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placidlakegriz
November 9th, 2005, 06:44 PM
November 9, 2005

I-AA West: Magnificent Montana

Kent Schmidt, I-AA.org West Columnist
http://i-aa.org/article.asp?articleid=74047

As anyone associated with the I-AA world knows, the team from the West that gets the most attention is the University of Montana Grizzlies.

Montana has been the most consistent I-AA team over the past 12 years, having seen post-season action in each of those seasons.

This year, the Grizzlies sit tied for the Big Sky Conference lead with a 4-1 conference mark and are 7-2 overall to go along with their #2 national ranking and looked poised to make their 13th straight trip to the playoffs.

How did Montana get so magnificent?
Before the team’s run of consecutive playoff appearances that started in 1993, the team was not anywhere near where the team is today. In fact, before 1993, the Grizzlies made the playoffs just three seasons (1982, 1988, 1989). The Grizzlies were College Division Bowl participants in the 1969 and 1970 seasons prior to that and were the teams’ only other post-season action.

Indisputably, one reason for the Montana magnificence came when Don Read became the Grizzlies’ head coach in 1986. He led the Grizzlies to the playoffs in his third season after turning around a dismal program that saw just one winning season (1981) in the previous ten. Read came to Missoula from Portland State and turned around Montana’s losing ways. He later led the Grizzlies to their first national title in his last season in 1995.

Another reason Montana has such grandeur about it is the stadium in which it plays. Washington-Grizzly Stadium became the Montana home field in Don Read’s first year of 1986. The stadium has gone through a number of upgrades throughout this timeline and has become the best I-AA venue in the country.

Yet another reason Montana has its splendor is their fans. Montana is a large state in terms of land area. Missoula sits almost on the western border. There are fans that travel four or five hours from points east of Missoula to see their favorite team. Each week the home standing Grizzlies have over 23,000 screaming fans to watch their games. Having been to Washington-Grizzly two years ago, I can attest that fans are some of the loudest fans in the country at really any division. ...