By CHRIS WALTERSKIRCHEN
Wayne Tinkle becomes the eighth University of Montana coach in the last 40 years to leave UM to take another Division 1 or NBA job. Tinkle never reached the NCAA as a player, but when he was a coach he helped the Griz go to the “Big Dance”. Tinkle’s first win as a head coach came in November of 1999. Acting as head coach of a team of former Lady Griz, Tinkle and company beat the Lady Griz 53-48.
Our Friends at Oregon State have been waiting for real basketball success for a long, long time. The Beavers last NCAA tournament appearance came in March of 1990 when they got bounced by a Ball State team that would go on to become eventual national champs topping UNLV at the buzzer. The last time OSU won a game in the NCAA tournament was 1982 then they routed Big Sky member Idaho in the round of 16. Here is a modern comparison, to accumulate the last 100 Beavers wins you need go back to November 10, 2007. In the time it has taken OSU to win 100 the Montana Grizzlies have racked up 141 wins.
The next chapter in Griz basketball begins with the selection of a successor to Tinkle. Eight of the last 10 Griz basketball coaches have been former UM Assistants, With Jud Heathcote and Pat Kennedy being the lone exceptions. Here is an impressive tat: the Grizzlies have won 10 trips to the NCAA tournament, nine of those came with a former Montana assistant at the helm.
Forty years ago this week they held the State track meets (plural). The boys were in Missoula the girls in Billings. It was the last time the state meet was separated by gender.
This past Sunday Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Josh Beckett became the first Dodger pitcher in 18 years to throw a no-hitter. Hedeki Nomo at Colorado was the most recent Dodgers to throw a “no-no.” It was also the first time in 36 years that the Phillies have been the victim in a no-hitter; back in April of 1978 St. Louis’ Bob Forsch handcuffed the Phillies. Strange tidbit: the last 3 times the Phillies have been no-hit it has been on a Sunday in Philadelphia
Back to the basketball coaching change. The 2014-15 season will be the first time that both UM and MSU have had first year men’s basketball coaches, in 1978 it was Mike Montgomery and Bruce Haroldson.
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Chris Walterskirchen has been an observer of Montana sports for nearly half a century. A Kalispell native, Chris has worked in various capacities for professional and college sports organization of at various times: ranging from announcing and statistical work to the concessions and even a stint as a costumed mascot.
Chris has academic degrees in communications and elementary education. His style of sports trivia involves more than just who won and who lost, but also focuses on the obscure or human side of sports. In this blog you will learn things like the Grizzly football team has won 210 games over the 19 seasons since they have had Monte as their mascot or that UNLV is the only school that both the Griz and Lady Griz have both faced in the NCAA basketball tournament
When not following sports Chris enjoys taking care of animals of all kinds (a peacock rescue?) and reading to pre-schoolers.