Montana Griz fire coach and AD?

Was on espn a minute ago and saw this story on the University of Montana. Looks like after losing by 3 in the semifinals to Sam Houston the Griz axed their coach and AD. Do Griz fans call for firing coaches if they don't win championships or is this a sign of a bigger problem? Sounds like SEC football in Montana. Whats the deal?

MISSOULA, Mont. -- The University of Montana has picked associate head coach Mick Delaney to serve as the interim head coach after the firing of Robin Pflugrad.

The school on Friday also picked Jean Gee as interim athletic director after Jim O'Day's dismissal.

University president Royce Engstrom fired Pflugrad and O'Day on Thursday. No reason was given for the firings beyond Engstrom telling Pflugrad the university needed a change in leadership.

The firings capped six months of tumult for the university and the football program, which was dealing with sexual assault allegations against two players.

Delaney has been on the Montana coaching staff for four seasons.

Gee has served as the associate athletic director for Montana for the past eight years.

I also ran across a story on ESPN about a former nfl player who lives in Montana. Drafted #2 behind manning. Bad deal when you lose your job at West Texas A&M for being a pill popper and move to Helena to make the same mistakes.

HELENA, Mont. -- Police in Montana arrested ex-NFL quarterback Ryan Leaf after a monthlong investigation that culminated with Leaf breaking into an acquaintance's home to steal prescription pain medication, the task force commander who led the probe said Saturday.

Has nothing to do with the way they played on the field..............I'm fairly certain that it has everything to do with the way the players are conducting themselves off the field. With all the sexual assaults and such going on with players, it seems as though its similiar to why they let coach Kramer go from the Cats a few years ago........

Personally, i think if they are proven that the players are doing that crap, not only should they not ever be allowed to play a sport ever again, they should be beaten to within an inch of their life and then let them recover and do it again

thecrittergitter said:

Personally, i think if they are proven that the players are doing that crap, not only should they not ever be allowed to play a sport ever again, they should be beaten to within an inch of their life and then let them recover and do it again

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I can't believe this stuff is going on either. I think we should cover them in bacon grease and drop them off at the head of Taylor's Fork. Maybe they would realize that it's not fun to be pursued and let alone molested.

I can't believe this stuff is going on either. I think we should cover them in bacon grease and drop them off at the head of Taylor's Fork. Maybe they would realize that it's not fun to be pursued and let alone molested.

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I think I'll wait for the evidence to come out in a court of law, before I judge them.

shoots-straight said:

I think I'll wait for the evidence to come out in a court of law, before I judge them.

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Was referring to rapists in general. We just had another assault over here last week. You're right we can't convict someone until the courts do but I do believe you have a few already over that way that would be ready for the greasing.

Conciderng the school fired the AD as well as the coach the school must have some pretty good information to justify what they did. Kinda surprised that the AD was fired as well, must be more than just a couple of guys on the team causing trouble for that to happen unless he lied or tried to coverup something bigger.

Should be good for Montana St. recruiting.

wyoming556 said:

Conciderng the school fired the AD as well as the coach the school must have some pretty good information to justify what they did. Kinda surprised that the AD was fired as well, must be more than just a couple of guys on the team causing trouble for that to happen unless he lied or tried to coverup something bigger.

Should be good for Montana St. recruiting.

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I don't follow sports so I could be wrong on this, but I think they might have downplayed or even concealed a player's conduct so that he could play in a game. Some of this shit started hitting the fan last fall during the season.

Football players react to firings
by: Fritz Neighbor of The Missoulian
Saturday, March 31, 2012 Updated: Saturday, March 31, 2012
Day 2 brought no more answers to players, fans and boosters who wonder why University of Montana President Royce Engstrom fired both the Grizzlies’ football coach and athletic director Thursday.

Members of the Grizzly football team drafted a letter, posted on UM’s gogriz.com website Friday that expressed the team’s shock and disappointment at the dismissal of Coach Robin Pflugrad and AD Jim O’Day.

Mostly, they want reasons. In the meantime, they intend to play on.

“As student athletes of this university we are left without an answer as to why our two leaders, Coach Pflugrad and Jim O’Day, are gone,” the letter reads. “These events have left us disappointed, saddened and stunned, but they have also provided us something else.

“We have been reminded of the commitment we made years ago, and supported by our families, to pursue excellence in the sport we love that led as from across the country and Montana to come here. Our responsibility to honor those who support us, our duty to respect the players and coaches who built the proud Griz tradition, and our unwavering appreciation of Griz Nation is now stronger and more deeply felt.”

The letter came on the same day the law offices of Edwards, Frickle and Culver sent a press release saying they’d been retained by O’Day.

Cliff Edwards represented former Bobcat football coach Mike Kramer in his wrongful termination suit against MSU, which ended with Kramer – now the coach at Idaho State – collecting a $240,000 settlement.

Edwards’ son John, who quarterbacked the Grizzlies to their 2001 Division I Football Championship, said the law firm has been retained mainly in an advisory capacity.

“I think what the important thing is, is that the university certainly had the opportunity to discuss this with counsel and consult people before making its decision,” John Edwards said. “And Jim didn’t have that opportunity.

“We’re here to just advise and help him through the process, and make sure he knows what rights he has. That’s kind of our role.”

Also Friday, UM’s student newspaper the Montana Kaimin blasted Engstrom’s office for not being more forthcoming. The editorial charged that some boosters knew of the dismissals before Pflugrad or O’Day.

“Why say their contracts won’t be renewed when you are actually firing them, telling them their duties end immediately?” the Kaimin asked. “Our personal efforts to solve a puzzle without all the pieces don’t do justice to Pflugrad, O’Day or the University’s image. If anything, the silence is damning.”

Engstrom took steps to smooth the waters Friday, naming Mick Delaney as interim football coach and senior associate athletic director Jean Gee as interim AD. He was still unavailable for comment.

One Grizzly football player said the team was not ready to comment on the return of Delaney, who spent the past four seasons as UM’s running backs coach before retiring in early February.

Boosters likewise may be unmoved without answers.

“I helped start the Quarterback Club 25 years ago and we’ve raised a lot of money for the program,” Gordy Fix, the longtime owner of the Press Box Restaurant, said Thursday. “We’re going to draft a letter to President Engstrom looking for answers, because we’re at a loss as to why this happened.”

Montana’s football team held a Friday practice that was closed to the media. The Griz are now off for spring break, and return to the practice field on April 9.

“Speaking with one voice, we ask for your strength, support and solidarity,” their letter reads. “We also ask those who have been entrusted with authority and power to carefully consider the impact of their statements and actions on our team and our great tradition.

“Our team stands together, closer and stronger than ever before. Just as we will hold ourselves to a higher standard, we will also hold others. We understand that honor, truth and hard work win in the end. We are Montana.”

Ty might know something!

I'm liking all of this. It sure takes some of the heat off us here in Pa.

PHILADELPHIA, PA. —In the world of Division I Football Championship Subdivision, there are a handful of iconic programs that seem to embody what the entire, playoff-playing, 63 scholarship-competing subdivision is all about.



The Montana Grizzlies, with their packed houses in Washington-Grizzly stadium, are one of them.


In a world where the the problems of so-called "big time" football programs seem distant, however, the sudden, early-morning dismissal of head coach Robin Pflugrad and athletic director Jim O'Day comes as a complete shock.


Then again, looking at the state of the Grizzly program over the last six years, it's clear that something hasn't been right in Missoula for quite some time.




To say Montana has had a rough football offseason would be the understatement of the year.

And it's not because of their semifinal loss to Sam Houston State, either.


They've had to deal with the fact that the actions of a few members of the football team had grown out of control of the institution.

It has been about a pattern of sexual assault from a handful of athletes, but it's more than that.

It has been about a culture of covering up the antics of athletes, but it's more than that.


Over the course of the last two years, a disturbing pattern had come to light involving extremely serious incidents involving Montana athletes.


Every year since 2007, there has been at least one high-profile criminal case involving current or former Griz players.


In 2007, three Grizzlies football players and a former player broke into a home to steal money and drugs. All three were suspended from the team and convicted.


In 2008, three freshman football players were charged in a beating that broke a fellow student’s jaw. Two pleaded guilty and the third pleaded no contest.


In 2009, standout cornerback Jimmy Wilson was charged in his home state of California for a fatal shooting that occurred two years earlier. He was acquitted of those charges, but later got embroiled with the law again in 2010 after his bite of a co-ed's leg required her to go to the hospital.

On their own, they could be seen as outliers, a few bad apples here and there. The appropriate measures seemed to have been taken - the law took its course, players were suspended, and life moved on.

But in 2010, the relationship seemed to change somewhat.


Another Griz defensive back, Trumaine Johnson, and another student were charged with beating another student unconscious in 2010. Johnson was also arrested in 2011, in conjunction with an incident with police at a party, along with teammate Gerald Kemp.

The treatment of Johnson, a star cornerback, was different.


O'Day said at the time of Johnson that the matter the party arrest would be handled "internally" - which meant that Kemp and Johnson would sit for the first quarter of their game vs. Weber State, a game which the Griz would win 45-10.


Despite the fact that Johnson had had other run-ins with the law, this slap on the wrist allowed their likely NFL-bound cornerback to avoid a long suspension and ultimately play in two nationally-televised FCS playoff games against Northern Iowa and Sam Houston State in 2011.


A key part of that "internal handling" of the matter also involved Montana executive vice president Jim Foley accompanying Johnson and the other football player involved, Gerald Kemp, to the offices "of the high-powered law firm Datsopoulos, MacDonald and Lind," according to reporter Gwen Florio of the Missoulian.


"As the University Executive Vice President at the University of Montana Jim plays an integral role in the planning and implementation of programs to ensure the fulfillment of the University's institutional Mission," Montana's website says in regard to Mr. Foley's job description. "Specifically, Jim is responsible for the administrative oversight of the public relations operations of the University and takes the lead role in communicating the intricacies and essential position of higher education in the vitality of the state."


In other words, Foley, who other job stops involve stints as chief-of-staff to several key Montana State politicians, could be seen as the chief spin doctor.


"When high-profile student issues, or university issues - (involving) faculty and staff, too - raise their head in the public domain, we regularly meet to figure out how best the university can respond," Foley said in regards to his unusual presence at the arraignment of two Montana football players.


Florio of the Missoulian didn't stop at noticing the oddity of a public relations man representing the athletes at the courthouse, either. She noticed how the same firm was continually being called for a variety of athletic transgressions of varying seriousness. "Two football players charged with driving under the influence, and another was accused of biting a girl's leg," she wrote. "And those are just the cases that grabbed the headlines. Run-of-the-mill incidents involving arrests for underage drinking and rowdy behavior attract neither media coverage nor weekend face time with the school's vice president."


Some of those run-of-the-mill incidents involve speeding tickets, where during the course of the investigation it came out that Johnson also had unpaid speeding tickets to go with everything else.


Others involved a drunk driving incident involving Nate Montana, son of NFL legend Joe Montana - which was reduced after he pleaded guilty to reckless driving.



Former star transfer offensive lineman J.D. Quinn, too, had a second drunk driving charge mysteriously dropped - after he had already been convicted once before.

A pattern had been set: rather than handle the matters with suspensions or meaningful discipline, it appeared as if folks at Montana were trying to spin their trouble athletes' way out of trouble.


****


The cozy relationship between university public relations, campus police, powerful lawyers, and athletes would be

bad enough. But it's not nearly as horrifying as what has come out over the past few months, however - something that could not be spun away.


In 2011, extremely serious allegations came to light involving a party involving football players, a female victim, and the sedative Rohypnol, which is sometimes called the “date-rape” drug.


They were shocking allegations - and immediately questioned by fans.

But soon thereafter, another woman came forward with an eerily similar story of blacking out and being raped by football players in 2010, proving that the one report was no fluke.


Horrifying as they were, both stories had some stark similarities - how their reports of these serious crimes were mishandled by the people on campus, and the local authorities. And with two victims coming forward, thoughts shifted: how many victims were there, really?


"Although the woman who said she was assaulted on Dec. 15, 2010, reported the incident to police, no charges were filed," Gwen Florio of the Missoulian said in a report on the matter. “We were left with no answers and no further investigation,” the victim's parents wrote to Ms. Florio in an email about their daughter’s case. “I really felt that we were brushed off, and my daughter did, too.”


Foley, the spin doctor, was on the case.

He did his best to try to protect the perpetrators and not the victims, by attempting to limit the investigations to "on-campus assaults" instead of one involving football players in an off-campus venue.


But as more and more sexual assault cases came to light - some related, some not - it couldn't be spun away.

Eventually, a retired state supreme court justice was brought in, Diane Barz, to investigate, she included the off-campus incident and filed a preliminary report saying that the University of Montana "has a problem of sexual assault on and off campus."


While waiting for the report to be filed, eventually Katherine Redmond, founder/president of the National Coalition Against Violent Athletes, weighed in on the matter via the Huffington Post.


"Women are slowly coming forward to talk about the systemic protection of athletes at the University of Montana by leaders at the university of Montana, as well as local law enforcement. Citizens have been calling the National Coalition Against Violent Athletes to ask what they can do to dismantle the pervasive environment in Missoula that protects athletes. The lack of institutional control of this university is alarming and, when it occurred at Penn State University, on the east coast, with a legendary coach and program in play, it shocked us all to ask, "How did this happen?" It's happening in Missoula, Montana, and no one outside of this isolated college town knows any better," she said.

Ms. Barz' investigation was taken over by the University, and Montana's president, Royce Engstrom, announced the results Thursday, March 23rd, a week before O'Day's and Pflugrad's firing.


“We have had a serious issue with sexual assault and we have to take bold and decisive measures to move toward the elimination of sexual assault,” he said in a telephone interview with Ms. Florio. “It is a new time for the university with respect to sexual assault. We are as serious as we can possibly be about this matter.”

Looking over the report, it was clear that plenty of mistakes were made at Montana. Victims made reports to the hospital and school, with the expectation that there would be a follow-up with authorities. None came. One Montana staffer inadvertently tipped off one of the perpetrators that someone was charging him with sexual assault. He then left the country.

Engstrom's clear message from the filing of the report was that things needed to change.


“The closure of the investigation does not mean that we will be a campus free of sexual assault,” Engstrom wrote in his statement. But he also wrote that “the events of the past few months have delivered a critical message to the university. … Now we must focus on the goal of eliminating sexual assault from our campus. I will expect and hold accountable every member of my administration and indeed every member of the campus as a whole to do his or her utmost to address that goal.”


I don't think it's coincidence that Mr. Engstrom issued this statement, and a week later fired O'Day and Pflugrad.

While O'Day and Pflugrad are not responsible for every single action of their students, it is apparent that Engstrom felt like both men did not do "their utmost" to report the sexual assault or discipline the players.

Engstrom's official dismissal of the two men, a short press release only mentioning a "change of direction", did not go into any details as to the particulars of their termination. But taken in context with his zero-tolerance policy on sexual assault, his intent couldn't be more clear: No more spin. Maintaining a safe campus is a priority on my campus, and if you're going to get in the way of that, you're gone. I don't care if you're in the middle of spring practice or not.

Amoung other things, hiring a troublemaker for a defensive coordinator

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/may/07/gregorak-050710/

Are you also waiting for the evidence in the Sandusky trial to determine if he actually molested those kids and if the PSU leadership tried to cover up what happened?

It looks like while you were waiting for the court system and some attorneys to tell you what to think that the University went ahead and started cleaning house. They are lucky they are in the Big Sky and Not the Big 10. If it was this would be front page news instead of barely getting mentioned in the sports section. Really sad for the victims.

shoots-straight said:

I think I'll wait for the evidence to come out in a court of law, before I judge them.

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