Cat/Griz Recruiting Comparison

[VimSince03]

No more #RTD, just #transferU #WhoRU #sloppysecondsU

#WhoRU is an all-timer

[VimSince03]

The wild thing with Bobby going so heavy transfer portal is that his team building and culture is based on weeding out the weak and developing mentally resilient teams. He did that through deliberate high school recruiting with the backbone being Montana kids...many who were walk-ons that were incredibly hard workers and loyal to the brand. Doing it now with primarily transfers? Good luck...I just don't see it happening over the long term.

Sorry but don't let any of your Griz friends tell you there just isn't enough talent in-state. There is...you just have to win more than 50% of the in-state recruiting battles which Bobby is definitely not. I've never seen Bobby get beat worse in-state than this most recent crop. If that trend continues, expect more and more transfers into that program.

[Lord Vigo]

The wild thing with Bobby going so heavy transfer portal is that his team building and culture is based on weeding out the weak and developing mentally resilient teams. He did that through deliberate high school recruiting with the backbone being Montana kids...many who were walk-ons that were incredibly hard workers and loyal to the brand. Doing it now with primarily transfers? Good luck...I just don't see it happening over the long term.

Sorry but don't let any of your Griz friends tell you there just isn't enough talent in-state. There is...you just have to win more than 50% of the in-state recruiting battles which Bobby is definitely not. I've never seen Bobby get beat worse in-state than this most recent crop. If that trend continues, expect more and more transfers into that program.

I think the problem he’s run into is that part of his strategy for weeding kids out is preemptive— he doesn’t roll out the red carpet for anyone because if they need that to choose UM, he doesn’t want them.

That worked last go round because the Griz were so dominant that they could have anyone in state that they wanted and those players really didn’t have many good options for leaving once they arrived. Neither of those necessary preconditions are true anymore.

[wbtfg]

No more #RTD, just #transferU #WhoRU #sloppysecondsU

It's a shame people are now referring to them as Eastern-Eastern Washington and Sac State-North.

[SparkCat]

Really no problem with the transfer approach that they take, however, Hauck and co. are terrible at assessing players. They cast out a wide net and take whoever commits. This has resulted in very few exceptional players and they have ended up with players like their last two transfer QB’s and LB who all seemed to think they were destined for better things, had attitude problems, or both. I feel there is a process our staff goes through with each athlete and especially transfers to make sure they will mesh with the team.

[HelenaCat95]

The old cliche about recruiting was "How good was this class? I'll tell you in 3-4 years." I still think that holds true with this years MSU recruiting class. But with this years Gris class, the answer is more like "I'll tell you this time next year."

[GoldstoneCat]

The old cliche about recruiting was "How good was this class? I'll tell you in 3-4 years." I still think that holds true with this years MSU recruiting class. But with this years Gris class, the answer is more like "I'll tell you this time next year."

Yeah we'll know fairly soon next season i think. The problem is, it'll have to be determined by film review because they have a weak schedule and 47 home games next year. They could be demonstrably worse and still be 10-1 going into cat griz. It's a pretty egregious schedule.

[coloradocat]

The old cliche about recruiting was "How good was this class? I'll tell you in 3-4 years." I still think that holds true with this years MSU recruiting class. But with this years Gris class, the answer is more like "I'll tell you this time next year."

Yeah we'll know fairly soon next season i think. The problem is, it'll have to be determined by film review because they have a weak schedule and 47 home games next year. They could be demonstrably worse and still be 10-1 going into cat griz. It's a pretty egregious schedule.

That seems like a theme with them. It's been hard to tell how good they are until the playoffs for a while now. They regularly win games because of the wa-griz effect and squeak out road wins that going in shouldn't have been close. But wins are wins and their record gets them a good spot in the bracket every year. Whether they live up to is a coin flip.

[MSU01]

The old cliche about recruiting was "How good was this class? I'll tell you in 3-4 years." I still think that holds true with this years MSU recruiting class. But with this years Gris class, the answer is more like "I'll tell you this time next year."

Yeah we'll know fairly soon next season i think. The problem is, it'll have to be determined by film review because they have a weak schedule and 47 home games next year. They could be demonstrably worse and still be 10-1 going into cat griz. It's a pretty egregious schedule.

The Griz fans had a lot of audacity this past year to poke fun at MSU for supposedly playing a weak schedule. Or they were just ignorant of the absolute joke of a schedule they play in 2025.

[iaafan]

The old cliche about recruiting was "How good was this class? I'll tell you in 3-4 years." I still think that holds true with this years MSU recruiting class. But with this years Gris class, the answer is more like "I'll tell you this time next year."

Yeah we'll know fairly soon next season i think. The problem is, it'll have to be determined by film review because they have a weak schedule and 47 home games next year. They could be demonstrably worse and still be 10-1 going into cat griz. It's a pretty egregious schedule.

That seems like a theme with them. It's been hard to tell how good they are until the playoffs for a while now. They regularly win games because of the wa-griz effect and squeak out road wins that going in shouldn't have been close. But wins are wins and their record gets them a good spot in the bracket every year. Whether they live up to is a coin flip.

The theme for the playoffs is to hope Bergen does something. They had a decent team in 22 but lost some close games. 23 was just a Cinderella story. They were who they are in 24.

[PapaG]

Not surprising MSU is winning the high school recruiting battle, especially in state. As a freshmen would you rather go to MSU when they will develop you and you can look forward to moving up the depth chart and eventually seeing the field or UM where you finally move up the depth chart and are on track to play and they bring in a transfer and your opportunity to play is nixed?

This is a powerful dynamic and the basic danger of the portal. If you get on, it’s hard to get off.

I’m not sure how I feel about negative recruiting, but if a high school PSA says they are considering Missoula, every coaching staff competing for recruits with the Gris should point out how much they use the portal.

They basically told McDowell after he led them to Frisco that they were having Ah Yat compete with him and he may not start.

[AFCAT]

I’m kind of in the camp of Bobby needs/wants to win it all now and not wait to developed a bunch of players to win. He isn’t getting any younger and the second go around isn’t as stellar as the first. He wants at least one Natty to cement his legacy and he can’t wait another four-five years to build a team to win it.

MSU is using a more Dakota schools of developing players to win rather than finding talent in the portal and hope to win, like a UT Martin.

[Cataholic]

Despite the Gris getting all of these transfers, many of them barely played at their previous school. Just because they are a drop down doesn’t mean they will be good.

[kwcat]

With classes basically complete, I find the differences between MSU and UM to be fascinating. The different approaches these in-state rivals are taking couldn't be more different and adding to the intrigue is the reality that in the past two seasons, the results have been very similar: Griz went on a run to Frisco in 2023 and then had a disappointing playoff appearance in 2024; the Cats went on a run to Frisco in 2024 but had a disappointing playoff appearance in 2023.

Here's what the teams were replacing relative to their 2-Deep rosters at the end of the season:

Montana State: 17 players from the 2-Deep, including 15 starters

Montana: 28 players from the 2-Deep, including 19 starters

And here's how the teams replaced their losses:

Montana State:

• 30 Players
• 27 High Schoolers
• 2 Transfers (both JUCO)
• 1 Prep School Transfer
• 11 Montanans

Montana:

• 36 Players
• 17 High Schoolers
• 18 Transfers
• 1 Prep School Transfer
• 5 Montanans (4 HS and 1 Tfr)
• Transfers by Class: 8 Sr, 4 Jr, 6 So

The Cats are committing as much as anyone in the country to building up the program with home-grown personnel. The Griz are in something of a transfer cycle; when so many of your additions come in with 1 or 2 seasons of eligibility, it's hard to develop high schoolers behind them and you end up going back to the portal. What's more, it seems that the best predictor of whether or player will transfer OUT is if they transferred IN. UM seems to be trying to add transfers with more of a runway, but the plurality of their class are still seniors.

It will be fascinating to see the differences play out.

They're not in even in the same ... (was going to say area code) ... ballpark with us. I don't think this analysis will show anything. MSU's player development is so much better than UM's that it has created a huge rift between the two. MSU, NDSU and SDSU are head and shoulders above UM. USD and UCD are both ahead of UM. UM is in a group with UND, Weber, EWU, UIW, SAC.

I agree that the MSU program is better and I prefer their approach, but I don’t think you can back up the assertion that they’re not in the same ballpark given recent results.

Over the last two seasons, the Griz have gone to the championship and lost in the 2nd round. Over that same span, the Cats have lost in the 2nd round and gone to the championship. Furthermore, we are now at five straight rivalry games in which the home team won handily.

Now in a longer time frame, MSU has had a lot more success. But I think what’s most recent is most relevant. It feels good to say they are miles beneath us, but the results don’t beat that out.

I think that's a shallow dive. If I was looking to make a case for UM to on par with MSU, that's what I'd do. However, MSU has been a dominating team over the last two years. 2023 was more of a fluke than anything else for both teams. The details of that have been discussed on here and they're pretty solid. The 2021 game was also a weird game that featured broken plays and big ST mistakes and the follow up to it kind of proved that.

Dominating team over the last 2 years? Hardly. UM killed us in 23 and went to the championship game.

Vigen, obviously a good coach, has to figure out how to get rid of the “deer in the headlights mode” in Missoula. That stadium and community are good at engineering an atmosphere in which coach struggles.
B hawk on the other hand is in year to year desperation mode.
Keep building our core and fill in our losses with quality players and will be in Nashville next year.

[iaafan]

With classes basically complete, I find the differences between MSU and UM to be fascinating. The different approaches these in-state rivals are taking couldn't be more different and adding to the intrigue is the reality that in the past two seasons, the results have been very similar: Griz went on a run to Frisco in 2023 and then had a disappointing playoff appearance in 2024; the Cats went on a run to Frisco in 2024 but had a disappointing playoff appearance in 2023.

Here's what the teams were replacing relative to their 2-Deep rosters at the end of the season:

Montana State: 17 players from the 2-Deep, including 15 starters

Montana: 28 players from the 2-Deep, including 19 starters

And here's how the teams replaced their losses:

Montana State:

• 30 Players
• 27 High Schoolers
• 2 Transfers (both JUCO)
• 1 Prep School Transfer
• 11 Montanans

Montana:

• 36 Players
• 17 High Schoolers
• 18 Transfers
• 1 Prep School Transfer
• 5 Montanans (4 HS and 1 Tfr)
• Transfers by Class: 8 Sr, 4 Jr, 6 So

The Cats are committing as much as anyone in the country to building up the program with home-grown personnel. The Griz are in something of a transfer cycle; when so many of your additions come in with 1 or 2 seasons of eligibility, it's hard to develop high schoolers behind them and you end up going back to the portal. What's more, it seems that the best predictor of whether or player will transfer OUT is if they transferred IN. UM seems to be trying to add transfers with more of a runway, but the plurality of their class are still seniors.

It will be fascinating to see the differences play out.

They're not in even in the same ... (was going to say area code) ... ballpark with us. I don't think this analysis will show anything. MSU's player development is so much better than UM's that it has created a huge rift between the two. MSU, NDSU and SDSU are head and shoulders above UM. USD and UCD are both ahead of UM. UM is in a group with UND, Weber, EWU, UIW, SAC.

I agree that the MSU program is better and I prefer their approach, but I don’t think you can back up the assertion that they’re not in the same ballpark given recent results.

Over the last two seasons, the Griz have gone to the championship and lost in the 2nd round. Over that same span, the Cats have lost in the 2nd round and gone to the championship. Furthermore, we are now at five straight rivalry games in which the home team won handily.

Now in a longer time frame, MSU has had a lot more success. But I think what’s most recent is most relevant. It feels good to say they are miles beneath us, but the results don’t beat that out.

I think that's a shallow dive. If I was looking to make a case for UM to on par with MSU, that's what I'd do. However, MSU has been a dominating team over the last two years. 2023 was more of a fluke than anything else for both teams. The details of that have been discussed on here and they're pretty solid. The 2021 game was also a weird game that featured broken plays and big ST mistakes and the follow up to it kind of proved that.

Dominating team over the last 2 years? Hardly. UM killed us in 23 and went to the championship game.

Vigen, obviously a good coach, has to figure out how to get rid of the “deer in the headlights mode” in Missoula. That stadium and community are good at engineering an atmosphere in which coach struggles.
B hawk on the other hand is in year to year desperation mode.
Keep building our core and fill in our losses with quality players and will be in Nashville next year.

I’m talking dominating overall. We’ve had one bad loss over the last two seasons. The other four were a ripoff at SDSU, a horrible half at Idaho, a blocked XP in OT vs ndsu in a game that we had a big edge statistically and this last loss to ndsu. UM hasn’t been in the same ballpark. All the other games we’ve been dominant or near dominant. UM has eked out wins and lost to mediocre teams in that same time frame.

[Prodigal Cat]

Saw this yesterday and it seems appropriate.

[BelligerentBobcat]

With classes basically complete, I find the differences between MSU and UM to be fascinating. The different approaches these in-state rivals are taking couldn't be more different and adding to the intrigue is the reality that in the past two seasons, the results have been very similar: Griz went on a run to Frisco in 2023 and then had a disappointing playoff appearance in 2024; the Cats went on a run to Frisco in 2024 but had a disappointing playoff appearance in 2023.

Here's what the teams were replacing relative to their 2-Deep rosters at the end of the season:

Montana State: 17 players from the 2-Deep, including 15 starters

Montana: 28 players from the 2-Deep, including 19 starters

And here's how the teams replaced their losses:

Montana State:

• 30 Players
• 27 High Schoolers
• 2 Transfers (both JUCO)
• 1 Prep School Transfer
• 11 Montanans

Montana:

• 36 Players
• 17 High Schoolers
• 18 Transfers
• 1 Prep School Transfer
• 5 Montanans (4 HS and 1 Tfr)
• Transfers by Class: 8 Sr, 4 Jr, 6 So

The Cats are committing as much as anyone in the country to building up the program with home-grown personnel. The Griz are in something of a transfer cycle; when so many of your additions come in with 1 or 2 seasons of eligibility, it's hard to develop high schoolers behind them and you end up going back to the portal. What's more, it seems that the best predictor of whether or player will transfer OUT is if they transferred IN. UM seems to be trying to add transfers with more of a runway, but the plurality of their class are still seniors.

It will be fascinating to see the differences play out.

They're not in even in the same ... (was going to say area code) ... ballpark with us. I don't think this analysis will show anything. MSU's player development is so much better than UM's that it has created a huge rift between the two. MSU, NDSU and SDSU are head and shoulders above UM. USD and UCD are both ahead of UM. UM is in a group with UND, Weber, EWU, UIW, SAC.

I agree that the MSU program is better and I prefer their approach, but I don’t think you can back up the assertion that they’re not in the same ballpark given recent results.

Over the last two seasons, the Griz have gone to the championship and lost in the 2nd round. Over that same span, the Cats have lost in the 2nd round and gone to the championship. Furthermore, we are now at five straight rivalry games in which the home team won handily.

Now in a longer time frame, MSU has had a lot more success. But I think what’s most recent is most relevant. It feels good to say they are miles beneath us, but the results don’t beat that out.

I think that's a shallow dive. If I was looking to make a case for UM to on par with MSU, that's what I'd do. However, MSU has been a dominating team over the last two years. 2023 was more of a fluke than anything else for both teams. The details of that have been discussed on here and they're pretty solid. The 2021 game was also a weird game that featured broken plays and big ST mistakes and the follow up to it kind of proved that.

Dominating team over the last 2 years? Hardly. UM killed us in 23 and went to the championship game.

Vigen, obviously a good coach, has to figure out how to get rid of the “deer in the headlights mode” in Missoula. That stadium and community are good at engineering an atmosphere in which coach struggles.
B hawk on the other hand is in year to year desperation mode.
Keep building our core and fill in our losses with quality players and will be in Nashville next year.

Naw, I don’t agree on that. Last years team beats UM easily whether it’s played in Bozeman or Missoula. The loss in 23 had a lot of factors beyond coaching.

[RICO CAT]

Saw this yesterday and it seems appropriate.

OUCH !

[Montanabob]

Saw this yesterday and it seems appropriate.

OUCH !

looks like it was meant for a texas school, but right, works west of bozeman

[grizzh8r]

Saw this yesterday and it seems appropriate.

OUCH !

looks like it was meant for a texas school, but right, works west of bozeman

That said, it's just a little ironic that the colors of this guys current school appear to be maroon and gray, and the logo looks like a bear paw...