The Bobcat Nation

I was reading the bio for Mandy Close at Oregon St. The biggest thing that hit me was this:

"former prep teammates playing at other Division I schools included: Andrea Lalum, University of Washington; Kati Burrows, Montana State; Jessica Smith, Wichita State; Annie Fischer, Weber State and Ali Smith, Princeton..."

All those kids from Bozeman HS and MSU didn't get one of them!!!

While it's easy to understand why a kid would want to play in the Pac-10 and some kids want to go away for college. But how could MSU lose out to another Big Sky school for a kid right in their backyard???

Did the former coaches go after Mandy and Andrea? Even if they said early on they wanted to go to Pac-10 school, I think you still gotta try and change their minds.

Stingrays wrote:I was reading the bio for Mandy Close at Oregon St. The biggest thing that hit me was this:

"former prep teammates playing at other Division I schools included: Andrea Lalum, University of Washington; Kati Burrows, Montana State; Jessica Smith, Wichita State; Annie Fischer, Weber State and Ali Smith, Princeton..."

All those kids from Bozeman HS and MSU didn't get one of them!!!

While it's easy to understand why a kid would want to play in the Pac-10 and some kids want to go away for college. But how could MSU lose out to another Big Sky school for a kid right in their backyard???

Did the former coaches go after Mandy and Andrea? Even if they said early on they wanted to go to Pac-10 school, I think you still gotta try and change their minds.

UMMMMMMM

Doesn't your story say that Kati Burrows played for the Cats?

Regardless, only one of that list staying home is sad.

I think Robin Potera-Haskins consistenly overlooked Montana talent and brought in girls from Arkansas and Texas. If Frank McCarthy would not have stepped on his you-know-what, he'd probably still be here and Katie Edwards, the great UM player, would have probably been a Bobcat. McCarthy did a good job with recruiting, IMO. I don't remember many of Potera's recruits working out at all. Maybe toward the end of her tumultuous tenure the staff started to realize that Montana recruits were very valuable to the program. I think Mark Kellogg was responsible for most of that, and now he's a head coach somewhere. I think good recruits in recent years have been Scotta Morton out of Bozeman, Erin Goodman, Amanda DeHaan, Brandie Buckless, Shannon Bosley, and Jenny Heringer have been good Montana girls for the program. We lost out on a lot of Montana talents recently due to coaching instability, like Dana Conway and Britney Lohman (a Bozeman girl to the Griz...that's just sad). But out of all of these great players to play at Bozeman High (and I had the priviledge to watch) it's very sad that MSU got just one of them. Kati Burrows was a great Bobcat. Maybe the new coaching staff will get recruiting right and make MSU women's basketball competitive again. We just need to give Coach Binford and her team time.

bozbobcat wrote:I think Robin Potera-Haskins consistenly overlooked Montana talent and brought in girls from Arkansas and Texas. If Frank McCarthy would not have stepped on his you-know-what, he'd probably still be here and Katie Edwards, the great UM player, would have probably been a Bobcat. McCarthy did a good job with recruiting, IMO. I don't remember many of Potera's recruits working out at all. Maybe toward the end of her tumultuous tenure the staff started to realize that Montana recruits were very valuable to the program. I think Mark Kellogg was responsible for most of that, and now he's a head coach somewhere. I think good recruits in recent years have been Scotta Morton out of Bozeman, Erin Goodman, Amanda DeHaan, Brandie Buckless, Shannon Bosley, and Jenny Heringer have been good Montana girls for the program. We lost out on a lot of Montana talents recently due to coaching instability, like Dana Conway and Britney Lohman (a Bozeman girl to the Griz...that's just sad). But out of all of these great players to play at Bozeman High (and I had the priviledge to watch) it's very sad that MSU got just one of them. Kati Burrows was a great Bobcat. Maybe the new coaching staff will get recruiting right and make MSU women's basketball competitive again. We just need to give Coach Binford and her team time.

Just curious why you think Katie Edwards would have signed w/the Cats.

It's a rumor I heard. Her parents were both MSU grads and her dad played football for the Bobcats. She liked McCarthy and his coaching style. But which coach would you want to play for: Robin Potera or Robin Selvig? Selvig's courtside demeanor really annoys me, but Robin Potera-Haskins killed our women's program and she won the 2 BSC titles with McCarthy's players.

bozbobcat wrote:It's a rumor I heard. Her parents were both MSU grads and her dad played football for the Bobcats. She liked McCarthy and his coaching style. But which coach would you want to play for: Robin Potera or Robin Selvig? Selvig's courtside demeanor really annoys me, but Robin Potera-Haskins killed our women's program and she won the 2 BSC titles with McCarthy's players.

Well I am glad we got her, she is a superstar. How can Selvig annoy you? He is very entertaining to watch on the sideline, its great to watch when the game is boring.

I hate how he hounds the refs.

He's one of those people who is entertaining to watch, but his whining on the sideline is just annoying to us Bobcat fans. It's like he pouts on the sideline. I hear he's a great guy and he sounds like it on the radio, but during the game there's always an empty chair between him and the team, or even him and his assistants. There's no question that Selvig is a great coach. I remember last year early in the second half of the Cat-Griz game in Bozeman that the Grizzlies weren't performing too well. Selvig clenched his fists, jumped up and down, and the Grizzlies dominated the game from then on. So his demeanor is effective, but annoying to Cat fans. But his sniveling and whining is fun to watch.

bozbobcat wrote:He's one of those people who is entertaining to watch, but his whining on the sideline is just annoying to us Bobcat fans. It's like he pouts on the sideline. I hear he's a great guy and he sounds like it on the radio, but during the game there's always an empty chair between him and the team, or even him and his assistants. There's no question that Selvig is a great coach. I remember last year early in the second half of the Cat-Griz game in Bozeman that the Grizzlies weren't performing too well. Selvig clenched his fists, jumped up and down, and the Grizzlies dominated the game from then on. So his demeanor is effective, but annoying to Cat fans. But his sniveling and whining is fun to watch.

I think it works to his advantage. Like you said not only can it get the team fired up but I think BSC refs are intimidated by him. He is kind of like Coach K at Duke, the refs don't dare make a call against him.

anacondagriz wrote:

bozbobcat wrote:He's one of those people who is entertaining to watch, but his whining on the sideline is just annoying to us Bobcat fans. It's like he pouts on the sideline. I hear he's a great guy and he sounds like it on the radio, but during the game there's always an empty chair between him and the team, or even him and his assistants. There's no question that Selvig is a great coach. I remember last year early in the second half of the Cat-Griz game in Bozeman that the Grizzlies weren't performing too well. Selvig clenched his fists, jumped up and down, and the Grizzlies dominated the game from then on. So his demeanor is effective, but annoying to Cat fans. But his sniveling and whining is fun to watch.

I think it works to his advantage. Like you said not only can it get the team fired up but I think BSC refs are intimidated by him. He is kind of like Coach K at Duke, the refs don't dare make a call against him.

I was about to say the same thing

I can't speak for Basketball, but in general young athletes want to get away from home, see what another place is like. A decision to go elsewhere, especially someplace big and far away, is met with excitement. I think that it is considered a greater accomplishment, and it is generally treated as such by the press. The grass is always greener...

The rumors and misunderstandings that surround recruiting have a life of their own. In my own experience recruiting, I have heard things that have no basis in reality. For example, " I heard so and so visited for track but left without an offer," when in fact there was never a visit, but there was an offer.


Mike Carignan

Stingrays wrote:I was reading the bio for Mandy Close at Oregon St. The biggest thing that hit me was this:

"former prep teammates playing at other Division I schools included: Andrea Lalum, University of Washington; Kati Burrows, Montana State; Jessica Smith, Wichita State; Annie Fischer, Weber State and Ali Smith, Princeton..."

All those kids from Bozeman HS and MSU didn't get one of them!!!

While it's easy to understand why a kid would want to play in the Pac-10 and some kids want to go away for college. But how could MSU lose out to another Big Sky school for a kid right in their backyard???

Did the former coaches go after Mandy and Andrea? Even if they said early on they wanted to go to Pac-10 school, I think you still gotta try and change their minds.

the only one that i dont know for sure about is fisher. but they got katie. wanted lalum real bad but come on, msu or uw? easy for her. jess went to witchita state because her pops is the head coach. and how could smith turn down the opportunity for an ivy-league education and still play ball? but i dont know the story behind fisher. if i was guessing i'd say that the cats showed interest in all these ladies but considering their options and where msu's program was an is, i think they made good choices.

Why, because no other coach in college sports hounds the refs?

mchammer wrote:I can't speak for Basketball, but in general young athletes want to get away from home, see what another place is like. A decision to go elsewhere, especially someplace big and far away, is met with excitement. I think that it is considered a greater accomplishment, and it is generally treated as such by the press. The grass is always greener...

The rumors and misunderstandings that surround recruiting have a life of their own. In my own experience recruiting, I have heard things that have no basis in reality. For example, " I heard so and so visited for track but left without an offer," when in fact there was never a visit, but there was an offer.


Mike Carignan

That's just classic...LOL

Or the time I was watching the state track meet incognito, no MSU apparel. Leaning on a fence talking with a parent I learned that his son had been offered a scholarship (full of course) to throw for us. Of course this wan't true and I would know since I would be the one to make the offer. In fact I had never been in contact with his son. But I've learned to just smile and say something like "awesome."
It's funny, but one has to wonder what all is being said out there, and believed. According to the NCAA rules, a recruiter isn't at liberty to say what is actually on the table. We're supposed to limit it to "Yes we are recruiting that person."
I hope that people remember that we coaches want to help people, and that we care about people. We can't get away with anything false, and in fact receive blame where usually none is deserved. I can only imagine what it must be like for the other sports. I'm lucky, I don't have to be so cautious. I feel free to post here, and I enjoy the privelege very much. Thanks for the cool site.

Mike Carignan

Stingrays wrote:I was reading the bio for Mandy Close at Oregon St. The biggest thing that hit me was this:

"former prep teammates playing at other Division I schools included: Andrea Lalum, University of Washington; Kati Burrows, Montana State; Jessica Smith, Wichita State; Annie Fischer, Weber State and Ali Smith, Princeton..."

All those kids from Bozeman HS and MSU didn't get one of them!!!

While it's easy to understand why a kid would want to play in the Pac-10 and some kids want to go away for college. But how could MSU lose out to another Big Sky school for a kid right in their backyard???

Did the former coaches go after Mandy and Andrea? Even if they said early on they wanted to go to Pac-10 school, I think you still gotta try and change their minds.

im willing to bet this

1) smith is going to prinston for an education = msu didnt have a shot
2) mandy and andrea no shot if they went to a pac 10 school

Are there Montana high school players this year that MSU should be looking at? Who's good out there? Both of the new recruits for next year that signed early are from out-of state.

Bobcat4Ever wrote:Are there Montana high school players this year that MSU should be looking at? Who's good out there? Both of the new recruits for next year that signed early are from out-of state.

Hashly of Flathead!!

mslacat wrote:

Bobcat4Ever wrote:Are there Montana high school players this year that MSU should be looking at? Who's good out there? Both of the new recruits for next year that signed early are from out-of state.

Hashly of Flathead!!

God, Hashley has a kid that old? My back hurts thinking about Doug's elbows.

If his kid is any good he had better go to MSU!

Scotta Morton is out of Bozeman High also and she went to Montana State.