Selvig leaves amid tears, cheers

Ann Lake and Trisha Olson were basketball superstars who played on back-to-back state champion teams at Missoula Big Sky before signing with the Montana Lady Griz and head coach Robin Selvig.

“I can remember showing up as freshman, thinking we were the big studs of the world,” Lake said Thursday with a laugh. “And Robin would stop practice and scream at Trisha and I. Telling us we weren’t playing for Big Sky now, and letting us know in a nice way there was a different level of basketball out there.”

Lake laughed again.

“Playing for him, you saw the soft side all the time off the court,” she said. “But on the court it was always a different story.”

The toughness and competitiveness of Selvig, who officially retired Thursday after 38 wondrous years with the Lady Griz, were always on display for the thousands of fans who regularly filled Dahlberg Arena for UM women’s games. He chirped at officials. He barked at his own players.

And he won basketball games at an amazing rate.

At his final press conference Thursday morning in Missoula, Selvig’s emotions revealed what he’s truly about.

“I’m a crier, so expect it,” said Selvig, who turns 64 next month. “I couldn’t get through a Little House On The Prairie episode when I was younger.”

A 38-year coaching career that included 31 20-win seasons, 24 league championships, 21 NCAA Tournament appearances and an overall record of 865-286, came to an end Wednesday when UM announced Selvig’s retirement.

Thursday he said he was fine physically, but lacked the will to drive himself at the level necessary. And, he added, that wouldn’t be fair to his players.

An entire state displayed its admiration on social media when the news broke Wednesday. Indeed, for a time “#Robin Selvig” was trending nationally on Twitter. But Thursday it was Selvig himself who demonstrated his appreciation.

“I really have no chance of thanking all the people who deserve to be thanked,” Selvig said. “So many people. We’re talking about basically my program today. But I’ve always thought this: Something you get to share with others means so much more than something you did by yourself. I really believe that. It’s twice as rewarding when you can share it.

“And mine’s really rewarding because I can share it with thousands of fans, administrators, everybody. Whatever my success has been, that’s who I share it with, and that makes it really special.”

Then Selvig’s thoughts turned to his players, both past and present, and his voice broke.

“I know I need to thank, No. 1, every Lady Griz. Every young woman who ever put on a Lady Griz jersey and ran out on that floor. For 38 years,” he said, lips quivering in a halting voice. “There wasn’t one game where they didn’t give me all they had. We didn’t always win, didn’t always play great, but it wasn’t for lack of effort. And they were a team. Every one of them.”

Montana State head women’s coach Tricia Binford, who as a Boise State star played against Selvig-coached teams and later squared off on the bench against the UM mentor, watched part of the press conference on social media.

“It spoke volumes, as far as Robin going back to the kids and the family culture and atmosphere and why he did what he did for so long,” she said via phone from Bozeman. “One of the reasons he was so successful is because how much he cared and the kids played so hard for him.”

Montana Athletic Director Kent Haslam, hired four years ago amid a staff upheaval that included the dismissings of both the former AD and Grizzly football coach, said Selvig’s solid personality provided key support in those turbulent times.

“It gave me a glimpse in what maybe it was like to play for him,” Haslam said. “I got a snapshot of that steadying force, that great sense of humor and that sense that hey, it’s all going to work out.”

Haslam said he plans to hire Selvig’s successor soon.

“I’d like to have a person in place by the first of school (Aug. 29),” he said. “I’d be crazy not to look internally.”

Longtime assistant Trish Duce (formerly Trisha Olson), who was Selvig’s aide for 22 years, has taken a different job on campus with the computer science department. It’s expected that Shannon (Cate) Schweyen, regarded by many as the greatest player in Lady Griz history and a 24-year veteran of Selvig’s coaching staff, will apply for the job.

“For me not to take a strong hard look at Shannon, I’d be foolish not to do so,” Haslam said. “(But) I want to vet the process and run the process and get an opportunity to think through some things.”

Though the Bobcat-Grizzly rivalry is so heated, Binford said respect was always a part of it. Thanks in part to Selvig.

“(He demonstrated) how to handle success and failure and represent your program,” she said. “True class. He’s always been a class act from day one and he’s always had so much humility, even though he’s always been the winningest coach on the court when we played them. We coaches also felt respected by Robin, even though he has this great legacy and tradition.

Binford’s first victory against the Lady Griz in Bozeman came on a Saturday night in 2008, a 91-87 Montana State triumph. The next Monday Selvig called to congratulate Binford.

“He talked about what a great atmosphere it was for the fans. That still sticks with me today,” Binford said. “He’s typically on the other end of those games, and to have him be so gracious. He didn’t have to do that. It spoke volumes to me.”

Teams from the Big Sky Conference are considered mid-majors, of course, but Selvig’s Lady Griz program didn’t take a back seat to many. And that was the case for nearly four decades.

The Associated Press reported on Wednesday night that famed Connecticut women’s coach Geno Auriemma, in Delaware leading the U.S. Olympic women’s basketball team to an exhibition victory over France, had Montana on his mind.

“We were just talking about (Selvig) today at the meal room, (DePaul coach and U.S. assistant) Doug Bruno and I,” Auriemma said. “Coaches that have been in the game a long time and aren’t in the women’s basketball Hall of Fame that are still coaching. He’s definitely one of them. He did it in a place that not too many people out in the media are paying attention. He’s had as great a career as you can without winning a national championship that you can want to have as a coach.”

Treasure State basketball fans already realize that. It’s why they cheered Selvig for so long.

On Thursday, certainly, tears were shed.

“I don’t think there could be a more caring coach than Robin Selvig,” said Lake. “Everyone defines him as a class act and there’s not a better way to describe him. He taught us to win with pride, to lose with pride, and to always be gracious.

“It’s sad to see such a fantastic era come to an end.”