The gogriz.com 20 :: Nos. 12-9
7/29/2015 6:25:00 AM | General
This week gogriz.com will count down the 20 most intriguing storylines, people and events of 2015-16. Consider it a primer as you begin preparing yourself for the year ahead.
Â
12. Anyone interested in some long-range football scheduling? Montana and Northern Iowa earlier this month announced a home-and-home football series that will start in 2016 in Cedar Falls and conclude in 2018 in Missoula, and that's only the start of the contracts that have nonconference games locked in through the 2021 season. Look for a pair of schools from east of the Mississippi to visit Missoula in 2016 and '17, followed in 2018 by a team out of the Pioneer Football League, then a home-and-home series with a member of the Ohio Valley Conference in 2020 and '21. And those are just the FCS opponents. High-profile games against teams from the Pac-12 -- on the road of course -- will be coming in 2017, '19 and '21 (and you'd be wise to remember that every-other-year-a-Pac-12 trend). Opponents and dates will be announced on gogriz.com as contracts are finalized.
Â
11. This is a list of intriguing storylines, people and events, but isn't part of the hook of athletics not having a clue what's going to happen next, either good or bad? Isn't that unscripted drama why we follow? The same year Kellie Rubel develops into a Big Sky Conference co-MVP for the Lady Griz, Barbora Bakova, the golf team's top player, only a sophomore and a good bet to one day be a Big Sky champion, decides to transfer to Coastal Carolina and a climate that will better help her accomplish her goal of playing professionally. So many highs, so many lows. What under-the-radar player is going to thrive in Bob Stitt's new system and become the darling of Griz Nation? Will another UM team hold an 11-point lead at home with six minutes left in the Big Sky championship game and come up short? Another year, another chance to put your roulette ball on the wheel of emotions. Who can resist?
Â
10. Wasn't it supposed to take a while for coach Jamie Pinkerton's new softball program to find its way? Certainly it was supposed to take longer than one season. Burdened -- at least that felt like the operative word at the time -- with a roster made up of 15 true freshmen, all Montana did last spring was win 16 games and go into its final three-game series of the regular season with a chance to make the four-team Big Sky Conference tournament. In its first season. Just months after the team's 20 players were introduced to one another. Credit 1) Pinkerton's eye for talent when out recruiting and 2) his experience taking 20 players and molding them into one team. Of course overachieving in year one leads to higher expectations for year two. But with Lexie Brenneis, last season's Big Sky Freshman of the Year, returning, along with a team young in age but veteran in experience, would you bet against them?
Â
9. Walk past the offices of the Montana volleyball coaching staff these days, and the change is impossible to miss. It's not so much a breath of fresh air as it is a quiet confidence that first-year coach Brian Doyon brought with him from Utah. It's a we've-got-this calmness of a coach who understands how to win and get the best out of his players, and it's eerily (and excitingly) similar to the sea change that was felt when Mark Plakorus took over the Montana soccer program in 2011 (and all that team has done is produce three Big Sky Conference championships in four years). Success just feels inevitable. But there is a reason the job came open. Montana has won just a single Big Sky tournament match since 1996, and the Grizzlies are 92 matches under .500 since 2000, with 6-23 records two of the last three years. All of which is going to make the victories and championships that much more fun to celebrate.
Â
12. Anyone interested in some long-range football scheduling? Montana and Northern Iowa earlier this month announced a home-and-home football series that will start in 2016 in Cedar Falls and conclude in 2018 in Missoula, and that's only the start of the contracts that have nonconference games locked in through the 2021 season. Look for a pair of schools from east of the Mississippi to visit Missoula in 2016 and '17, followed in 2018 by a team out of the Pioneer Football League, then a home-and-home series with a member of the Ohio Valley Conference in 2020 and '21. And those are just the FCS opponents. High-profile games against teams from the Pac-12 -- on the road of course -- will be coming in 2017, '19 and '21 (and you'd be wise to remember that every-other-year-a-Pac-12 trend). Opponents and dates will be announced on gogriz.com as contracts are finalized.
Â
11. This is a list of intriguing storylines, people and events, but isn't part of the hook of athletics not having a clue what's going to happen next, either good or bad? Isn't that unscripted drama why we follow? The same year Kellie Rubel develops into a Big Sky Conference co-MVP for the Lady Griz, Barbora Bakova, the golf team's top player, only a sophomore and a good bet to one day be a Big Sky champion, decides to transfer to Coastal Carolina and a climate that will better help her accomplish her goal of playing professionally. So many highs, so many lows. What under-the-radar player is going to thrive in Bob Stitt's new system and become the darling of Griz Nation? Will another UM team hold an 11-point lead at home with six minutes left in the Big Sky championship game and come up short? Another year, another chance to put your roulette ball on the wheel of emotions. Who can resist?
Â
10. Wasn't it supposed to take a while for coach Jamie Pinkerton's new softball program to find its way? Certainly it was supposed to take longer than one season. Burdened -- at least that felt like the operative word at the time -- with a roster made up of 15 true freshmen, all Montana did last spring was win 16 games and go into its final three-game series of the regular season with a chance to make the four-team Big Sky Conference tournament. In its first season. Just months after the team's 20 players were introduced to one another. Credit 1) Pinkerton's eye for talent when out recruiting and 2) his experience taking 20 players and molding them into one team. Of course overachieving in year one leads to higher expectations for year two. But with Lexie Brenneis, last season's Big Sky Freshman of the Year, returning, along with a team young in age but veteran in experience, would you bet against them?
Â
9. Walk past the offices of the Montana volleyball coaching staff these days, and the change is impossible to miss. It's not so much a breath of fresh air as it is a quiet confidence that first-year coach Brian Doyon brought with him from Utah. It's a we've-got-this calmness of a coach who understands how to win and get the best out of his players, and it's eerily (and excitingly) similar to the sea change that was felt when Mark Plakorus took over the Montana soccer program in 2011 (and all that team has done is produce three Big Sky Conference championships in four years). Success just feels inevitable. But there is a reason the job came open. Montana has won just a single Big Sky tournament match since 1996, and the Grizzlies are 92 matches under .500 since 2000, with 6-23 records two of the last three years. All of which is going to make the victories and championships that much more fun to celebrate.
Friday, June 19
Thursday, June 04
Friday, May 01
Friday, May 01
