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Coaches
Krystowiak (left) and Tinkle |
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New
basketball coaching
staff ready to get rolling
Even though
he turns 40 this month, Larry Krystkowiak can’t help but feel
like a college freshman all over again.
“It’s
actually kind of surreal,” said Krystkowiak, Montana’s
new men’s basketball coach. “It kind of reminds me of
when I started college as a player — the newness and the challenges
that lie ahead.”
If “Krysco’s” second stint as a Grizzly freshman
kicks off a career anywhere near as successful as his first go-round,
bright days are ahead for the Montana basketball program.
Krystkowiak, a Shelby native who starred at Missoula’s Big Sky
High School, is the Grizzlies’ all-time leading scorer and rebounder.
During a college career from 1982 to 86, Krystkowiak was named Big
Sky Conference MVP three times — the only player in conference
history to earn the prestigious trifecta.
Krystkowiak went on to enjoy a successful nine-year career in the
National Basketball Association. His post-NBA career included two
years as an assistant coach at Montana under Don Holst and another
year as an assistant at Old Dominion under former Grizzly coach Blaine
Taylor.
Last year, Krystkowiak was the head man in Boise, leading the Idaho
Stampede to the Continental Basketball Association’s championship
game.
Krystkowiak enjoyed his stint coaching aspiring NBA players in Boise.
But when Pat Kennedy announced he was leaving Montana in May to take
the head job at Towson State, Krystkowiak jumped at the chance to
return to his alma mater.
“There’s not many Division I head coaching jobs available,”
he said. “It’s a hard business to get into. And it’s
the purest form of hoops right now. You have kids who get athletic
scholarships and want to play ball.”
While he’s spent much of the past three months recruiting and
becoming familiar with his returning players, Krystkowiak does admit
he’s given some thought to the upcoming season.
“I would be crazy if I didn’t say I wanted to cut down
the nets in the Big Sky Tournament and get into March Madness,”
Krystkowiak said.
But he also would like to see Grizzly basketball earn back the respect
and prestige it enjoyed during his playing days at Montana.
“We’re going to give it our best shot,” he said.
“A lot has to do with winning. But the lifeblood of the program
is the players you have. They must be basketball players, strong citizens
and good students. We aren’t going to have someone here who
is not interested in academics and getting themselves to class.”
Krystkowiak believes his job will be made easier by a coaching staff
that is quite familiar with Montana and Big Sky basketball.
Leading the way is top assistant Wayne Tinkle, another former Grizzly
star who was an assistant on Kennedy’s staff the past two years.
“He’s a Griz like myself,” Krystkowiak said. “This
place means an awful lot to both of us.”
And they are tall. Krystkowiak is 6 foot 9 inches and Tinkle is 6
foot 10 inches.
Joining Krystkowiak and Tinkle on the bench will be Brad Huse, a Big
Sky High School grad who served as head coach at Jamestown College
in North Dakota, and Andy Hill, who last season was the director of
basketball operations at Big Sky foe Eastern Washington.
Krystkowiak said he is anxious for school to get under way so he can
start working with his players. He believes Montana has enough talent
to improve on the back-to-back losing seasons the Grizzlies incurred
under Kennedy.
“Our goal is to try to get better every year,” Krystkowiak
said.
While he’s thrilled to be back on the Missoula campus as head
coach, Krystkowiak admits that he is also somewhat surprised that
he’s now in the same job once held by his former mentor Mike
Montgomery — who recently left Stanford to take the head-coaching
job for the NBA’s Golden State Warriors.
“I never would have guessed that someday I would be sitting
in Coach Montgomery’s old chair,” Krystkowiak said. “But
then I also never would have guessed that Coach Montgomery would be
coaching an NBA team. Things have just kind of evolved.”
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