game in Frisco, Texas. A Montana-made roster of blue collar players just destroyed the perceived best team in the Big Sky. The Griz are seeing red and take a “No Leaf Clover” mentality into the postseason, because a maroon-and-silver freight train is certainly coming your way.
And on Saturday at 4:07 p.m. MT with the sun finally piercing through the cloud and fog, Bobby Hauck had to take a minute to enjoy it before he went back to celebrating with his team.
