By CHRIS WALTERSKIRCHEN
Sometimes a coaching change leads to immediate improvement, but for the Montana Grizzlies it’s been a mixed blessing with the last 3 Griz football coaches having fewer wins in their first season at the helm than their predecessor had in the previous season. Turns out what seems to give the Griz a boost is a change in the occupant in the Montana governor office. With the last 9 governors the Griz have averaged 6 wins per season before the change and with a new governor the Griz have averaged just short of 9 wins per season.
Along a similar vein… something for new Griz coach Travis Decuire and his staff to keep in mind. Six of the last 8 Grizzly basketball coaches have had fewer wins in their first season than the team had achieved the previous season, over that span only Jud Heathcote, Blaine Taylor and Larry Kryskowiak have improved the Griz record in their first season.
We hate to pick on a guy when he’s off his game; here are some notes about how long it’s been since Tiger Woods won a major. When Woods hoisted the U.S Open trophy on June 16, 2008 the best record in baseball belonged to the Chicago Cubs. There have been 24 major Championships since the 2008 US Open and 4 different golfers have won multiple majors in that time: Martin Kaymer, Rory MCIlroy, Paddrig Harrington and Bubba Watson. A foreboding sign for Tiger for the future of the top 40 money winners on the PGA Tour only 3 are older than Woods.
Here is a sobering fact for fans of the Miami Heat. The previous four teams the San Antonio Spurs beat in the NBA Finals have not made it back to the Finals since losing to the Spurs; New York Knicks in 1999, New Jersey Nets in 2004, Detroit pistons in 2005 and the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2007.
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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.