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62-724: Originally known as the Bears with a live black bear named Teddy as the mascot, the university's basketball team officially became the Grizzlies (sometimes called the Silvertips) in 1923 when they were admitted to the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC). 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

124-562: A "California Conference." The PCC had a history of being very strict with regards to its standards; it suspended the University of Southern California from the conference in 1924, performed a critical self-study in 1932, and a voluminous two-million-word report was compiled by Edwin Atherton in 1939. The PCC had a paid commissioner, an elaborate constitution, a formal code of conduct, and a system for reporting student-athlete eligibility. Following

186-523: A distinction that it shares only with the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference , and which it held alone prior to the 2022–23 school year. The conference originally sponsored baseball in 1964, with all members participating. When Boise State and Northern Arizona arrived for the 1971 season, competition was split into two divisions of four teams each, with the winners in a best-of-three championship series. Montana State and Montana soon dropped

248-616: A point at halftime, but lost by seventeen and finished at 25–5. Seeding was introduced in 1979 when it expanded to forty teams, and the highest seed granted a Big Sky team was in 1982 in a 48-team bracket: ranked eighth in the final polls with a 26–2 record, the Idaho Vandals under Don Monson were seeded third in the West regional . After a first round bye, they beat Lute Olson 's Iowa Hawkeyes in nearby Pullman in overtime, but lost to second-seeded (and fourth-ranked) Oregon State in

310-456: 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. The University of Montana Grizzlies Football team originated in 1897, 127 years ago. The football team has won national championships in 1995 and 2001 The Grizzlies have played in their current home, Washington–Grizzly Stadium , since 1986, with an official capacity of 25,217. It

372-463: Is considered one of the best stadiums in all of College Football for the crowd noise, attendance, game day experience, and its views. The Grizzlies hold the FCS (was I-AA) records for total number of post season appearances (28) which include 1982, 1988, 1989, 1993–2009, 2011, 2013–2015, 2019, 2021–2023, and number of consecutive post season appearances (17) 1993-2009 which was dubbed "The Streak" Montana won

434-507: Is one of two Division I all-sports conferences to not sponsor baseball, the other being the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference . Full members  Assoc. members (football only)  Full members (except football)  Assoc. members (other sports)  Other conference  Other conference  NCAA Division I national championships as of 2021. † Northern Arizona is the only Big Sky program to win D1 team national titles outside of

496-682: The Big West Conference . The Mustangs and Aggies were welcomed by the BSC in September 2010 in response to both nationwide conference realignment and an expansion of the FCS playoff bracket at the time, according to then-commissioner Doug Fullerton. Both Binghamton and Hartford of the America East Conference were affiliates in men's golf only from 2014 to 2023. Before the 2014–15 school year,

558-549: 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" (which gives credit to the University of Montana), also share a similar tune. 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

620-652: The Commonwealth Coast Conference . By this time the number of full Big Sky members that sponsored men's golf had dropped to 4, below the 6 member minimum necessary for the conference champion to receive an autobid to the NCAA Division I men's golf championship , so with the departure of the two affiliates, the Big Sky ceased sponsoring men's golf again after the 2024 season. The Big Sky is unusual among Division I all-sports conferences in not sponsoring baseball ,

682-680: The Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). As of the 2022–23 school year, the Big Sky sponsors championships in seven men's and nine women's NCAA-sanctioned sports. Each core member institution is required to participate in all of the 13 core sports. Men's core sports are basketball, cross country, football, indoor track and field, outdoor track and field, and tennis. Women's core sports are basketball, cross country, golf, indoor track and field, outdoor track and field, tennis, and volleyball. Cal Poly and UC Davis participate as football-only affiliates, otherwise participating in

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744-421: The Football Championship Subdivision . As of 2024 , ten full member institutions are located in the states of Arizona , California , Colorado , Idaho , Montana , Oregon , Utah , and Washington . Two affiliate members from California are football–only participants. Initially conceived for basketball, the Big Sky was founded 61 years ago on July 1, 1963, with six members in four states; four of

806-484: The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament twelve times and the National Invitation Tournament four times. 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 (.750) record and a 388-85 (.820) conference record. Their head coach was Shannon Schweyen , who

868-527: The Pac-10 (now Pac-12) Conference . Men's varsity sports not sponsored by the Big Sky Conference which are played by Big Sky schools: Women's varsity sports not sponsored by the Big Sky Conference which are played by Big Sky schools: (Includes Away Games) Game Attendance Game Attendance Because there are 12 teams in the conference, but each team only plays eight conference football games per year,

930-616: The Palouse region. The AAWU eventually strengthened its bonds and added members, renaming itself the Pacific-8 Conference (Pac-8) in 1968. By 1971, most Pac-8 schools played round-robin conference football schedules, and the two Oregon schools were again playing USC and UCLA on a regular basis. The conference added WAC powers Arizona and Arizona State in 1978 and became the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10). On July 1, 2011 ,

992-635: The 1915–16 season. The PCC adopted a divisional format for basketball beginning with the 1922–23 season. The California schools formed the Southern Division, while the Pacific Northwest and Rocky Mountain schools formed the North Division. The winners of the two divisions played a best of three series to determine the PCC basketball champion. If two division teams tied, they had a one-game playoff to produce

1054-511: The 1958–59 season, the regular season conference champion was awarded the NCAA tournament berth from the PCC. In the case of a tie, a tie breaker rule was used to determine the NCAA tournament representative. ^ Denotes PCC representative in Rose Bowl for shared conference championships The PCC adopted a divisional format for baseball in 1923, with the same alignment that it used for basketball. Briefly,

1116-509: The 1970s and 1980s 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 (after local sponsor Grizzly Auto) was introduced as part of the Montana cheer squad. The current mascot, Monte (short for Montana),

1178-425: The 1987 season, the conference sponsored wrestling. Boise State and Idaho State dominated in most years, winning ten and eight conference titles, respectively. BSU won seven consecutive from 1974 to 1980. Montana State and Weber State also had some good years; Montana won their only conference title in the last year Big Sky sponsored the sport. Boise State continued its wrestling program as an affiliate member of

1240-460: The AAWU's inaugural regular season champion to the first post-PCC Rose Bowl . After initially being blocked from admission, three of the four remaining schools eventually joined ( Washington State in 1962, Oregon and Oregon State in 1964), but members were not required to play other members. Tensions were high between UCLA and Stanford, as Stanford had voted for UCLA's expulsion from the PCC. Idaho

1302-728: The Big Sky champion has received a berth in the NCAA tournament ; the conference tournament winner has been the representative since its introduction in 1976 . The best finish by a Big Sky team came in 1977 , when the Idaho State Bengals of Jim Killingsworth advanced to the Elite Eight , with a one-point upset of UCLA in the Sweet Sixteen in Provo, Utah . Two days later, the Bengals led UNLV by

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1364-405: The Big Sky had been seeded seventh (Weber State, 1979 & 1980; and Idaho , 1981); the highest seed for the conference since 1982 is ninth (Weber State, 1983 ), and the highest since expanding to 64 teams in 1985 is twelfth (Weber State in 2003 ; Montana in 2006). Through 2024, the Big Sky has yet to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. The first NIT appearance for the conference

1426-518: The Big Sky's ten included sports were dropped (baseball, skiing, swimming, golf, and tennis), leaving football, basketball, wrestling, track, and cross country skiing. Women's sports were added 36 years ago in 1988, moving from the women's-only Mountain West Athletic Conference (1982–88). The 2012–13 season marked the completion of a half century of athletic competition and a quarter century sponsoring women's collegiate athletics. Before

1488-611: The Grizzlies have is with the Eastern Washington Eagles in the EWU–UM Governors Cup , Montana leads the series 30-18-1 (.622), Beginning in 2018 the game is no longer guaranteed to be scheduled every season. Griz have gone back and forth with Eagles in the last two decades but still have a slight 13-10 (2000-Present) record over the Eagles. The men's basketball team plays its home game at Dahlberg Arena . They have been to

1550-550: 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, a Chester, and three different Fessy's (named after former football coach Doug Fessenden ), among several others. In

1612-554: The Lady Griz have never advanced past the second round, having reach it 7 times (1984, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1994, 1995). They have also won 22 regular season conference championships (Northwest Women's Basketball League (2), Mountain West Conference (5), Big Sky Conference (15). There are 49 private boxes located on the east and west sides of the stadium, and they are individually decorated and furnished. The band has its origins in

1674-640: The NorPac for six seasons, then discontinued baseball after the 1980 season. In 2016, North Dakota announced in April that it was their last baseball season. Since then, only Northern Colorado and Sacramento State have competed in the sport, both as affiliate members in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) until Northern Colorado baseball moved to the Summit League after the 2021 season. Through

1736-509: The Northwest and has accompanied the football team to four Division I-AA National Championships in recent years. "Up With Montana" . . . and the squeal of the pig will float on the air; from the tummy of the Grizzly bear. closing line of "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

1798-669: The PCC was dissolved, five of its nine members (California, Washington, UCLA, Southern California, and Stanford) created the Athletic Association of Western Universities (AAWU) for the 1959 season. While the AAWU did not negotiate an agreement with the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association to have a standing contractual invitation to the Rose Bowl Game until the following year , the Tournament of Roses did choose to invite

1860-635: The Pacific Coast Conference schools grew beyond athletics, with animosities around educational, financial and state rivalries. The tensions between the California and Northwest schools extended to Edwin Pauley , a regent of the University of California, disliking the member universities in the Pacific Northwest enough to advocate that the California institutions leave the Pacific Coast Conference to form

1922-461: The Rose Bowl for three years. The first major reaction came from the University of California system. Robert Sproul , president of the University of California, along with the chancellors of Berkeley and UCLA, drafted a "Five Point Plan", emphasizing academic eligibility standards, setting the two UC campuses apart from the PCC and laying the groundwork for their departure. For Sproul the PCC dispute

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1984-724: The Southern California Educational Foundation. This same alumnus also blew the whistle on Cal's phony work program for athletes known as the San Francisco Gridiron Club, with an extension in the Los Angeles area known as the South Seas Fund. In 1957, the conference fired Vic Schmidt, the commissioner. He had been tasked with cleaning up the conference, and had imposed sanctions on UCLA, including suspending athletes and prohibiting participation in

2046-781: The Wild or The Griz-Cat Game, it is the last conference game every year for both squads. The Griz lead the series 74-42-5 (.632). The second rivalry game is against the University of Idaho Vandals for the Little Brown Stein . Montana trails that series at 31-56-2 (.360), it wasn't played from 2004-2017, After the Idaho football team rejoined the Big Sky Conference in 2018, the game is once again scheduled every season. Montana has won 8 of their last 9 meetings (2000–Present) The third rivalry game

2108-574: The charter members have been in the league from its founding, and a fifth returned in 2014 after an 18-year absence. The name "Big Sky" came from the popular 1947 western novel by A. B. Guthrie Jr. ; it was proposed by Harry Missildine, a sports columnist of the Spokesman-Review just prior to the founding meetings of the conference in Spokane in February 1963, and was adopted with the announcement of

2170-784: The coach was fired, the PCC followed up on charges of a slush fund. The PCC found evidence of the prohibited activities of the Greater Washington Advertising Fund run by Roscoe C. "Torchy" Torrance, and in May imposed sanctions. In March, allegations of prohibited payments made by two booster clubs associated with UCLA, the Bruin Bench and the Young Men's Club of Westwood, were published in Los Angeles newspapers. UCLA refused for ten weeks to allow PCC officials to proceed in their investigation. Finally, UCLA admitted that, "all members of

2232-562: The conference added Colorado from the Big 12 and Utah from the Mountain West (also a former WAC member) and became the Pac-12 . The Pac-12 claims the PCC's history as its own, though it operates under a separate charter. The official record book of conference champions was compiled by the then acting commissioner Bernie Hammerbeck in 1959. The Pacific Coast Conference began playing basketball in

2294-567: The conference also included the St. Mary's Gaels . *denotes Pacific Coast Conference playoff champion **California won the CIBA Division 1 and USC won CIBA Division 2. California won the whole division title by beating USC in the CIBA playoff Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference is a collegiate athletic conference , affiliated with the NCAA 's Division I with football competing in

2356-492: The conference code for financial aid and athletic subsidies. After Aiken was compelled to resign, Oregon urged the PCC to look at similar abuses by UCLA football coach Red Sanders . The conference spent five years attempting to reform itself. In 1956, the scandal became public. The scandal first broke at Washington, when in January 1956, several discontented players staged a mutiny against their football coach, John Cherberg . After

2418-527: The conference has set two "protected rivalry" games for each team. These rivalry match-ups are played every season, while football games against other conference teams are played twice every three years. Many of the protected rivalries are traditional, due to the teams either being in the same state or within close geographical proximity. With the departure of Southern Utah from the conference, new protected rivalries were announced for 2022-2024; these rivalries have since been extended through 2027. Since 1968 ,

2480-583: The decision to dissolve after the 1958–59 season. The PCC scandal was one of several problems during the chancellorship of Raymond B. Allen at UCLA that caused him to fall out of favor with the Regents of the University of California . Allen was widely expected to become the next UC President, but instead, in October 1957, UC Berkeley Chancellor Clark Kerr was the Regents' unanimous choice to succeed Sproul. Soon after

2542-406: The division representative. Starting with the first NCAA tournament in 1939 , the winner of the PCC divisional playoff was given the automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. Oregon , the PCC champion that season, won the first NCAA title game. The last divisional playoff was in the 1954–55 season. After that, all teams played each other in a round robin competition. From the 1955–56 season through

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2604-540: The eleven Big Sky baseball titles, four each went to Idaho and Gonzaga , and three to Weber State . Gonzaga won the final title in 1974 over Idaho State in three games, after losing the first game in Pocatello. Southern division champion Idaho State chose to end its baseball program weeks following the conference's announcement, and Gonzaga, Idaho, and Boise State joined the new Northern Pacific Conference (NorPac) for baseball in 1975. Boise State and Idaho competed in

2666-530: The football coaching staff had, for several years, known of the unsanctioned payments to student athletes and had cooperated with the booster club members or officers, who actually administered the program by actually referring student athletes to them for such aid." The scandal thickened as a UCLA alumnus and member of the UCLA athletic advisory board blew the whistle on a secret fund for payments in violation of PCC rules to University of Southern California players, known as

2728-465: 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

2790-607: The latter two schools had participated in men's golf alongside five full Big Sky members in the single-sport America Sky Conference. The return of Idaho brought the number of members participating in men's golf to six, which led to the Big Sky adding men's golf and absorbing the America Sky Conference. Both schools left after the 2022-23 athletic season, after Binghamton moved their program to the Northeast Conference and Hartford reclassified to Division III and joined

2852-412: 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 (to represent copper) and gold to be used on the school's uniforms and it remained for the next thirty years. The maroon was brought back as part of the university's centennial celebrations in 1993 and a student survey in 1995 showed support for

2914-574: 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. Montana has annual rivalry games against in-state rival the Montana State Bobcats which is the Brawl of

2976-440: The new conference five days later. Starting in 1968, the conference competed at the highest level (university division) in all sports except football ( college division ). The sole exception was Idaho , in the university division for football through 1977 (except 1967 , 1968 ). Football moved to the new Division I-AA in 1978 , which was renamed Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) in 2006 . In 1974, half of

3038-902: The regional semifinals (Sweet Sixteen), also played in Provo. (Idaho had defeated OSU by 22 points in December in the Far West Classic at Portland .) Other Big Sky teams that advanced to regional semifinals (Sweet Sixteen) include the Weber State Wildcats in 1969 and 1972 , when the total field was 25 teams, and the Montana Grizzlies under Jud Heathcote in the 32-team field in 1975 . The Griz fell to heavily-favored UCLA by just three points, who went on to win another title in John Wooden 's final year as head coach. (A year later, Heathcote

3100-407: 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

3162-558: The season the league introduced a new logo to celebrate this. The 25th season of women's athletics also marked a first for the league, as Portland State won the league's inaugural softball championship. From 1982 to 1988, women's sports were conducted in the Mountain West Athletic Conference . The Big Sky sponsors championships in sixteen sports, including men's and women's cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field, basketball, and tennis. There are also championships in football, and in women's volleyball, golf, soccer, and softball. It

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3224-400: The significance of the whole affair was the union of Berkeley and UCLA... admissions and scholarship had nothing to do with the withdrawals . . . the marriage of this desire on the part of Berkeley with the known ambitions and necessities of its sister institution has produced a bastard that has the bark of a purebred but the innards and hair of a mongrel." The PCC was falling apart, leading to

3286-413: The sport and by the 1973 season, only six teams remained but the divisions were kept, and Boise State moved over to the North Division for two years. In May 1974, the Big Sky announced its intention to discontinue five of its ten sponsored sports. It retained football, basketball, cross-country, track, and wrestling, and dropped conference competition in baseball, golf, tennis, swimming, and skiing. Of

3348-405: The submission of his report, Atherton was promptly hired as commissioner in 1940, and served until his death four years later, He was succeeded by his assistant, Victor O. Schmidt. Montana departed the conference in 1951 to join the Skyline Eight . The conference was wracked by scandal in 1951. Charges were made and confirmed that University of Oregon football coach Jim Aiken had violated

3410-577: The ten PCC members (including all four original PCC charter members) in the Pac-12 for many years, the older league had a completely different charter and was disbanded in 1959 due to a major crisis and scandal. Established on December 2, 1915, its four charter members were the University of California (now University of California, Berkeley ), the University of Washington , the University of Oregon , and Oregon Agricultural College (now Oregon State University ).  Full members  Other Conference  Other Conference  Rivalries between

3472-514: 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

3534-433: Was discontinued following the 1972 season; its Campbell ballpark was adjacent to the north end of Dornblaser Field (II), aligned southeast (home plate to center field). Pacific Coast Conference The Pacific Coast Conference ( PCC ) was a collegiate athletic conference in the United States which existed from 1915 to 1959. Though the Pac-12 Conference claims the PCC's history as part of its own, with eight of

3596-416: Was elevated from top assistant during the 2016 offseason following the retirement of Robin Selvig , who had compiled an 865–286 (.752) 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,

3658-420: Was hired at Michigan State with Monson as an assistant for the first two years; in his third season, the Spartans won the national title in 1979 .) Since 1982, only three teams from the Big Sky have advanced within the NCAA tournament, and none past the round of 32. Weber State won in 1995 and 1999 , coached by Ron Abegglen , and Montana in 2006 , led by alumnus Larry Krystkowiak . Prior to Idaho in 1982,

3720-399: 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. 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

3782-445: Was not involved in the scandals but had become noncompetitive in the PCC. Unlike Washington State, Oregon, and Oregon State, Idaho did not pursue AAWU admission, and competed as an independent before becoming a charter member of the Big Sky Conference in 1962. Idaho retains no strong connections to its PCC past other than a continuing rivalry with Washington State ; the two land grant campuses are just eight miles (13 km) apart in

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3844-439: Was not just about athletics; at stake was the ideal of a unified University of California that enjoyed statewide support. This ideal collided with aspirations of UCLA alumni who believed that Sproul's vision would always favor the Berkeley campus at the expense of the younger UCLA campus. Oregon State College president August Leroy Strand wrote, "The reasons for California and UCLA dropping out are as different as night and day...

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