Bobby Howard gives back to Conrad

The town of Conrad has given a lot to Bobby Howard and his family throughout the years.

Now the former Montana State Bobcat is giving back.

Howard is in northcentral Montana this week, running a basketball camp from Monday to Wednesday, featuring a morning session for kids entering grades 2-8 and an afternoon session for those in high school, at Conrad High School.

Howard was born in Great Falls but grew up in the rural town of just over 2,000 people. From age 5 to 12, he watched a family of five navigate the responsibilities that come with a basketball-dominated household.

At the time, his mom, Kathleen, the all-time leading scorer at Montana State, was the head girls' coach at Great Falls High; she made the hour-long commute every day.

Bobby's dad, Bob, roamed the sidelines for the girls' and boys' teams in Conrad. Siblings Bryan and Brendan were along for the ride.

Brendan, the junior-to-be superstar post at Great Falls High, was there Monday to help with the camp.

"When (my parents) were coaching and teaching, the oldest has to take a little bit of the responsibility," Bobby recalled. "I wouldn't call it raising Brendan. He is pretty self-sufficient. He's a great. He's made it pretty easy on me."

Bobby had a chance to reflect on Brendan's first two seasons at GFH on Tuesday afternoon.

"What Brendan's been able to do in two years is statistically better than anybody's ever done," Bobby said. "And I could be wrong. There's some old guys that would probably argue with me. But I don't know anyone who comes in as a freshman, an undersized post player, and averages a double-double.

"And then the next year just improves on it. And that's the one thing is, he's always surprised me because I've never seen Brendan struggle to a point where he can't get through it. Does he get confused? Does he get frustrated? Yes, but I've never seen him just get overcome with failure or struggle. He finds a way. He's a very determined individual, and I'm very proud of him."

As for the camp, Bobby saw it as an opportunity to pass some of his experiences down to kids who share the same love for basketball.

"I've been thinking about it for a couple years," he said. "It's kind of going full circle. Back in the old Conrad gym, that was basically my day care. I'd get done with school, and I'd run the clock for my dad. I'd shoot on the side hoops when he wasn't talking. And that's kind of how I grew up."

The 6-foot-7 lefty likes seeing the improvements each kid makes by the end of camp.

"This year we had a really good turnout for the younger kids," he said. "We had 30, 35 kids. And hopefully next year we can get a little bigger and have more people come in. I just wanted to come back. I hadn't done it. I always talked about doing it. And now I've found a little bit of time to do it."

Two campers, Jeremy Shepard and Reese Paulson, both of which go to school in Belt, said they enjoyed the dribbling drills and shooting games, most notably "hot shot" where you have a limited amount of time – 30 seconds to a minute – to convert shots from different spots around the court and earn points.

Paulson, the son of Belt boys' basketball head coach Kyle Paulson, said he scored a 35.

"He's good," Jeremy, 9, said of his pal.

Reese, 9, took a few pointers from Bobby this week.

"Bobby came up with this thing called FOREST and it's what needs to be in your shot," Reese said. "And then there's BEEF, and it's balance, elbows, eyes, follow through … And he made up FOREST and I forgot it but it's what needs to be in your shot. All I can remember is the T at the end and that's turn."

For Bobby, there's been quite a few twists and turns when it comes to basketball. The 27-year-old is fresh off his first season as an assistant coach at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, a Division II program.

When he graduated from MSU, Bobby started coaching with his dad at Great Falls High. He eventually moved on to a position at Minot State with head coach Matt Murken. After that, Howard – who's lived in Dutton and Browning as well – went to Montana Western and got the chance to learn from Steve Keller.

"The first year was very, very humbling at how much I didn't know," Bobby said of coaching.

He's now side-by-side with Mick Durham, the head coach at Alaska Fairbanks and former MSU head coach. The team this season was hit with NCAA sanctions regarding compliance issues – it played ineligible players, Bobby said – in 2007-08. The program wasn't allowed to play in the postseason.

It had its ups and downs, Bobby said.

"The people that have to pay for it aren't even there anymore, so that's kind of unfortunate," he said. "But we got through it. It was definitely a huge learning experience for me. I never thought that I was going to go through something like that."

There were a few eye-openers in Alaska – the moose walking across the road while he went to work, for one – but it was worth it.

"Alaska was interesting," he said. "Right now, it's like all daylight. During the winter, it was all dark. But no, I got so busy in the job that it could have been anywhere. It could have been Great Falls. It could've been New York. I was just too involved in what I was doing to really worry about where I was at."

His memories of playing at MSU are positive ones. A shot away from an NCAA Tournament appearance during his sophomore year comes to mind, as well as several victories over the Grizzlies.

As a freshman, he scored 27 points against a Boise State team that would make it to the tournament, he said. He played against James Harden, who played at Arizona State and now stars for the Houston Rockets. Most of all, though, he cherishes the relationships he forged with his teammates.

The Bobcats went 7-23 in 2014-15. Bobby is looking forward to seeing what head coach Brian Fish can do in his second season in Bozeman.

"It's kind of one of those things where I am curious to see how it turns out," he said. "It definitely was a struggle but coach Fish wasn't lying to anybody. He knew it was going to be a struggle. … And I know because I have been out on the recruiting circuit, that he's got himself a pretty good class. … He's got some players who are really going to turn it around. They'll have a lot of success."

A lot of Bobby's success as a basketball player and person can be traced back to his childhood days in Conrad. He's happy he could make a difference this week.

"Conrad was mostly home," Howard said. "It was a pretty cool deal to come back here and do a camp."