Griz Greats: The Coaching Tree

Griz Greats: The Coaching Tree is an interview series hosted by Ryan Tootell and Colter Nuanez from ESPN Missoula. University of Montana basketball has an illustrious reputation for producing some of the best college basketball coaches that the game has ever seen, and it can be traced back to legendary Michigan State head men’s basketball coach Jud Heathcote, who got his first college head coaching job at the University of Montana. The coaches that have followed him have gone on to make their own significant marks on college basketball at schools like Stanford, Utah, and Old Dominion to name a few. Two have even been head coaches in the NBA. Ryan and Colter sat down with every Montana head men’s basketball coach who followed Jud Heathcote to talk about what makes Montana basketball and Missoula so special. Bonus episodes include interviews with former Montana players and other significant influences on the program.

The first episode will be released Wednesday, January 15th with Jim Brandenburg, who coached the University of Montana from 1976-1978 and left Missoula to become the head men’s basketball coach at the University of Wyoming in Laramie. After that, new episodes will be released every Tuesday evening with bonus episodes dropping on Fridays.

Check out the preview episodes for the series now! You can find them here on this website under the Podcasts tab, on Spotify, on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you enjoy podcasts.