UM officials voice support for Hauck
Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 9:26 am
UM officials voice support for Hauck
By FRITZ NEIGHBOR of the Missoulian
With the Montana Grizzlies and Montana State Bobcats on the verge of the 107th “Brawl of the Wild,” fans have wondered whether Griz coach Bobby Hauck's fate will be that of Mike Kramer, who won't be on the sidelines in Bozeman on Saturday.
“No,” said both UM athletic director Jim O'Day and school president George Dennison on Tuesday, a day after Griz football players Greg Coleman, Jeramy Pate and Mike Shelton appeared in District Court on felony robbery, assault and kidnapping charges.
“I think it's a fair question,” said O'Day, who is in his third year as Montana's athletic director. “It's a very fair question in light of what we're going through. It's one that I'm sure a lot of people want to know: What do we think?
“I think there's a lot of misunderstanding of the situation at Montana State. The piece that doesn't add in here is the educational piece.”
Kramer, who coached the Bobcat football team for eight seasons, was dismissed after former receiver Ricky Gatewood was arrested on drug charges in late May. Gatewood was the sixth current or former MSU athlete arrested for drugs or murder in a little over a year.
But the Bobcats' continued struggles with academics - in early May they came in below the NCAA-mandated Academic Progress Report guidelines, for a third straight year - also had a bearing.
While Dennison and O'Day find the Grizzlies' latest legal troubles disconcerting, they are in full support for Hauck, whose teams have fared well in the classroom as well as in the Big Sky Conference. The Griz aren't on the verge of changing coaches.
“I don't believe that we are,” Dennison said. “I say that because I am still persuaded that our coach takes a lot of care when he does recruit student-athletes. He talks with the families, he talks with the coaches, the counselors and other people they know.
“He tries to make sure he's recruiting students who are capable of doing well athletically as well as academically and socially. I think he's doing all those things right.”
Dennison referred often to Coleman, who came to Montana from Iowa State, as an example of a player who jumped through hoops to join the football team. The running back had been arrested for assaulting a police officer while still in high school, and he later had a different assault charge dropped while at ISU.
All of this was made clear upon his application to UM; while Hauck had a say in whether Coleman was on the team, the running back had to go before an admissions committee to get into Montana.
“It wasn't Bob Hauck's decision to admit him,” Dennison said. “It is a committee of administrators who look at the entire situation and make a decision. That applies to every student. If they don't disclose those kinds of incidents, then they're subject to expulsion.”
Coleman was admitted in time for the fall semester of 2006 and appeared to fit in. He broke his foot in the season opener at Iowa, and took a medical redshirt. This year, he rushed for 259 yards in a backup role, including 105 in Montana's 27-14 win at Idaho State on Saturday.
Then he and Shelton were arrested Sunday morning upon their return from the game. Hauck had made Pate stay behind because the redshirt freshman had missed class.
“We don't recruit transfers, they recruit us,” Dennison noted. “They apply and then we look at them carefully and try to make on a decision based on everything we can find out.
“There were some pretty big names that vouched for Greg Coleman. Jim Tressel of Ohio State, the coach of Iowa (Kirk Ferentz), plus the coach at Iowa State (Dan McCarney).”
That didn't make his arrest any easier to take.
“(I was) very disappointed, and very concerned, also,” Dennison said. “Very embarrassed, I guess one would say.”
Coleman and Shelton, from the University of Arizona, are transfers from a four-year school. So was former player Qwenton Freeman, also from Arizona, who is a suspect in the same robbery that landed the other two in jail. It follows that fans will want UM to stay away from the four-year transfers, but that is simplistic.
“If there's one thing I will say, it's sometimes people ruin it for others,” O'Day said. “Take that as you want to perceive it. Moving forward, we'll be looking at more things, and we've been trying to be proactive. You just hate to be reactive; that's what's unfortunate.
“There are opportunities, too, for second chances, regardless of where the student-athlete is from - Great Falls, or Billings, or Laramie, Wyo., or Colorado Springs (Colo.) or Los Angeles. Everybody deserves a second chance no matter what the reason. I think that's no different here.”
Hauck is 51-13 in his fifth year at UM, and working on an unbeaten season as the Grizzlies head to Bozeman for the Griz-Cat game. The Griz are 10-0 for only the fourth time in school history. The latest incident doesn't change that or his job status.
“Bobby does a lot of very good things behind the scenes,” O'Day said. “At times, Bobby may have that rough exterior, but he's got a good heart and he cares about people. When you get to know the real Bobby, you understand why he's a talented individual who has a bright future.”
“He does think about the welfare of the student-athletes,” Dennison said. “As long as I'm convinced of that and convinced that he's doing the job that he was hired to do, then I'm going to be supportive of him.”
By FRITZ NEIGHBOR of the Missoulian
With the Montana Grizzlies and Montana State Bobcats on the verge of the 107th “Brawl of the Wild,” fans have wondered whether Griz coach Bobby Hauck's fate will be that of Mike Kramer, who won't be on the sidelines in Bozeman on Saturday.
“No,” said both UM athletic director Jim O'Day and school president George Dennison on Tuesday, a day after Griz football players Greg Coleman, Jeramy Pate and Mike Shelton appeared in District Court on felony robbery, assault and kidnapping charges.
“I think it's a fair question,” said O'Day, who is in his third year as Montana's athletic director. “It's a very fair question in light of what we're going through. It's one that I'm sure a lot of people want to know: What do we think?
“I think there's a lot of misunderstanding of the situation at Montana State. The piece that doesn't add in here is the educational piece.”
Kramer, who coached the Bobcat football team for eight seasons, was dismissed after former receiver Ricky Gatewood was arrested on drug charges in late May. Gatewood was the sixth current or former MSU athlete arrested for drugs or murder in a little over a year.
But the Bobcats' continued struggles with academics - in early May they came in below the NCAA-mandated Academic Progress Report guidelines, for a third straight year - also had a bearing.
While Dennison and O'Day find the Grizzlies' latest legal troubles disconcerting, they are in full support for Hauck, whose teams have fared well in the classroom as well as in the Big Sky Conference. The Griz aren't on the verge of changing coaches.
“I don't believe that we are,” Dennison said. “I say that because I am still persuaded that our coach takes a lot of care when he does recruit student-athletes. He talks with the families, he talks with the coaches, the counselors and other people they know.
“He tries to make sure he's recruiting students who are capable of doing well athletically as well as academically and socially. I think he's doing all those things right.”
Dennison referred often to Coleman, who came to Montana from Iowa State, as an example of a player who jumped through hoops to join the football team. The running back had been arrested for assaulting a police officer while still in high school, and he later had a different assault charge dropped while at ISU.
All of this was made clear upon his application to UM; while Hauck had a say in whether Coleman was on the team, the running back had to go before an admissions committee to get into Montana.
“It wasn't Bob Hauck's decision to admit him,” Dennison said. “It is a committee of administrators who look at the entire situation and make a decision. That applies to every student. If they don't disclose those kinds of incidents, then they're subject to expulsion.”
Coleman was admitted in time for the fall semester of 2006 and appeared to fit in. He broke his foot in the season opener at Iowa, and took a medical redshirt. This year, he rushed for 259 yards in a backup role, including 105 in Montana's 27-14 win at Idaho State on Saturday.
Then he and Shelton were arrested Sunday morning upon their return from the game. Hauck had made Pate stay behind because the redshirt freshman had missed class.
“We don't recruit transfers, they recruit us,” Dennison noted. “They apply and then we look at them carefully and try to make on a decision based on everything we can find out.
“There were some pretty big names that vouched for Greg Coleman. Jim Tressel of Ohio State, the coach of Iowa (Kirk Ferentz), plus the coach at Iowa State (Dan McCarney).”
That didn't make his arrest any easier to take.
“(I was) very disappointed, and very concerned, also,” Dennison said. “Very embarrassed, I guess one would say.”
Coleman and Shelton, from the University of Arizona, are transfers from a four-year school. So was former player Qwenton Freeman, also from Arizona, who is a suspect in the same robbery that landed the other two in jail. It follows that fans will want UM to stay away from the four-year transfers, but that is simplistic.
“If there's one thing I will say, it's sometimes people ruin it for others,” O'Day said. “Take that as you want to perceive it. Moving forward, we'll be looking at more things, and we've been trying to be proactive. You just hate to be reactive; that's what's unfortunate.
“There are opportunities, too, for second chances, regardless of where the student-athlete is from - Great Falls, or Billings, or Laramie, Wyo., or Colorado Springs (Colo.) or Los Angeles. Everybody deserves a second chance no matter what the reason. I think that's no different here.”
Hauck is 51-13 in his fifth year at UM, and working on an unbeaten season as the Grizzlies head to Bozeman for the Griz-Cat game. The Griz are 10-0 for only the fourth time in school history. The latest incident doesn't change that or his job status.
“Bobby does a lot of very good things behind the scenes,” O'Day said. “At times, Bobby may have that rough exterior, but he's got a good heart and he cares about people. When you get to know the real Bobby, you understand why he's a talented individual who has a bright future.”
“He does think about the welfare of the student-athletes,” Dennison said. “As long as I'm convinced of that and convinced that he's doing the job that he was hired to do, then I'm going to be supportive of him.”
), but just as the atmoshpere began to change at MSU about December of last year, and really changed in May....it's a whole new world at UM now too, where the margin of error is much, much smaller.