Montana coach freezes out student paper

Anchorman for Fox News.

 

I was guessing either that or men's room attendant.

 

I knew Hauck a little bit when he was a graduate assistant at UCLA during Donahue's time. He was very good -- at bringing coffee, running video and making sure the gatorade buckets were full.
A few years ago, I was surprised when somebody at work was flipping through the channels on TV, stopped at some game and the camera caught Hauck on the sideline. I didn't know what game it was.
I said, hey, I know that guy. What game is this? Montana. I couldn't remember his name. That guy used to be a grad. asst. at UCLA. So he's an assistant or something at Montana now, eh? I called up the Web site and found out he was the head coach. Really surprising. But I guess he has been successful there.

 

Montana played in the national championship game last season and the Grizz are ranked No. 2 this week.

 

That means very little overall to those who know a little bit about football at that level, to be honest. That program has built-in advantages that almost no other I-AA (refuse to call it FCS) school has. Built-in fanbase with 26,000 fans every week, whereas quite a few I-AA schools play in front of 8,000. Boosters who will pony up for whatever you need. Beautiful campus in a real college town. Plus, and this a big one, there is no I-A school in the state to compete with in recruiting. So, you get kids who if they grew up in Oregon or Washington or Virginia or Massachusetts, they'd be back-ups for the Ducks, Huskies, Hoos or Eagles, because they really want to play I-A football. So schools like Portland State, Eastern Washington, James Madison and UMass have to settle for the leftovers, whereas the borderline Division athletes in Montana just end up being starters for the Griz.

Montana was good at that level well before he got there, and it will be good when he leaves. Hauck has been successful enough to keep the grumbles at a minimum, but he's laid an egg in two title games and lost in the first round of the playoffs with an undefeated team in another year.

Of the last four Montana coaches who have spanned the last 30 years, I'd easily rank him fourth.

 

I dealt with Hauck last season during the FCS playoffs. He came across as very smug and like he felt he deserved to be somewhere better.

 

Silent treatment or not, they should be doing that anyway.

 

This is about as definitive a takeout on Hauck as there is. Very long, but very worthwhile.

http://www.montanakaimin.com/index.php/news/news_article/bobbys_world_the_many_facets_of_homegrown_coach_bobby_hauck/

Hauck has been mentioned in connection with recent openings at Colorado State, Minnesota, Washington State, and Stanford, so he's probably bitter that he's still at Montana. Maybe if his players didn't get in trouble and he weren't such a stand-offish prick...

 

Hauck is a bully and a bitch.

As a guy who works on a college campus, too many of the coaches will take any chance they get to bully student reporters. Too many of them bully their own players, which is fine as those guys know what they are signing up for and who they are signing on with. Problem is, that unchecked aggression carries over into the way coaches conduct themselves off the field, too, thus growing the sense of entitlement.

It's freaking awesome that Hauck is pulling this shit during the year when there is an honest-to-goodness, kick-ass sports journalist on campus. To those students, guys like Hauck can seem like a combination of Jesus Christ and John Wayne thanks to the sycophant tribes of boosters and hangers-on that would surely pleasure him orally at any juncture.

In the real world Hauck is a cockroach who badly needs to be placed in his proper perspective.

Oh yeah, the newspaper there did fine work in this reporting. Far from flawless, but damn solid all things considered.

 

There's often a tendency at college papers fror the powers that be ... sports or otherwise ... to consider the college media less than legitimate, especially if it's supported in any way with shcool funds. Luckily, at San Diego State, we were self-supporting. But we still dealt with that attitude. I remember haggling with the student body president over some issue once, and her snarky comment was, "Well, we don't really consider you guys a real newspaper."

 

Here's what I don't get.
Hauck is looking at other gigs, and how does this help him in his job search to act the way that he is?
It seems to me that all this does is hurt his long-term career goals.

 

I doubt getting along with the student newspaper is high on the checklist of schools seeking coaches.

But then schools/coaches find that if treat people like crap, the ceiling caves in a whole lot quicker.