Citowicki named Big Sky Coach of the Year

What's remarkable, if you're willing to look beyond this year's 13-2-3 regular season and the unbeaten run through the league, is that he saw this coming the whole time.

In fact, Chris Citowicki, who was named the 2023 Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year on Thursday, planned for this all along.

This type of season, in Year 6 of the Citowicki Era, isn't something he dreamed of when he got the job at Montana in the spring of 2018 and kept to himself. He wanted everyone to know what he intended to do with his new program, where he was going to take it, to what heights.

He was so certain he could make it happen that he had the steps of the process made into printed materials he began handing out to recruits. We're going to do this, then we're going to address this, then we're going to build this, then we're going strengthen this, and after we do all that, look out.

Look out: As in what his 2023 team pulled off. Has pulled off, to be exact, because these Grizzlies, who are off to Flagstaff, Ariz., next week for the Big Sky tournament, are not done yet.

"One of the unique qualities of Chris is he's a visionary and he's also not afraid to speak his vision," says associate head coach J. Landham, who has been with Citowicki four of Citowicki's six years leading the Grizzlies.

Because to speak it leads to external expectations, and with expectations comes pressure, to pull off what you've said you're going to accomplish. Maybe it's better just to keep quiet and keep all that talk to yourself.

Like what? Winning the Big Sky Conference with regularity? Yep. Winning a game in the NCAA tournament, something not done by the Big Sky champion since Montana pulled it off in 2000? Yep. Then going a step further and winning a second-round match, something that's never been done? Yep.

It's all part of the vision, part of the plan, to go where no Big Sky team has gone before, spoken about openly. After all, when you fully believe it's not only possible but is going to happen, why hide it?

"Chris all the time talks about being six games away (from a national championship)," says Landham. "This year, if we can get (to the NCAA tournament), we'd like to get five games away," meaning a first-round win. "The vision for '24, '25, can we get four games away? That's a lofty goal for a Big Sky team.

"What I admire is that he has found a goal that is both attainable and far out there. He has this vision that he is working toward so intently. To be a part of it is really awesome and really fun."

Citowicki knew when he was hired that building a suffocating defense would be the fastest road to immediate success. Indeed, it was, as the Grizzlies won the Big Sky tournament in his first season, the fall of 2018, then won the regular-season title in 2019.

But in this defense-first approach, the margins were razor-thin. Through his first two seasons, a span of 41 matches, Montana played nearly twice as many 0-0 draws (7) as the Grizzlies had matches when they scored multiple goals (4). Forty-one matches over two seasons, 33 goals scored. C'mon, defense!

But again, he knew that was going to be the case. It was part of the process, part of his plan, the final step always to become a team that scores goals aplenty, the dream of every program, the reality for few.

The final step would be the most difficult to make, one requiring time and talent, talent only arriving through recruiting, recruiting taking time, time to make contacts and develop relationships. It would be the one that would take the longest investment. Years, actually.

Prior to Year 2, Citowicki interviewed candidates to be his goalkeeper coach. He landed on Landham, who had previously been coaching at Vanderbilt. Two peas, same pod, two guys who don't simply coach soccer to be around the sport. They also are in love with the profession and all it entails.

"A healthy obsession is a phrase that comes to mind," says Landham, when asked about Citowicki and coaching. "An obsession with all things coaching, the art of it, which is human interaction, character development, community engagement, a style of play that is unique.

"And then the science behind it, which is programming sessions, a season, periodization, tactics, technique. It's the same stuff I geek out about as well. Chris has a mindset of, this is what I love and I'm going to put everything into it."

Montana navigated the spring season of 2021, making the NCAA tournament amidst ongoing and ceaseless COVID disruptions, played South Carolina to a 1-0 result in North Carolina.

It was to that program, with Citowicki and Landham already in place, that Ashley Herndon applied for an open assistant position, the former James Madison star done playing professionally and ready to become a coach, happy, she thought, to go anywhere that would have her.

Then Montana came along and suddenly nothing else would do. "The difference in (Citowicki's) interview process compared to every other school was so striking, so unique, that I wanted this job more than any of the others," says Herndon.

"It wasn't just soccer talk. It was culture talk, how family-oriented the program is. One of my biggest values is family. That made me want to be part of it so bad."

Citowicki's talk of family goes layers deep. There's his own, his wife, Aryn, their children, Vivia and Sebastian. His coaching staff, which includes the team's support staff. The full team of players and their own families. The fans, who set records all season, an average of nearly 800 at every home match.

He wants those people, you, to feel like you're a part of it as well. Call it extended family. The more people who are connected, the more energy that's created, the better the chance this whole thing can take off even more, can become the program of Citowicki's vision.

He wants everyone who wants a seat to come along for the ride. The more, the merrier. There are no limits, no space considerations. It takes a village, right? But it also takes the rare coach who wants that entire village to come along for the journey.

"A lot of programs compartmentalize their success and who they are," says Landham. Come to our matches, cheer for us, and we'll see you next time. Bye, now.

Montana? South Campus Stadium looks like a lovefest after home matches, with parents and siblings hanging out, kids with stars in their eyes finding their favorite Grizzlies for autographs, casual well-wishers getting sucked in because of the atmosphere. Citowicki wants all of it. Encourages it.

"A lot of programs aren't open to sharing the parts of them that make the coaching environment and the soccer environment better," adds Landham. "Chris is open to that and it's been a joy to be a part of.

"Part of his vision is for Montana to be one of the best places in the country to play women's soccer. Also an extremely lofty goal, but we know it's possible. We can do it the right way, with the right coaching staff, the right culture, the right community, the right players and families."

With the new staff in place, Montana finished runner-up in 2021, won the league tournament, lost to Washington State 3-0, which was better than the 5-1 loss to the Cougars in the 2018 NCAA tournament but still not good enough. There was still a chasm between Montana and that first-round win.

Of course, the trajectory from 2018 to today wasn't without its drop-offs. Like the 2022 season, for example. The Grizzlies won seven games, finished below .500 in league and needed help on the final day of the regular season just to sneak into the postseason as the No. 6 seed.

All was not right in Griz Land, but it was a critical experience, a reminder that the details matter, that a coach needs to have his finger on the pulse of the team at all times, that minor things can become major issues given space to breath.

The disappointment of 2022 simply set the stage for 2023.

In the offseason, a self-examination, which led to a rebirth. Montana, Citowicki believed, was going to be Montana again and even more so than it had ever been. Key players were coming back. The transfer portal had been mined for some gems. The culture had been reestablished and strengthened.

The 2022 team finished the season with an RPI of 220, Montana on its way to becoming just another program in the Big Sky. Today the Grizzlies sit at 87 after a historic season, more than 100 spots better than any other team in the league, the effort of the last 12 months paying off in a big way.

"I've been to all sorts of levels, the professional level, national level, college level. I know a lot of coaches put in a lot of work, but the amount of work Chris puts in behind the scenes is unbelievable," says Herndon. "He cares so much about this program, the team and the people in it."

But that fall schedule! Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon State. All those O's looked on paper like 0's, as in a lot of losses.

Then Montana opened the season with a road sweep of North Dakota and North Dakota State, and in front of the largest and most electric crowd ever to gather at South Campus Stadium, the Grizzlies played to a 2-2 draw with Ohio State that had the Buckeyes just hoping to escape with a draw.

The realization hit: This team is different. This team could be good, really good. Wait, it is good, really good, right now, in August.

One week later, the first Power 5 win for Montana under Citowicki, the first for the program since 2016: Montana 1, Oklahoma 0. On the road at Oregon State: another draw. Make it no losses against the Buckeyes, Sooners and Beavers.

This was it. It was happening just like the coach had preached, had prophesized. The scoring would be the final piece to take shape, he said, and when it does, look out.

Look out, indeed: Montana finished the regular season with 33 goals scored, the most by the Grizzlies since 2000, or the number of goals scored by Citowicki's first two teams. Combined. It's all happening, just like he said it would.

Montana allowed only eight goals through 18 regular-season matches, putting the Grizzlies on pace to set both program and Big Sky records. And now that the scoring has come, aplenty, it's the team Citowicki, the Big Sky Coach of the Year, saw coming all along.

University of Montana Athletics

Related News

Related Videos