The Bobcat Nation

Since we got a lively discussion going in another thread about recruiting and coaching, I thought it might be fun to rank the coaches in the Big Sky. Here is my ranking, from best to worse.

1) Paul Wulff
2) Weber's new coach
3) Kramer
4) PSU's coach
5) Lewis
6) Hauck
7) Souers
Sac States coach

Sorry, I can't recall all of their names. I think Wulff is easily the best coach in the Big Sky.

Wolfman wrote:Since we got a lively discussion going in another thread about recruiting and coaching, I thought it might be fun to rank the coaches in the Big Sky. Here is my ranking, from best to worse.

1) Paul Wulff
2) Weber's new coach
3) Kramer
4) PSU's coach
5) Lewis
6) Hauck
7) Souers
Sac States coach

Sorry, I can't recall all of their names. I think Wulff is easily the best coach in the Big Sky.

Interesting, and hard to disagree with those rankings. I agree that Wulff is the best coach, anyone that can build a solid program in Cheney has to be doing something right. I don't think McBride has been in the Sky long enough to rank him at #2, although I will say that I am very impressed with what he has done so far, and his track record speaks for itself. Kramer is undoubtedly by far the best at raising money and speaking to the boosters. PSU's coach (Time Walsh) is okay and seems to do a great job getting some really good athletes, but his teams always seem to fade at the end of games and seasons. I don't think Lewis is a very good coach, and I think his own personality just confounds the "thug" attitude ISU players are known for (I was impressed that for the first time, I didn't see that out of them this year). You obviously know my feelings about Hauck personally, and I think he is a hit-or-miss coach X's and O's-wise. Some games (EWU, playoffs) he appears to make good decisions and have good game plans. Other games (MSU 2003, NC game) he just makes one dumb decision after another. I think that as long as everything goes to plan, Hauck is a decent coach. He buckles at the first sign of adversity and gets frazzled when things start to go wrong, though. Souers used to be a good coach, but I don't think so anymore. I think he will be fired after this year. Mooshagian is an idiot, and not a very good coach. He made some really stupid statements after the griz game in the monsoon a couple years ago. He routinely has teams with at least equal athletic ability to anyone they play, but they can never win (save our $^**#$ game last year). We'll kill them in Bozeman this year, count on it. PAM State teams always play like crap when they come up to Bozeman in the cold.

As Dean Alexander said on the Sports Nuts a couple of days ago-this is a league where you have to be a good coach to survive-the pretenders don't last very long i.e. Earle Solomonson.

Look how the guys who have left this league have done-for the most part: Joe Glenn, John L. Smith, Dennis Erickson, even back to Jim Sweeney. Of course some have failed like Keith Gilbertson and Mick Dennehy (who was probably in an impossible situation at Utah State), but for the most part I think former Big Sky guys do pretty well.

I think guys like Walsh, Kramer, Lewis, Wolff and yes even Hauck could move on and do very well, and most of those guys will move on eventually.

The Big Sky is a coaches league. You have to game plan, you have to adjust, you have to teach-because you can't just stockpile talent from an exclusive recruiting base.

Wolfman wrote:Since we got a lively discussion going in another thread about recruiting and coaching, I thought it might be fun to rank the coaches in the Big Sky. Here is my ranking, from best to worse.

1) Paul Wulff
2) Weber's new coach
3) Kramer
4) PSU's coach
5) Lewis
6) Hauck
7) Souers
Sac States coach

Sorry, I can't recall all of their names. I think Wulff is easily the best coach in the Big Sky.

Why do you rate Tim Walsh (PSU) in the top half? I think PSU has been disapointing in the last 7 or 8 years: no Big Sky titles; only 1 playoff appearance (2000), no playoff wins. They've had some great talent: Jimmy Blanchard, Chip Dunn, Ryan Fuqua, Terry Charles, Joe Rubin, etc.

McBride may be a good coach for WSU, but I have to question his 4th quarter calls in the last two games. He went on 4th down instead of taking a FG in Missoula, which later forced him to go for the TD. Also, the decision against MSU to run the clock then try to throw deep into double coverage was stupid. He basically lost the game in the final 20 seconds with that call. I wouldn't rank him 2nd yet. Why do you?

Don't forget Fred Amey, the best WR in the Sky last year.

profisme wrote:Don't forget Fred Amey, the best WR in the Sky last year.

Yeah, but Amey played for Suck State.

Haha, Bozone, you are right, and I am obviously way too tired to be writing on this tonight.

I hear that. Somehow, I just can't seem to get to bed before 2:00 AM lately. Of course, checking for new posts over here every five minutes while I'm working probably doesn't help that much!

twentythreeOh4 wrote: Also, the decision against MSU to run the clock then try to throw deep into double coverage was stupid. He basically lost the game in the final 20 seconds with that call. I wouldn't rank him 2nd yet. Why do you?

I didn't think this was a bad call. He did the same thing right before halftime and got 7 points. It just turned out that it was a bad pass. He thought he had our secondary looking for a run, and there was a chance for a long pass completion to set them up in FG range. If that pass would have been completed you all would be saying what a great coach he is.

Coming from a Bobcat, this is hard to say. But you have to give Hauck the respect he has earned.

The man is 13 - 3 (81%) in Big Sky games and 25-8 (75.8%) overall. Not to mention his 2nd place finish last year. He certainly did not get there by luck.

Although I would rank him on the bottom of "Coaches I like", he definatley deserves to be acknowledged as one of the best coaches in the conference.


One of the most frustrating things for us Bobcats is not getting the respect that we have earned and deserve from our in-state rivals. It is hard to hate a griz fan who gives Lulay, Kramer, and the Cats respect. Point being, don't be ignorant when it comes to giving credit where credit is due.

There really are no GREAT coaches in the Big Sky, like the salad days. The whole conference could use a step up.

I'll address some points. First, any play called by a coach that doesn't work is a "bad call", right? I agree that the decision by McBride not to kick the FG versus the Griz was a bad call, in RETROSPECT. Cause, he didn't make the first down. However, Weber was a huge underdog, playing on the road, in a game which nobody expected them to win. He had a chance to nail the win with a TD, instead of making the game close. I think it was the correct call, all things considered. If it had worked, and Weber had gotten the upset, everyone would have been talking about what a gutsy and great call McBride made.

A poster asked why I ranked McBride second? Mostly because of his IA track record, and the fact that Weber has no better talent than last year, yet McBride has them playing well and believing they can win. They never believed that last season. I think he has done a great job down there in his first season.

In reality, I agree that the coaching is weak in the Big Sky. I think that Wulff (I love the name, you know) is clearly in a league by himself in the Big Sky. He will be a IA coach for sure....and a good one at that.

However, I don't see any other Big Sky coach as having what it takes. McBride is on the downhill side of his career. I can't see any IA school hiring him. Kramer has the ability to coach at the IA level. But, he always seems to be passed by for these jobs. His record needs to be a bit more consistant to move up....too many surprising losses to the Sac States of the world.

As for Hauck, Souers, and the others, the Peter Principle is in full effect. These guys are seeing the highest level of football they'll ever see as head coaches.

BleedsBlue&Gold wrote:Coming from a Bobcat, this is hard to say. But you have to give Hauck the respect he has earned.

The man is 13 - 3 (81%) in Big Sky games and 25-8 (75.8%) overall. Not to mention his 2nd place finish last year. He certainly did not get there by luck.

Although I would rank him on the bottom of "Coaches I like", he definatley deserves to be acknowledged as one of the best coaches in the conference.


One of the most frustrating things for us Bobcats is not getting the respect that we have earned and deserve from our in-state rivals. It is hard to hate a griz fan who gives Lulay, Kramer, and the Cats respect. Point being, don't be ignorant when it comes to giving credit where credit is due.

There are few people around who don't recognize how far the coaches and players at State have brought their football program over the last several years, including winning some conference CO-championships and advancing to the playoffs. State's coaches and players know that: they've been given plenty of compliments, both in and outside of Montana. I don't hear them complaining they don't get respect, and they are the only ones who might have "earned" or "deserve" it. It's the players and coaches who are in the arena.

It is apprent this thread was started as a vehcile for Wolfman, who pretends to be a Griz fan, to continue his put-down of Coach Hauck. Under Coach Hauck the Griz have remained near the top of the Big Sky heap, if not at the top. It's ridiculous to suggest a coach who took his team to the NC last year, and whose team is currently rated #2 in the nation, is one of the worst coaches in the Big Sky.

I would say Eastern's coach and the best and Sac's as the worst.

As for the other's its hard to say and I think O and D Coordinators have a lot to do with it. If Kramer would get an actual O coordinator and can Bailey he would be one hot commodity.

To me Lulay is even more amazing because he has overcome Bailey's ineptitude.

Editted and removed by kmax. Wolf, I nor anyone else cares what you think you know about the person of GFGriz. Regardless of what you think he may have said previously on another board, it is out of place on this thread and your entire post was off topic and a waste. I have warned you repeatedly to get over your stupid "egriz insurgency" bull. Consider this your last warning on the subject.

McBrides calls at the end of MSU game were sound. He ran the clock to a point he felt he either could score or put Bobcats in a position that they could not. Would you use your timeouts early or throw and stop the clock knowing if you did not make it Lulay would have all 3 timeouts and 1:30 to play to get into field goal range. Even the pass play made sense. If we do not run it back 40 yards it would have been as good as a punt. Cats would only have had 20-25 seconds to move 50+ yards to field goal range. The problem was not tackling on the runback.

If Wulff fails to beat the Griz again this season, does he still rank #1 wolfman?

kmax, your removal was unwarranted. I started this thread, which has proven to be a popular one. Why are you censoring my rebuttal to yet another Griz fan whose ONLY purpose to post is to take a direct shot at me? I note that you did not remove the last paragraph of his post.

No way Bobby beats EWU this week. And, it is ridiculous to place the worth of a coach on one game. How would you like to try to recruit kids to that scrap heap high school stadium in Cheyney? Hauck has such a huge recruiting advantage over every other Big Sky school, that it almost shouldn't be fair.

Wolfman wrote:kmax, your removal was unwarranted. I started this thread, which has proven to be a popular one. Why are you censoring my rebuttal to yet another Griz fan whose ONLY purpose to post is to take a direct shot at me? I note that you did not remove the last paragraph of his post.

No way Bobby beats EWU this week.

It was not unwarranted, your post was. I know you started this thread and yes people are posting about it. Great. Your post that I removed had absolutely NOTHING to do with this post and just furthered your egriz insurgency vendetta. GFGriz's last paragraph stated nothing more than what you have already established through your posts on THIS board, namely that you greatly dislike Hauck as a coach. He then went on to give reasons why he disagreed with your opinion of Hauck being a bottom Big Sky coach. In other words his post related to the topic, yours didn't. You keep looking for trouble Wolf, if you would just stick to talking about football and sports you would be fine.

PS- If you would like to continue this further I would be happy to do it via PM so that we can return this thread to it's rightful topic. Thank you.

If Wolfmans defense, if another Bobcat said that "I continually pretend to be a Cat fan", I would say a word or two in my defense. But you think he'd be used to it by now.