Montana Grizzlies and Lady Griz


The Montana Grizzlies and Lady Griz are the nicknames given to the athletic teams of the University of Montana, located in Missoula. The university is a member of the Big Sky Conference and competes in NCAA Division I, fielding 6 men's teams and 9 women's teams. The football team has won the university's only two NCAA Championships.

History

Nickname and mascot

Originally known as the Bears with a live black bear named Teddy as the mascot, the university's basketball team officially became the Grizzlies in 1923 when they were admitted to the Pacific Coast Conference. That same year Montana became the first state in the nation to designate grizzlies as a protected game animal. This name change would later prove problematic, however, for their new PCC conference-mate UCLA who had also recently changed their name to the Grizzlies. When UCLA petitioned to join the conference in 1926, Montana claimed rights to the name and the UCLA Grizzlies became the UCLA Bruins when they were admitted to the conference in 1928.
The Grizzlies continued to use live bears as mascots until the early 1960s. In addition to Teddy, there was a Cocoa, Chester, and three different Fessy's named after former football coach Doug Fessenden, among several others. In the 1970s and 80's costumed mascots were introduced, but as mascots of local sponsors, not the University. This included the Hamm's Beer bear, a chicken from a local radio station, and even Ronald McDonald. Later in the 1980s, a costumed mascot by the name of Grizzly Otto was introduced as part of the Montana cheer squad. The current mascot, Monte, was introduced in 1993 and in 2002 became the first winner of the Capital One Bowl's "Mascot of the Year" contest. He won again in 2004 and was nominated three other times.

Colors

The university's official colors are copper, silver, and gold, and were chosen in recognition of the state's mining history. Contrary to popular perception, these colors have never changed with the confusion stemming from the university's decision to represent "copper" with either maroon or Texas orange at various times in its history.
When the university was founded in 1893 and its colors chosen, a lack of copper dye led the school to use maroon and occasionally other colors to represent the copper. This had the effect of having the athletic teams not always being represented across the board by the same uniform colors. In 1967, then head football coach and athletic director Jack Swarthout, who personally preferred the maroon and silver used by the football team, sought to make the schools colors more consistent and held a vote among UM coaches. They selected Texas orange and gold to be used on the school's uniforms and it remained for the next
The maroon was brought back as part of the university's centennial celebrations in 1993 and a student survey in 1995 showed support for a return to maroon and silver uniforms. Despite some vocal opposition, by 1997 the colors began to phase into the maroon and silver that continues to be used.

Programs

Football

The football team won national championships in 1995 and 2001 and qualified for a record 17 consecutive playoffs. Football has been played at Montana since 1897,, and the Grizzlies have played in their current home, Washington–Grizzly Stadium, since 1986.
The Grizzlies rank among the all time playoff appearance leaders, with appearances in 1982, 1988, 1989, and 1993–2009. The playoff streak is the record at the I-AA level. The continuous streak ended in 2010 with a loss to rival Montana State which ended Montana's season at 7-4 and without an invitation to the post-season for the first time in 18 years.
Montana won the national championship in 1995 under Don Read when Dave Dickenson led the team to a victory over Marshall University in the national championship game. In 2001, coach Joe Glenn led the Montana Grizzlies to another national championship, defeating Furman University by a score of 13–6.
The annual rivalry game against Montana State University of Bozeman is called the Brawl of the Wild. Through 2013, the Griz lead the series 70-37-5. A former rivalry game against the University of Idaho Vandals was for the Little Brown Stein. Montana trails that series at 27-55-2, but the Griz won the last four meetings, between 2000 and 2003.
Entering NFL training camps for the 2012 season, there are 13 players from Montana currently in the NFL.

Men's basketball

The men's basketball team plays its home game at Dahlberg Arena. They have been to the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament seven times and the National Invitation Tournament three times.

Women's basketball

The Lady Griz, as the women's basketball team is known, is one of the most successful women's basketball programs in the country. As of the end of the 2008–2009 season they have compiled a 757-252 record and a 388-85 conference record. Their head coach was Shannon Schweyen, who was elevated from top assistant during the 2016 offseason following the retirement of Robin Selvig, who had compiled an 865–286 record in 38 seasons with the Lady Griz. They play their games at Dahlberg Arena.
The Lady Griz have made the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship tournament 22 times, compiling a 6-18 record. They've also have 3 WNIT appearances. Through all of their success, the Lady Griz have never advanced past the second round, having reach it 7 times. They have also won 22 regular season conference championships, Mountain West Conference, Big Sky Conference.

Athletic facilities

Dahlberg Arena

  • Built in 1953
  • Basketball Arena
Dornblaser Field

  • Built 1967
  • Track and Field
  • Off-campus facility bearing the same name as a former on-campus facility it replaced in 1967. The Dornblaser fields successively fielded the Montana football team until a new facility was completed on campus in 1986.
Robert O. Lindsay Tennis Center

  • Includes 9 courts
Grizzly Field

  • Softball Stadium
  • Built 2014–15
  • Capacity
  • Located at the corner of South and Higgins avenues, Next to South Campus Stadium was constructed for the fledgling Griz Softball team. Grizzly Field was built with "FieldTurf". Additionally an indoor batting facility was installed to allow the Griz to practice year round.
South Campus Stadium

  • Soccer Stadium
  • Capacity
  • Located at the corner of South and Higgins avenues, South Campus Stadium was constructed partly from volunteer funds and services donated by the Missoula soccer community.
Washington–Grizzly Stadium

  • Football Stadium
  • Built 1986
  • * Current capacity
  • In August 1985 Missoula businessman Dennis R. Washington and the employees of Washington Corporations provided a gift of $1 million and the stadium has since been the named Washington–Grizzly Stadium. The cost of the stadium was around $3.2 million.
There are 49 private boxes located on the east and west sides of the stadium, and they are individually decorated and furnished.
  • Stadium Additions
  • * 1986 – Original layout had 12,500 permanent seats, and seating was available, weather-permitting, in the grass end zones, which made the capacity around 15,000.
  • * 1995 – In the spring of 1995 the stadium underwent its first expansion in the north and south end zones. The cost of that expansion was about $2.5 million and brought seating to 19,000.
  • * 2001 – Sprinturf was added prior to the 2001 season at a cost of about $1 million, which was paid for by an anonymous donor, but with the request that the field be named "John Hoyt Field" in honor of John Hoyt, a long-time Grizzly booster, who died in March of that year. A new Sprinturf playing surface was installed prior to the 2008 season
  • * 2002 – GrizVision, a state-of-the-art video and message center, was added in 2002. GrizVision displays game statistics, player profiles, digital replays, and shots of the crowd. The screen is one of the largest in the FCS, measuring 26 feet by 36 feet, and it came from New York City and Times Square.
  • * 2003 – The second expansion occurred in the spring and summer of 2003, and approximately 4,000 seats were added to the north end zone section, increasing the stadium capacity to 23,183, with a cost around $3.5 million.
  • * 2007 – The third expansion, at a cost of approximately $6.5 million, occurred prior to the 2008 football season. The eastside expansion now houses a 500-seat "Stadium Club" with two membership levels: the "Canyon Room" has 125 seats inside and 125 seats outside, and the "Hellgate Terrace," which has 250 seats. This expansion increased the current seating capacity of Washington- Grizzly Stadium to 25,217.

University Marching Band

The band has its origins in the late 19th century and has since continued its tradition into the new millennium. Marching in contemporary corps-style, the program endeavors to stay on the cutting edge of trends in outdoor music performances. The program is also one of the most visible organizations on the University of Montana campus, performing at all Grizzly football home games in the 25,500-seat Washington–Grizzly Stadium. The group also travels to several conference games throughout the Northwest and has accompanied the football team to four Division I-AA National Championships in recent years.

Fight song

"Up With Montana"
The lyrics to "Up with Montana" are credited to Dick Howell, a Law student and member of the glee club in the 1910s, "to commemorate the rivalry" for game number twenty-one between UM and Montana State University, in 1914. The origin of the tune itself, however, is disputed. The Stanford Jonah is a fight song of the University of California, Berkeley written in 1913 by Ted Haley as an entry into a song contest held by the Daily Californian. The song continues to be a hit at most sporting events, but specifically at events between the California Golden Bears and their rival, the Stanford Cardinal. Georgia Tech's "White And Gold" and The Naval Academy's "Up With The Navy", also share a similar tune.

Former sports

Montana formerly competed in wrestling, skiing, and women's gymnastics; all three programs were dropped in 1987 due to budget restrictions by the university regents. The baseball program was discontinued following the 1972 season.