Big Sky Football Media Days set for Spokane next week

The annual Big Sky Conference Football Media Days have a new home in 2018, moving from Park City, Utah, to Spokane, Wash., Sunday and Monday, July 15-16, at the DoubleTree Spokane City Center.

Montana head coach Bobby Hauck makes his official return to Big Sky football at the event, the conference where he went 80-17 and won seven league titles in seven seasons with the Grizzlies from 2003-2009.

Hauck will be joined by senior defensive end Reggie Tilleman and senior receiver Keenan Curran.

Using win percentage as criteria, Hauck is the winningest head coach in Big Sky Conference history, and the fastest coach in league history to reach the 40, 50, 60, 70, and 80-win plateaus. During his first seven-year coaching span, Hauck and the Griz won more games than anyone else in FCS football and made three national title appearances.

The Griz outscored their opponents 3,079-1,795 in that 97-game stretch, and he coached 37 first-team All-Big Sky selections. Hauck's Grizzlies also excelled in the classroom during that time. From '03-'09, Montana placed 104 football players on Academic All-Big Sky teams, the most, or second most in the league each year.

Tilleman, a 6-4, 272-pound native of Genesee, Idaho, was last year's recipient of the Tony Barbour Award, presented annually to the UM player "who best exemplifies outstanding practice habits and makes an unselfish contribution to the betterment of the Grizzly Football Team." He's next in a long line of outstanding defensive ends to pressure opposing quarterbacks and is poised for a breakout senior season.

As a two-time Academic All-Big Sky selection with a 3.87 GPA in finance, Tilleman is also a team leader in the classroom.

Curran, a 6-2, 203-pound native of Federal Way, Wash., was an All-Big Sky Honorable Mention in 2017 as the Grizzlies' leading receiver, totaling 803 yards on 38 catches. His 73 receiving yards-per-game were the sixth-most in the Big Sky last season as well.

His 1,548 career receiving yards rank him in the top-30 on Montana's all-time career receiving list, and his 18 career touchdown catches rank him in UM' top-15 all-time in that category.

Curran won the 2017 Terry Dillon Award presented to UM's most outstanding back or receiver.

A total of 26 student-athletes from the league's 13 teams will provide one-on-one interview opportunities to media representatives. Each student-athlete will also give back to the Spokane Community, visiting kids at the Sacred Heart Children's' Hospital.

On Monday, fans can point their web browsers to WatchBigSky.com or tune in to PlutoTV Channel 231 to see a live-streamed interview with Hauck starting at 11:40 a.m. MT. Later that day, fans can also tune-in to see an interview with Curran and Tilleman at 2:41 p.m. MT.

Voice of the Griz Riley Corcoran will be in Spokane to bring fans exclusive interviews and content with Hauck, Curran, Tilleman, and Montana Director of Athletics Kent Haslam via the team's social media channels.

Curran and Tilleman will also take fans behind the scenes at the Big Sky Kickoff with a Twitter takeover on Montana Football's official Twitter feed @MontanaGrizFB.

Big Sky Head Coach Interviews – Monday, July 16 (All times Pacific)
9:00 a.m. – Dan Hawkins, UC Davis
9:10 a.m. – Jerome Souers, Northern Arizona
9:20 a.m. – Tim Walsh, Cal Poly
9:30 a.m. – Jody Sears, Sacramento State
9:40 a.m. – Bruce Barnum, Portland State
9:50 a.m. – Demario Warren, Southern Utah
10:00 a.m. – Earnest Collins Jr., Northern Colorado
10:10 a.m. – Jeff Choate, Montana State
10:20 a.m. – Rob Phenicie, Idaho State
10:30 a.m. – Jay Hill, Weber State
10:40 a.m.-- Bobby Hauck, Montana (11:40 a.m. MT)
10:50 a.m. – Paul Petrino, Idaho
11:00 a.m. – Aaron Best, Eastern Washington

Big Sky Student-Athlete Interviews – Monday, July 16 (All times Pacific)
11:30 a.m. – Keelan Doss/Jake Maier, UC Davis
11:43 a.m. – Case Cookus/Wes Sutton, Northern Arizona
11:56 a.m. – Joe Protheroe/Khaleel Jenkins, Cal Poly
12:09 p.m. – Immanuel Anderson/Jaelin Ratliff, Sacramento State
12:22 p.m. – Artuz Manning/Charlie Taumoepeau, Portland State
12:36 p.m. – Zach Larsen/Logan Parker, Southern Utah
12:49 p.m. – Keifer Morris/Alex Wesley, Northern Colorado
1:02 p.m. – Zach Wright/Alex Neale, Montana State
1:15 p.m. – Tanner Gueller/Mitch Gueller, Idaho State
1:28 p.m. – LeGrand Toia/Iosua Opeta, Weber State
1:41 p.m.-- Reggie Tilleman/Keenan Curran, Montana (2:41 p.m. MT)
1:54 p.m. – Kaden Elliss/Isaiah Saunders, Idaho
2:07 p.m. – Gage Gubrud/Mitch Fettig, Eastern Washington

University of Montana Athletics

Big Sky Football Media Days set for Spokane next week

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