Episode 9: Travis DeCuire

Adam Stanco’s in-depth interview with University of Montana head coach Travis DeCuire. They discuss the coach’s early playing career, including how immature missteps during a youth tournament changed the course of his basketball life. He shares stories about his phenomenal collegiate run, first as a standout at Chaminade and then as one of the nation’s assist leaders at Montana. They explore DeCuire’s journey as a highly successful college assistant and the relationships he fostered along the way. DeCuire opens up about his feelings on being passed over for the Cal job after Mike Montgomery lobbied for him to get it. While Montana has become synonymous with legendary coaches, they discuss the reasons behind DeCuire’s particular dominance at the school, including how his Grizzlies nearly upset a Final Four-bound Michigan team in the NCAA Tournament. And DeCuire explains why he didn’t leave for a bigger program this off-season, despite being one of the most coveted mid-major coaches in all of college basketball.

Find out more at 40YearCoach.com and follow us on Twitter...

Adam Stanco: @NaismithLives

40 Year Coach Podcast: @40YearCoach

Travis DeCuire: @CoachDeCuire

Sydney Smith: @SydGSmitty

Episode Transcript

(00:14):
This is the forty Year Coach Podcaston adam Astango. Before we get to
our guests, Travis to Cure,I just want to remind you to ask
yourself, as a coach, asa teacher, as a leader, will
your impact be felt for four yearsor forty years? Because ultimately that's what
the forty Year Coach Podcast is allabout. Now, we could use your
help in getting the word out aboutour podcast. Rate and review us on

(00:37):
iTunes and subscribe. You do notwant to miss some of the guests we
have coming up. And if youdon't have an iPhone, you can always
check us out on spreaker or onthe iHeartRadio app. Now onto our guest,
Montana head coach Travis to Cure.He is coached Montana to three twenty
win seasons and this past season,he led the school to a twenty six
and eight record and earned a bidto the NCAA Tournament. For his efforts,

(01:00):
he earned Big Sky n NABC Districtsixth Coach of the Year. He's
the fastest Big Sky coach in historyto reach fifty wins, and his seven
sixty four winning percentage is third bestin conference history. Oh and he's also
one of the most sought after coachesin the country. Travis to Cure,
Welcome to the forty Year Coach Podcast. How are you doing at him?

(01:23):
I'm great, I'm great, andI'm pumped to talk to you so much.
I think your story is truly incredible, And as I do with almost
all the guests, I want tostart at the beginning. I knew you
grew up in Rainier Beach area inWashington, which I know has become a
hotbed for basketball. You know,certainly in the last decade or so,

(01:47):
you could have gone to one ofthose power schools Rainier Beach or or Garfield.
But I've read that your father wanteda greater focus on academics and sent
you to Mercer Island High School.What what do you call about that decision?
And uh and what that experience waslike for you? Yeah, you
know, growing up um in theright of each area. I never went

(02:08):
to Seattle public schools. I wasin Catholic school first to eighth grade,
and so when it was trying topick a high school, he gave me
a choice of five schools for wereCatholic schools and one public, knowing that
I would I would choose the publicschool. But you know, I think
at the end of the day,for him, he was he was more
concerned about who I walked the hallswith and did in a perspective life outside

(02:31):
what I saw every day. Andyou talked about that perspective. Only five
black children in the in the schoolthat you ended up going to at the
time. Yes, at the time, yes, which was which was an
early culture shock for a fifteen yearold. UM, but what it painted
students later, no doubt, nodoubt you. Um, you end up

(02:54):
playing for Ed Pepple three years starter, you're McDonald's All American will mention.
And then as the story goes,you're playing in the Myrtle Beach Classic,
and as you look later in thebracket, there's an opportunity for you to
play Kenny Anderson. And for thosewho don't recall, I mean Kenny Anderson

(03:15):
as a as a high school playerwas all everything I mean talked about nationally.
Everyone knew about him well before Twitter. Um, but you still had
a game to play against another futuresuperstar in college, and that's Jimmy Jackson.
But you're playing in the Myrtle BeachClassic. Can you can you take
me through what happened and transpired inthat tournament, it's a long story.

(03:38):
Uh. That was that was oursecond time there. I was there as
a softomore or two years previous,and we'd won a game of corfish and
championship game at the Buzzer against theMafA, who also had a couple of
future NBA players, and we performedwell enough to be invited back two years

(03:59):
later. Um of the eighteen sevenwere ranked in the top twenty in the
country USA today. One of them. Um. So the Teleboa was set
um you know, a lot ofhigh major Division one coaches there. We
played the first game very well.Going into the second game, we're playing
make Kember Whitney out of Ohio,which is Jimmy Jackson's team, and unfortunately,

(04:25):
you know, life as its lessonsfor us all as we moved forward,
and unfortunately the timing for me waswas there slept through team dinner,
um there the actually it was lunchthe day of game, and so got
a one quarter suspension, found ourselvesdown twentieth the end of the first quarter.

(04:47):
U found our way back into thatgame and it was an emotional roller
coach ride for me. Ended uplosing that game. I think by ten
was Jimmy Jackson went for twenty inthe first quarter, finished the game with
twenty five. We then won theconsolation championship at the Buzzer, which man

(05:13):
I felt one game short of thatmatchup that I dreamed about. Found myself
on the All Tournament team with guyslike Jimmy Jackson, Kenny Anderson, and
Graham Hill and a list of others. I think there were maybe ten future
NBA players on that list. Andso what word Division one offers went away
from that moment and found myself aDivision two Shamanad University as a freshman before

(05:39):
moving on to Montana. But itwas an opportunity for me to learn to
control my own destiny rather than relyon others, which I thought I had
a wake up call coming from ateammate wh should never happened. Well,
I think that it's an important lessonbecause I also think that as as I
look back at at your life andyour career and we're going to go through

(06:00):
it. But just the idea thattalked to so many coaches and players and
people who have these experiences and heartbreakat at a young age and think that's
it, that that that's the end. And and I think what's remarkable about
your path is that sure there wasthere was a change in your path,
but they did. Certainly you're ina wonderful place now and so it's it's

(06:23):
awesome to see, you know,ultimately how far, how far you came,
and so that it's not the end. And I always appreciate, you
know, looking back on some ofthe early struggles for people. Um,
and you talk about going to Shamanad, your team MVP, your starter as
a freshman. Why did you decideat that point to to transfer and go

(06:43):
to Montana? Well, unfortunate forme, it was the only losing season
I ever suffered in my career asan athlete in any sport. And it
was hard one hard being that faraway from home. But the biggest thing
for me was was just that,Uh, individuals in the program and including
myself, we weren't about all theright things. We weren't there to win.

(07:06):
We were there for individual reasons.Um. You know, a couple
of guys you know, maybe thethird or fourth school and looking for an
opportunity to score ton of points andmaybe play professionally. Um. Another freshman
that was that came in with me. We both came in with intent of
of of being the best individual playerswe could be. But you know,

(07:28):
I don't know how focused we wereon winning. And you know, after
growing up and winning programs, andand and and winning as many games as
I was fortunate to win at MercerIsland, I think I took it for
granted and thought that it just happens. You know, you just go on
the court and you play hard,and didn't realize how much the off the
court chemistry matters and how influential itis on how your team operates on the

(07:51):
floor, especially through adversity. Andso it was another adversial learning situation for
me. And and you know,fortunately for me, my high school coach
is able to find me a happyhome coach before we move on to the
happy home. I am curious aboutthat part that you talk about, that
how the off the court sort ofchemistry impacts what's going on on the court.

(08:16):
Can you expand on that. Well, At the end of the day,
teams a family, and maybe notall of them approach it that way,
maybe not all of them discuss itthat way. I think sometimes you'll
find teams that use the word family, But they don't operate like one.
The time you spend together off thecourt is is valuable at the time you're
going to spend in drills in competition, because you've got to learn to trust

(08:41):
each other's got to have each other'sback, and there's going to be opportunities
throughout every day to prove to oneanother that you're gonna have each other's back
and you'll be there for them.And if you don't have that trust,
you will never perform on the floor. And so that team that I played
for, very few of us spenttime together. We were very cliquish.
Um. At the end of theday, not very many guys liked each

(09:03):
other. And and so it's goingto be difficult to go out and compete
in the foxhold together if you don'tlove each other. And so for me,
I learned the importance of that becauseI missed it when I had in
high school. Right, I understand. I understand as a coach, how
do you foster that? Um,it's it's long, you know, you

(09:24):
don't do it overnight, you know, just do it in conversation, it's
in acting. Um. You know, our staff spends a lot of time
with our student athletes individually, whetherit's in office, whether it's in our
homes, whether it's in their homes. UM, we try to have as
many activities as a group as possible. Our team eats dinner together every night,

(09:46):
and so the more time you spendtogether, the more opportunities you have
UM to talk about things that thataren't basketball related, and that's what families
do, right, And so wetalk about those things a lot. And
we know when guys are going throughdiverse situations and we always encourage each individual,
you know, whether it's a roommateor a teammate from the same area,

(10:11):
or someone that might be able torelate to their situation too. I
hope we got through every diverse situationhe goes through, and when that happens,
your team bonds. And fortunately forus, last year was probably the
closest team I've ever had. Ohand we'll get to that for sure,
but I but I still want todiscuss that that playing career that you had,
and so you end up going toMontana. You're recruited by Blaine Taylor,

(10:39):
who has called you the sun thathe's never had, and your career
at at Montana. I mean,you said single season career records for assists
twelfth nationally and assist as a seniorover seven a game. You're all big
sky as a junior and a senior. When you look back at your at
your playing career in Montana, whatsticks out to you? UM? My

(11:01):
growth as an individual, UM,as a leaders, as a basketball player,
as a student, as a person. You know, you know,
my my, My life was nevereasy. Um. There was always adversity
off the court for me. UMthat that would slow my process down and
I had to find ways to getthrough it at five ways to be successful.

(11:22):
Um, you know, regardless ofhow hard a life was. And
I think for me here it wasan opportunity to get away from home and
experienced things outside of my own community. It was an opportunity be coached by
someone that believed in tough love,UM, but but also knew when when
his student athletes needed a hug um. And and so for me, it

(11:46):
was an opportunity to be a partof something special. When you know,
our our program brought the championship backto Missoula in ninety two. It had
been quite a while since Montana hadone one and to be a part of
something like that is always huge.And when I reflect on that as a
coach, I always can look atthe individual stories and the guys that made

(12:13):
us so tough as a group,the guys that cultivated the family portion of
it to Montana guys accepted the outof state guys with open arms and gave
us an opportunity to enjoy the experience. And I thought that the combination of
all those things or why we werespecial. And so now as a head

(12:35):
coach, I just try to replicatea lot of those experiences. And it's
interesting you bring up that that differencebetween the sort of the end state guys
and the out of state guys,because I think when people think about Montana
and certainly the success that the schoolhas had as a program, and certainly
the coaching tree is unreal. Youknow, go through the list, Wayne

(12:58):
Tinkle, a, Eric Kristoiac,jud Heathcote, obviously, Blaine Taylor,
yourself, and many others. Butwhat's interesting to me is I think people
think about Montana and they think,well, the struggle might be if you
get kids from different parts of thecountry that aren't familiar with that area,
that that's going to be a challenge. But what can you tell me about

(13:20):
that challenge of the kids that comefrom out of state and the kids that
are in state and the kind ofchallenge that can sort of present. Well,
it's back to chemistry, and werecruited in a manner that allows us
to be successful in the regard here. For in Mayer in the nineties,
the majority of the basketball players werefrom Montana. That's back when you had

(13:46):
fifteen scholarships, very rich or agood portion of those income you freshmen.
And so you know, I thinkout of our fifteen, maybe five of
us were out of state in mytime, and so you're the minority.
And um, I think prior tomy time here, there wasn't great chemistry

(14:07):
between the instate out of state guys. And when we got here, UM,
guys like Roger Fasting's, Gary Kane, mad Kempford were local guys that,
um, we're open to interacting withus off the court. You know,
they invited us to their to theirfunctions and their homes, their gatherings.
They took us to their homes forThanksgivings, Christmases and and and and

(14:31):
because their families were so open tohaving us around and welcoming to us,
that we had more opportunity to getto know our teammates. And once again,
when you're in that foxhold and youknow a guy's tendencies, you know
the guys that need help, youknow the guys that are going to be
there for you when you need it, you tend to overachieve as a group.

(14:56):
And that's what we had, andso I've always remembered that. And
now a little different and the majorityare now out of state kids in order
for us to be successful here,and so what we've done is we've recruited
from what we call our backyard,and two of us are from Washington and
the other two assistants are from northernCalifornia, and the bulk of our recruiting

(15:18):
is going to be Washington, NorthernCow, and in a little bit of
southern Cow. And with that,you've got more guys coming in that already
know, guys that are here orhave at least competed against each other and
come from similar backgrounds, and theyrelate to each other off the court,
and that tends to lead to getchemistry. How much were you thinking about

(15:41):
coaching at that time during your playingcareer, Not at all. Never,
Uh, you know, as abusiness major. I figured, you know,
I'd all into some fiendum that wouldallow me to at some point in
time own or run my own company. H Not sure what that was,
but just figured, you know whata business major, that's what that means.

(16:03):
You know, the immaturities of theyoung student athlete. And after a
year of being out of school andbouncing from job to job, a high
school coach at Peppo asked me towork a camp and after the camp was
over, he had a freshman coachingposition available, and it was kind of

(16:23):
late in the year, and sohe really didn't have time to shop around
and asked me to take that positionfor him as a favorite for one year.
And one thing led to another,and I never stopped coaching. The
seat was planned by Blaine Taylor thespring of ninety four, my senior year,
and I kind of went through theprocess of interviewing for a high school

(16:45):
job here Frenchtown, just outside ofMissoula, and process was kind of drug
out a little bit, and Iwas a little anxious to get home,
and so I never really saw thatthing through. But at the end of
the day, at that point intime, I wasn't ready to go into
it. What's interesting is from whatI've read about your time and then uh,

(17:07):
post graduation, it it looked likeover and over again that you were
around helping others. You founded theFast Break Basketball Association in Seattle Tacoma area,
helping five hundred kids. You werecounseling kids that at the time.
Uh, And certainly obviously there wassomething about coaching when you take the freshman

(17:29):
job and next thing you know,that's that's your career. What was it
about the idea of coaching and helpingout the youth that that appealed to you
so much? Well, you know, people often say you are who you
surround yourselves with, right, AndI don't know that's one hundred percent true,
because sometimes you grew up in anenvironment that might not be all that
positive and people front way out umand and so. But I do think

(17:52):
there is heavy influence and then youmake decisions for me. You know,
my father did that. You know, I played UM center growing up,
and and that's back when the communitycenters kind of dominated sports, and uh,
you played for your neighborhood, anduh, it was always very competitive
and Renter Beach was was was sofull of so many kids that we had

(18:15):
three teams, and the teams thatwere named after the coach's last name and
UM. But the team I wason was metcalf and UM, a very
athletic family, UM with roots backto seventies. And we were so loaded
that going into seventh grade we hadto split into two again, and so
it was three to four teams,and my father took that team and and

(18:38):
and that was kind of what Imade the conversion from power forward to point
guard in the seventh grade. Andfrom that point on, he then UM
started putting together AU teams and weplayed in the traveling league which was on
the East Side UM with a lotof the East Side schools, the Mercery
Islets, the Redmen's to Bellevues UM. And so we'd still play in our

(19:00):
rec league, and then he'd hadan all star team that played on the
East Side League, and then thatall star team would travel and go to
places like Yakama and Reno for regionalAU tournaments. And I remember we always
had to raise money. You know, we'd watch cars and UM we just
you know, we'd sell candy,we'd do all kinds of things just to

(19:21):
raise the money. And I rememberthere'd always be a couple of kids on
the team that they couldn't afford togo, and my dad would you know,
he'd invest into those kids and ityou know, when I was going
through it and it was happening,and you know, I never really realized
what he was committing to and whatit was that he was doing. I
just stopped. My buddies were hangingout and spending the night in my house

(19:44):
and eating our food and playing myvideo games and shooting on my basket.
But the reality was, as hewas saving their lives, that they didn't
have lights to go home to,they didn't have power, they didn't have
sometimes a roof to go home to, or just an environment they didn't I
want to go home to, andso he allowed them to stay in our
home. Well, things are contagious, and sometimes you don't realize that you

(20:08):
are influenced by others until you startto do things, or you look back
at a ten fifteen years later,my junior year in the summer in college,
I went home and he had anAU team you'd put together and kind
of decided he didn't want to doit anymore, but it was a very
talented team, and so he hadme coach that team and we won the
national qualifier. Had an opportunity goto an A to national tournament that July,

(20:34):
but I need to come back forsummer, so it never happened.
But the seat was somewhat planet atthat point in time, and so when
I went back to Mercer Island tocoach, Coach Pepper would always had his
team and at the time he'd calledthis team out Toys, which ended up
having ten kids go on to playthe Vision one basketball point Card. That's

(20:56):
elder Prisate Freeman's all time leading assistleader in the IVY League and at Harvard.
Kurtis Borcher later became a first rounddraft pick Stanford. M Josh Fisher
was our MDP that played at SaintLouis and played professional basketball for that He's
just now retired two years ago.As a class of two thousand, very
talented group young man. My nameis Mount Loki, first scholarship basketball player

(21:21):
at Lee highs Now currently winning twentythree twenty four games a year at Whitworth.
And so the team was so talented, I really didn't have a role
shooping with that group, and soI decided to start my own and people
kind of helped me find some kids, and one thing led to another,
and in year one we had somekids from Tacoma, an area that was

(21:42):
untapped, and found ourselves playing fora national championship and the slam and jam
in LA and had a chance towin it. And from there it just
exploded and got contagious. And atthe time I was counseling juvenile correction at
a juvenal correction facility called Ecole Glennand also at a halfway house for youth,

(22:03):
a place called Rather Child Center.And so the combination of the counseling
and the transitional living in the coaching, I think is what developed me as
as the coach at i M today. But I kind of fell into all
those things and after a year ofexperiencing, that was when we went and

(22:25):
got five or one C three andturned it into a nonprofit and then created
the Counseling in Academic Services And nextthing I knew at five hundred kids come
through the program in an eight yearperiod. That is truly remarkable, and
I'm I'm blown away too by theidea that you know. I spoke to
Kim English recently and he had toldme that the coach has to be authentic.

(22:51):
That that is one of the mostimportant points. And I've always believed
that what makes a wonderful coaches thebuy in that you get from your kids.
It doesn't matter the system that you'rerunning, your style of coaching,
who you are. But if youcan get people to believe in what it
is that that you're uh, whatyou're coaching about, what you're preaching about,
what you're talking about, that's that'sthe key to a great coach.

(23:12):
And it sounds like those experience justhelp turn you in as you mentioned to
to who you are today. Sothat's remarkable. As you as you move
up in the ranks and you hitGreen River Community College and your coach of
the year there, and in twothousand and three, you know, and

(23:33):
and starting you know, still atthe early stages of your your coaching journey,
how different were you then as asa coach from from who you are
today. I think I'm more maturetoday, Um, aren't we all right?
I think I look further down theroad, um today, And but

(23:56):
I think the things that haven't changesmy commitment um to their futures. You
know, you you talk about buyingand and I think, at the end
of the day, if a youngman or a young lady believe that you
believe in them, and you youhave confidence in their abilities, they're going
to believe in whatever it is thatyou're trying to get them to do,

(24:18):
and you can do it half backwardsand and and get it done if if
if all thirteen or thirteen guys believein it. And so I think for
me, that was one of thethings that UM led to my early success
in high school and junior college asa coaches. That my passion for the
success of the young men that Iwas coaching, and you know, I

(24:41):
dreamed with them a lot, um, you know, with their their goals
are my goals, UM, andso I put a lot of time and
energy and trying to make them thebest basketball players, the best students,
the best people as possible. Andwe talked about more than just basketball.
We always talked about what was goingon in their life and how they can
change anything negative and too a positiveUM. And I think the fact that

(25:04):
they knew that I cared was whythey performed for me at the level that
they did. And I've tried tohold on to that at this level and
it's very difficult. It's vision onebecause the time that you you have with
them is different. It's it's it'sit's it's not as frequent. Um,
there's there's there's so many rules tothe hours that you can spend in the

(25:26):
gym and in high school and juniorcollege. You know, when you just
opened up the gym and you canget it in twenty four hours, you
know, uh, three under sixtyfive days out of the year. And
so there's just way more opportunity toto show, you know, man that
you care, as opposed to sayit. And at this level, um,

(25:48):
your your actions are a lot morehighlighted because you have your opportunities right
right, makes sense. There werestill an appeal though, obviously, to
coach at at this Division one level, and you end up moving on to
become an assistant at Old Dominion becauseyou're a blamed Taylor sees you at a

(26:14):
JUCO showcase. You guys hadn't talkedin a long time. As the story
goes, Taylor offers you a job, but you turn it down initially.
Can you tell me what happened there? So, yeah, it's been almost
twenty years, um and and andfor me you know, like I said,
I my vision wasn't is far downthe road. It was day to

(26:37):
day, it was your year.But I was enjoying the transition from high
school to junior college, the abilityto still have my nonprofit, the ability
to save lives, um and andand so I had an opportunity twice an
interviewed, once at Washington State,once at Boise State. While that's some

(27:02):
amish and and kind of turned thoseopportunities down. One because I had some
young men that I made some commitmentsto and wanted to see things through.
And then the second thing was justI wasn't really ready to leave Seattle after
being away for five years. Youknow, I just you know, I
enjoyed being home. And when Igot to Green River, you know,

(27:22):
year one, we won sixteen games, seventeen games, and um we were
working progress. We had three baseballplayers on the floor to walk onsum on,
these three recruited guys actually playing forus. And the following year we
knew we were going to get aton of of local kids. And you

(27:45):
know, the thing that I dida little different than most people was I
was able to mess the ott inTacoma, UH and Green River was located
in the border between the two,and so it was sently located where I
could recruit both and and and andkind of get the best available talent from
both cities and get them to playtogether. And I wasn't really ready to

(28:06):
walk away from because I thought thatthere were some special things at a different
place. And my vision was moreso junior college head coach athletic director,
that I could do what I dothe way I've always done it and never
need to relocate. And so whenBlaine saw us in Toto, Oklahoma,

(28:30):
it was a national junior college event, and I had nine of my players
down there, and then a kidthat was at Odessa's. You have a
kid by Trey Simmons who I flewinto play with us, and I think
what cott Blaine's I wasn't what Iwas doing with my team. The deal
that I had with Jerry Mullen atthe time was if I worked the camp,

(28:56):
then we could get good a betterrate. I say, somebody on
the dorms and some things. Andso I coached two other teams that they
had coaches that couldn't be there,and I think that Blaine saw me interacting
with the kid that they were recruitingout of Oklahoma for one of the Oklahoma
junior colleges, and knowing that itwasn't my team, I think that he

(29:18):
just saw a relationship opportunity on hisstaff and so that's kind of what led
to it. And he grabbed meafter the game and he had a chance
to catch up a little bit,and after the camp was over, recalled
me and they happened to have ajob available. Larry Kostoviak had moved on
and to take on the odd Hostapedeand that was when the first conversation took

(29:44):
place. And I never forget mymother filled in phone calls from him.
It was like he was recruiting meall over again to come to Montana.
And the time he wasn't right.I just had had too many guys that
were in their sophomore year that youknow, needed to have a good year
to move on and play four yearball, and um, you know,
the following year, Kenny Gattison movedon to go back to to Charlotte to

(30:08):
coach in the NBA, and thetiming was better and Blaine's hard to say
no two twice. It's uh,like I said, your coaching journey is
amazing to me. It's it's it'sit's what every young coach should should check
out because it's just remarkable how thingskeep coming together and they continue to as

(30:30):
you move on. You have tremendoussuccess when when you link up with the
Taylor at ODU, you guys havetwo NCAA tournament appearances, uh, your
final four seasons there most wins ina four year stretch in school history.
And then Mike Montgomery, another formerMontana coach. It's remarkable how many there

(30:55):
have been. Hall of Famer MikeMontgomery H goes to Cal, he calls
you, and the next thing youknow, now you're you're coaching and you
know in the PAC ten, PACtwelve, UM, your time at Cal
four NAY tournament appearances, best sixyears stretch in Cal history. The key
the thing I keep getting from fromthis is, Uh, it's remarkable how

(31:18):
much winning has followed you throughout yourcareer. What was it specifically about about
Mike Montgomery and what you learned duringyour time at Cal under him? Uh,
that that that brought so much successto that that bears program uh preparation.
I think it's the combination of bothplaces. Uh. In my eleven
years is an assistant five at OldDominion, six at cal Uh. You

(31:44):
know, Blaine was pretty close totaking some of the jobs. He got
close to her to stay closer inOklahoma. Um Utah, I thought was
when he would take and and anddecided to stick around it, and we'd
kind of have the conversation that,you know, coach, I've I'd like
to be a head coach one day. Not sure I can get that from

(32:04):
here. You know, Um,if you're gonna retire from here, do
you think you could help me withsomething? And he said, you know,
I think Mike Montgomery might get backin the coaching in the near future,
and when that happens, I'll helpyou out. And so a year
goes by and we're at the frontalfour and you know, on the blurb

(32:25):
on ESPN, Mikeentgomery takes CAW andso a college coach Taylor and said,
hey, you see, you knowMonty just took the cow job. And
he said, yeah, you gotan interview tomorrow at twelve o'clock. We're
ready to go. And so wemade at Starbucks and I've got on my

(32:45):
sport coat and my tie and it'sit's a hundred degrees and San Antonio and
Mike shows up in a hat andshorts and a T shirt. He had
just gone for a jog and wetalked for about an hour and he offers
his job. A day later,and forty eight hours from then, I'm
I'm flying into the bay and neverlooked back. But you know, I

(33:07):
think those two have been very specialcoaches that I've been very influential with me.
And you know, I think ifI've been fortunate to just be surrounded
by our coaches. I mean EdPepple, that all time winning his coach
in Washington States history, playing highschoin percentage in history here at Montana High

(33:30):
School, percentage at Montana and OldDominion, and at one point was ultimate
when his coach at both places.And I think my experience with playing for
him and coaching with him is probablymanages the game better than what I've ever
been around. Is his ability tocontrol the time out, to make changes

(33:52):
on the fly, to manipulate anopponent because of what they're doing defensively,
um last minute changes, last possessionof the game. I've just never been
around anyone that could manage a gamelike him. And so my experience playing
point guard for him and then beingan assistant with him, those things all

(34:15):
stuck to me. And then withMike Montgomery, Mike is probably the most
prepared basketball coach every night out.I don't know that there has ever been
a team it was more prepared thanwe were every time with just the floor,
which is why he's one of theonly coach to win back twelve two

(34:35):
different schools, and he brought backa championship after fifty years at CAW And
we were the most prepared basketball teamevery night. We knew what they would
run against zone, we knew whatthey would run against man, We knew
how they would defend our off ballscreen, we knew how they would defend
our onball screen. We knew howthey would defend every play we ran,

(34:57):
and we had counters for every thingthat every every opponent would give us.
And we could change from Thursday toSaturday based on who we were playing because
of our preparation. And I justthink that his basketball teams were the most
consistent basketball teams every year, yearin a year out. And maybe he
didn't win as many championships as everyoneelse, but overall he was gonna win

(35:21):
his seven and he was going toput a good product on the floor every
night. They always had an opportunityto win games. And you know,
I look back at that and wefelt one game short of a championship.
Twice we lost our rival Stanford twice, once at home and once at Stanford,
or I'd be fortunate to say thatwhile with Mike Montgomery we won three

(35:43):
pack twelve championships in a six yearrun. But I think that's what separation
those two from anybody that I've beenaround. His preparation with Mike, game
management with with Brain and then myone year was tomorrow was a combination of
both. And if you look atyou his career, his win percentage um,
he's probably more likely to win abasketball game than both of them.

(36:07):
The the you know, you discussedthat that game management under coach Taylor and
then the preparation under under coach Montgomery. We hear all the time that you
know, so many coaches are prepared. So when you discussed that and you
say that he's the most prepared,what made him different in terms of preparation?

(36:30):
How was his preparation different than othercoaches? The time we spent on
details. You know, Blaine's teamswere tough. They were tough, they
were mentally tough, they were physicallytough. They played through adversity, they
thrived in adversity because he created thatadversity in practice every day, so we
knew how to compete. UM.I think Mike's teams UM could think on

(36:52):
the fly as well as anyone.They could read a screen as well as
anyone, UM, and so theywere prepared for every situation in the game.
Example would be eight minute mark,come out of a time out and
your opponent goes zone and they hadn'tplayed zone in five games. Well,
we were prepared for it because wesaw that they had the zone ten games

(37:15):
to go. Or you know,we always worked on our zone offense regardless
to we were playing. We hada call ready to go and so we
didn't have to call time out tomake an adjustment. We'd make a call
and we if we could get agood shot the first two possessions to get
your zone, you probably came outof it and we wouldn't have to see
it anymore. Team would go boxin one on our leading scorer Alan Crab

(37:37):
We would have a call immediately togo into without calling a timeout, that
we could get a shot and itmight not be for Alan Krabb, but
the way to expose the zone toget them to come out of it.
And so his teams were prepared forthe changes that teams were going to put
us through night in and night out. And like I said, when guys

(38:00):
were running off of screens, theyknew if their man was going to cheat
the screen or chase them off thescreen. The guy setting the screen knew
if that kid was going to cheator chase not only as a team but
individually, because every team's got aguy. They've got a guy that's easy
to screen, a guy to cheats, a guy that's lazy, a guy

(38:21):
that has poor vision. We knowwho that guy is and we're going to
expose that guy. We're really goodat that account. I love that.
I love that. Thanks for thebreakdown. The interesting thing at the tail
end of your time at CAL isthat, of course Mike Montgomery leaves coaching
again, this time retires and herecommends and pushes hard for you to get

(38:49):
the job and it didn't happen.What what was that experience like for you?
Fairly dramatic, you know, hehe kind of was sensing he was
getting to that point two years prior, which led to the associate head title.
You know, he wanted to putme in a leadership role, and

(39:12):
it was more so to allow himto focus more on the coaching aspect of
it, to maybe linked in hiscoaching career as opposed to an exit plan.
And you know, after a coupleof years after that last season,
he was just burnt out going intothat that last month of basketball, and
so he let Sandy Barbara know thathe was going to be done after the

(39:36):
year and began to plant the seedwith her and in a couple other administrators
in regards to me. You know, I think that when you talk about
PAC twelfth jobs, you know,administrators tend to believe that those are jobs
that deserve national searches, and maybethey do. You just never know who
what candidates you can get. UmI think with a lot of who didn't

(40:00):
understand is why the Montana Tree hasbeen successful. And the biggest portion is
is because they've always hired from withinand the only unsuccessful hire that they've ever
made was the one time they didn'thire from within. And so you know,
guys like Larry Christoviac and myself comingback from somewhere else, and but

(40:29):
but being from here and playing inthis system and understanding the community. All
of those things are just as importantin recruiting and coaching as recruiting or growing
up a play, and most ofthe time they're more important. But a
lot of presidents, a lot ofathletic directors have never coached, and so

(40:50):
they don't see those things. Now, Sandy Barbara had been involved with athletics
for a long time and she can'tcoach, so she did understand those things.
But I just think that for meit was an emotional because the reasons
that Mike thought that I was theright hire were things that weren't accounted for
by the committee. And so whenyou talk about the relationship with the returning

(41:16):
players, the relationship with a potentialincoming class, relationship with community, the
understanding of how academics operate on acampus like Calm, Understanding that the kids
that were recruited to play there wererecruited to play in a certain system that

(41:40):
maybe they won't be successful in adifferent type of system. Just all those
types of things that come into play, you know, we were things that
came up in the conversation, inthe interviewing process and conversations following or in
the list of candidates. And that'swhy it was so emotional for me.

(42:01):
On top of the fact that yougo from being associate head and being recommended
as as as as the next headcoach to not having a job and having
a three year old daughter at thetime, and you know, living in
California, that's not cheap. Sothere were a lot of things that played

(42:22):
into that, UM, and itwas a long it was a long month
and a half for me one goingthrough that process and then to trying to
figure out what was next for me. And you know, once again the
remarkable story of Travis Security. Youhere have this potential dream job packed Hill

(42:45):
school, cal that everything's rolling underMontgomery. You don't get to following his
footsteps there, but you end upas the as the head coach at Montana
hired May thirty first, two thousandand four. Seen what was that day
like for you? It was?It was it was one of the greatest

(43:06):
days of mother. I've had somebig moments. I've been fortunate, UM,
and you know, I think forsomeone to to be first choice,
UM, that that was a firstfor me. UM. Other jobs.
I had applied for other head jobsEastern Washington twice. Uh. You know,

(43:28):
a number of schools, and mosteither didn't get an interviewer or I
did but wasn't selected. Even atGreen River, I was, I wasn't
first choice. And so to havesomeone come to me and and say,
no, you're a guy, andwe want to put the program in your
hands at that that was a bigmoment for me because, UM, I
feel like everywhere I've been I hadto earn my role. It was never

(43:52):
given to me. Um, itwas never you know, I was hired
as a third assistant at both places. Uh. I was the last to
get bonuses and raises at both places. Um. You know, I just
had to grind, and I hadto I had to work. I had
to compete every day for everything Igot. And and so for the first

(44:13):
time, you know, I wasnumber one on the list and and and
was made a priority and and sothat was special to me because it was
it was one of those moments whereI felt like the time I put in
and the commitment that I made toother people's programs paid off. UM.
And and the second thing for me, as as a minority. Um,

(44:37):
you know, it's just not oftenthat you know, I'm just being honest,
but it's not often that the minoritygets an opportunity to take on a
winning program. And not only wasI able to take on a winning program
that I played for, but it'sthe best job in the conference. And
so to me, there're just therewere a lot of things that made this

(44:59):
moment special. And so every dayI wake up, I wake up grateful,
but I also wake up in grindmode, knowing that, um,
that I need to make the mostof it and that there's no time for
complacency. Well, I mean,you certainly have made the most of it.
I mean your time at Montana,as I touched upon it at the

(45:21):
beginning of the podcast, has been, you know, nothing short of remarkable.
I mean, your first season,you win twenty games, second season
you win, you know, twentyone games. Uh. In this past
season, twenty six games that youwon, sixteen and two in conference,
and you enter the NCAA Tournament asa as a fourteen seed. That doesn't
even include the fact that you wonthe regular season conference attorney fourteen and oh

(45:43):
at home beat pit at pit um. So much success, just this season
alone and obviously over the over thecourse of the last four years. But
I am curious, when you've gonethrough the journey that you've gone through,
you've gone through the story that thatwe've told. When you make the NCAA

(46:06):
tournament, Uh what does what doyou recall about that day? Uh?
You know, I remember the teamjumping for joy. I remember my daughter
running on the court. Um,you know, she she I just remember
her just constantly asking me about thechampionship. Um. And and we you

(46:30):
know, when we cut down netsafter the Weaber State game from that day
before, she just kept asking,championship, championship. We did. We
win the championship, and in hermind every game from that point for it
was a championship. And uh,to actually achieve that with with with with
her running on the court was amazing. Um. You know, we we

(46:54):
came close twice, and you know, we tied for championship conference title and
in the first year, second yearas a two seed, who gets the
championship game? And year one weblow a lead. Year two, we
were a possession away from winning itand we fall short. And so you

(47:15):
kind of had that monkey on yourback, you know. A third time
around, it's we got to pullthis off. And it was a roller
coaster ride. And I remember makingthe statement in twenty fourteen and sometimes it
takes a little luck to win achampionship, and there were some coaches that
that didn't take that very well.And it's one hundred percent I live by

(47:35):
it, I believe it, andit's one hundred percent true that there takes
some luck to winning championships, whetherit's your team staying healthy, whether it's
you know, the guys in yourrotation staying committed to their roles. Your
staff, you know, unfortunate tohave a great staff, unfortunate that we
recruited really good kids. And thefewer distractions that you have off the court,

(47:59):
the more opportunities you have to coachbasketball. And last year was the
perfect storm of that. And westole some games. Um. We we
had we had a game at homeagainst Sack State that we had no business
winning and we get to steal iton the baseline, UH, to lay
it up to tie the game togo in overtime. UM. The Northern

(48:21):
Colorado game, you know, wecould easily just gave in down six with
forty six seconds UM, and thegrind and we put these guys through,
made them champions. But some ofthem wanted it that bad um that they
went out and took it. Andand so you know, it was kind
of at that moment just I hada flash of my entire past um come

(48:47):
together and and and so it was. I had a smile on my face.
It was already to get rid ofThat's amazing. I love a coach.
And first of all, all thosecoaches know, um that luck is
involved to a certain extent, obviouslynot not the main ingredient. Of course
they know, they know if they'rebeing honest with themselves. I saw an

(49:08):
interview that you had done, UMand you were asked about getting Montana back
to the NCAA tournament. Your directquote I thought was fascinating. You said,
I wanted to do it my way. I wanted to build the type
of culture that I was comfortable withon and off the court. And sometimes
when you fight for culture and howyou want young men to be or become,
sometimes you might end up with lesstalent down the road or whatnot.

(49:30):
And we never gave in. Canyou explain what that what that means?
The best athlete, the biggest guy, the best shooter, the fastest guy,
the best play baker is an alwaysthe best person for your team.
UM, and you any coach that'sbeen doing this for a long time in

(49:53):
any sport, his head turmoil.Costume example. Costume. Success Number one
for me is graduation. And soone hundred percent of our seniors are graduated.
And that means that we have agroup of young men that allow us
to coach them. And the onlyway to be successful is to get buy

(50:14):
in. But the buy in hasto be when you're not around. And
so, you know, I wantedto put competitive young men on the floor.
I wanted to put good decision makerson the floor. But that also
meant that we would recruit some kidsthat might not be there yet but have

(50:34):
the potential to do that. Andso we say no to a lot of
young men that potentially could be reallygood. There have been packed twelve West
Coast Conference transfers. There have beenlate committed high school guys that probably individually
could be the best players in thisleague, but the way that we operate,

(51:00):
our values and what we stand for, our brand, they didn't fit
and so therefore we didn't take them. And I, you know, I
reflect on a lot of years.You know, my junior year we were
we were pretty good. We wonseventeen games, but we had a young
man go home in the middle ofthe year because he was a poor decision
maker got himself into some trouble.My senior year, we got off to

(51:22):
a start faster than anyone in thehistory of school at eight. No,
we're going to conference undefeated, whichhadn't happened. Um, we get to
our second game and conference and ourbest player quit and now we go five
hundred the rest of the year.So a team that should have won a
championship finishes fourth and loses in thefirst round of the conference tournament. Um.

(51:45):
You know, as an assistant coach, um at at at Cal and
at Old Dominion, we know therewere times where you'd have a guy or
two that that that could cost peopletheir careers or cost you any opportunity and
successful about the court. And soI just made a decision, as the
guy that's always dealt with those fires, um, that I wanted to minimize

(52:08):
those as much as possible and spendmore time on helping them in the classroom,
helping them mature, trying to teachthem to become leaders and see what
that turns into. And I thinkthat that's been the product that we've been
putting on the floor. Well,I think it's awesome. I think that

(52:29):
mentality I think not just any coachcan learn from, but I think you
know, any any adult really uncan appreciate that, whether they're starting a
business, whether you know, lookingto hire someone. I just think that
that that sums up the idea thatat the end of the day, it's

(52:49):
one thing to have talent, butto have people that are committed to what
it is that you want to accomplish. It may take you a little bit
longer to get there, but obviouslyit'll it'll certainly be be worth it.
Um I UM. Also, there'sthere's overachievers and there's under rechievers, right,
and sometimes you're under achievers are themost talented ones, but they've got

(53:12):
things didder in the way that theydon't they go of And the more overachievers
you may have, the more successyou have is appropriate. And that's kind
of been our deal, no question, no question, Um, coach.
I want to wrap this up,but I but I just have a couple
of questions for you. First,is um, one of the things that
I've noticed about your time at Montanais how you've scheduled and you've played I

(53:40):
mean big time schools in the nonconference, a lot of Pac twelve powerhouses.
You've played at Kansas and Zaga.UM. This season you're you're playing
Creyton, Arizona. UM. What'sgone on in terms of your philosophy and
how much do you think that helpedyou once you've reached the postseason. I

(54:04):
think it's a lot. I thinkthat we play with a ton of confidence
in February and March because, um, we we've we've had opportunities to be
on the floor with with some ofthe best in the country. And whether
you win and lose those games,you want to go into those games and
compete UM. And if you believeyou can win, and you play to
win and you you can benefit fromthe success um that you have within that

(54:30):
within the game. Right, There'sjust there's just so many different battles in
every game. You might outrebound ateam, you might have a better assisted
turnover ratio UM. You might youknow, find matchups that they that they
that they couldn't control. UM.So you find little battles to win and
if you find yourself in those gamesin the last four minutes, you go

(54:51):
for it, right, But atthe end of the day, you're building
confidence, um and and so it'sbeen a huge for us in a number
of ways. One our ability toformul late in the year, um but.
But the second thing is recruiting.You know, it's hard for us
to get teams to come play ushere, especially especially West Coast mid major
schools, and so what we've decidedis rather than go to them or just

(55:14):
go play the high majors, umand So until we can get more people
to play us home and home,we'll just continue to play those high majors
on the road and see how manywe can pick off. And no doubt
about it, and you almost pickoff michigan Ian people forget this about the
nca tournament, certainly not you oryour staff, but you're beating Michigan for

(55:36):
most of the first half in yourin your three fourteen UH NCAA tournament game.
When Michigan ends up going on ontheir run, uh certainly reaching the
final four and all they accomplished inthe tournament, how much are you looking
at that, quite honestly and sayingto yourself, man, that that that
could have been US. Yeah,I was, you know, bad seating,

(55:58):
bad seating bad, no doubt.The Michigan is a two one seed.
You know, I hate to givehim a one, but you know,
you don't finish the way they finishedin the Big in the Big ten,
and and they're a three seed.That just doesn't happen, you know,
three four seed. You know thatthat's a two to me. Um.
But um, you know, it'sall matchups at the end of the

(56:19):
day. And so we got that, uh, that matchup. I thought,
you know, there's a chance forUS here. Um in a number
of ways, just style of play, personnel. Um. You know,
I that that Houston game. Youknow, I don't know what that would
have looked like for US. Um, just the way they were built.

(56:39):
Um that you know, we wewe would have been up late for a
couple of nights trying to figure outan advantage and in that one. Um.
So you know, I hate tosay, all we beat Michigan,
we'd have got to the final four. I don't want to be that guy,
but I was cheering for them.I felt like it was a game
that we could have won. Iwant they should have I think Bayline might

(57:01):
be the best active college coach inthe country if you look at what he's
done and how he's done it,I think he's pretty similar to what we're
talking about in terms of the typeof student athlete you want. He's not
putting the most talented team on thefloor in the night, but he wins
a lot of games. Um.They don't beat themselves on or off the

(57:23):
court. Um, And they're tough, and so you know, watching them
play and watching how teams defended themwas amazing that that I don't I don't
know that any of those teams thatthey played actually watched our game against them,
right, That's a that's an actuallyan unbelievable point. I actually had

(57:47):
the same thought throughout the rest ofthe tournament that, uh that Montana and
coach Secure had the blueprint and yeah, you talk preparation, it didn't seem
like that they were prepared. Thelast question for you, coach, and
that is this past offseason. Obviouslya lot of schools we're certainly interested in

(58:09):
what you've had to offer, andthey have been for the last few years.
I mean, you know, there'sno doubt anyone that has success in
Montana, like we talked about withall the coaches that have come out of
there, by itself is going toget that that coach is going to get
attention. But for you personally,someone who's been around winning so much and
has coached under so many great coaches, yourself and then now three twenty win

(58:32):
seasons at Montana and n see atournament appearance, all of those things,
you are highly regarded coach and oneof the school's game calling obviously Colorado State,
which was you know reported in all. Instead, you don't go and
you sign a three year deal withMontana, So it begs the obvious question,

(58:52):
you know, why stay? Whynot jump to a higher profile program?
I watch, Um, I watchpeople, I watch decisions, I
watch you know, when when Iwatch college basketball, I don't just watch
the game. UM, I watchedthe bench. You know. I try

(59:15):
to learn from others, right.We always talk about history, and you
know, when kids go to classand they learn about history, so that
if they're ever in a leadership role, we don't make mistakes that we made
back in the day. And sofor me, you know, over the
years as a high school coach andyour college coach and assistant, I've always

(59:36):
watched the coaches didn't had successful programsand moved on and watched a large percentage
of them disappear UM. And andso you know, I think you have
to be careful what you wish forand sometimes you you've got to appreciate what
you have. And right now wehave a good thing. We we have

(01:00:00):
a supporting cast of administrators, communitymembers that believe in us, believe in
what we're doing. We're growing asa program UM our facilities, we're doubling
up on facilities. UM. Youknow, a year from now, you'll
you'll look at what we have interms of the locker room and arena and
and thing and how we travel UMand how we take care of our guys,

(01:00:24):
and you'll say we're operating probably likea high end Mountain West program.
And so that puts us in ain a position of power, in a
position of strength UM in terms ofwho we're competing with every night. UM.
And that's hard to walk away fromit. It's hard to walk away

(01:00:45):
from a very strong situation UM toa rebuilding situation. And and so you
know, there's things that are intriguing. The Mountain West is a program that
you know, six months ago looklike it might take over the PAC twelve
if there would have been movement.Right, So there are things that we're

(01:01:06):
talking about that, But at theend of the day, I've got something
really special here. Like I said, if I if we can win twenty
games every year and we're competing forchampionship. We don't have to win a
championship every year, but if we'reat least in the in the ballpark and
we're competing for one every year,um, and my family's happy, then
what what's what's the rush? Um? And And so you know, I'm

(01:01:31):
I always talked to my guys.I talked to my recruits about enjoying the
process. Right. You can't bea good team if you don't enjoy practice.
You can't you can't be successful winchampionships if you don't enjoy film.
And what I'm doing is enjoying theprocess. And so you know, I
let family and friends and me andyou know be the ones that chase jobs

(01:01:53):
and they can enjoy that because maybethat's how they enjoy my career um from
the outside, um. But forme, I'm trying to enjoy every day.
And you know what a lot ofpeople don't know that's valuable to me
is my time with my family.And and you know, I get up
every morning, have breakfast with mydaughter, and drop her off at school

(01:02:15):
every day on my way to work. And you just you can't do that
everywhere. And this is one ofthose communities where I'm fortunate enough to live
close enough to campus and close enoughto her school that that I can do
that. I can I can walkout of office and go have lunch with
her, um, you know,and and be back in time to be
prepared um for practice. And andthere's a lot of places and a lot

(01:02:37):
of coaches that do that, butI'm willing to bet that when they do
do those things, that they're probablygonna get to the office till ten o'clock.
And when they do go at lunch, it's it's an hour or two
hours they're gone and things that's timeworking, whereas for me it's a five
minute drive. So there's just alot of things that are that I have
here, um that I'm not willingto give up. Um. And And

(01:03:00):
as long as the university continues toshare my vision, UM, I'm enjoying
the process. And they did that, you know, a day they shared
uh, my passion for all growthtwo years ago and h they've been walking
the walk uh since and so Ithink for me, you know, I

(01:03:24):
enjoy winning too much, um toto to chase the money and so um
I'm happy where I'm at and I'menjoying the process and it's one day at
a time. Well, I lovethat answer, and not to mention the
one thing that U in touch onand I know you you know very well
obviously a loaded roster too, uhis coming back and I know you're going

(01:03:49):
to have a ton of success thisseason and beyond. I mentioned earlier on
in the podcast that you know,one of the most highly sought after coaches
in the country and I and Ialso truly believe you're also one of the
best coaches in the country. AndI thank you for jumping on the podcast
today. I appreciate I appreciate yourcomments. I appreciate you having me.
It's it's my pleasure anytime, anytimeI'd love to take time to talk with

(01:04:12):
you. Is great, So hugethank you to coach Travis to Cure.
You can follow him on Twitter atcoach to Cure. That's d E c
U I R E. You canfollow me Adam Stanko on Twitter at Nay
Smith Lives and you can follow thispodcast on Twitter at forty year Coach.
Also checkout forty yearcoach dot com tolearn more about what we're doing and as

(01:04:36):
I told you off the top andcan't tell you enough, subscribe to the
podcast. Like us on iTunes,check us out, spread the word,
help us out. If you don'thave an iPhone, Hey, check us
out on spreaker or on the iHeartRadioapp. We appreciate everyone who has shown
support for the podcast. It meansa lot. We're having a lot of

(01:04:57):
fun doing it. Huge thanks asalways to Mark Eisenberg, Ri Kay,
Sydney Smith, my wife, CaitlinStanko. Um, that'll do it for
us. This week, Get yourNest