THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Hauck on the 'good ol' days,' and today's 'wild time' in college football

Next Saturday night in Missoula, the Idaho Vandals and Montana Grizzlies will meet on the football field for the first time since 2023. 

On that night in Moscow, former Coeur d’Alene High standout Kale Edwards sealed Montana’s 23-21 win with a strip sack in the final minute, and the Grizzly players all but carried coach Bobby Hauck off the Kibbie Dome turf. 

And if Hauck had his ‘druthers, the Vandals and Griz would play every year. 

Not just because it’s an entertaining and emotional regional rivalry.  

“I think we should downsize the league, and have everybody play everybody like the good ol’ days and have a real champion, is what I think,” Hauck said in July, at the Big Sky Football Kickoff media day in Airway Heights.

WHEN HAUCK became head coach at Montana in 2003, the Big Sky consisted of eight teams in football, and each team played seven league games. 

When the conference expanded to nine football teams in 2006, Big Sky teams played eight league games.  

It wasn’t until 2012, when the Big Sky expanded to 13 teams, that not everyone played everyone in league. Each team played eight league games.  

By then, Hauck had left for UNLV, where he coached the Rebels from 2010-14. 

The Big Sky remained at 13 teams in 2018, the year Hauck returned to Montana, when Idaho rejoined the league and North Dakota left. 

The league has been at 12 teams in football since 2022, though it will bump back up to 13 next year, when Sacramento State leaves and Southern Utah and Utah Tech join. 

While most schools applaud the Big Sky going to nine conference games starting in 2026, saying it will help them fill their now 12-game (formerly 11-game) schedules, Hauck doesn’t like the idea. 

“I think it will cost us playoff spots,” he said. “We’ll beat up on each other. Same thing with the Pac-12, when they played nine league games. It cost them. 

“I think it’s a horrible idea.” 

Also, in part, because now some teams will play five home games in league, while others will play just four. 

“Instead of making the schedule more equitable, it’s less and less equitable, based on who you play and how many home games you have,” Hauck said. “We’re going to beat each other up; all we’re doing is adding losses to our resume in our conference.” 

IT WAS a simpler time back then, some two decades ago. Now, the talk is about NIL and “opting in” and “opting out,” among other things. 

“It’s a wild time in college football,” said Hauck, in his eighth season in his second stint at Montana, and 15th overall as head coach in Missoula. “We went from heated debates on whether you can put cream cheese or peanut butter on the bagels you were able to give (the players) in the weight room, to people just buying players off other people’s rosters.” 

Of course, Montana has benefited from the new transfer portal as well. 

Hauck said he has heard from Eastern Washington University fans complaining that he took their best player, as Michael Wortham, a dynamic returner/runner/receiver who transferred to Montana after three seasons at EWU. 

Idaho is familiar with Wortham, having played Eastern every season. EWU plays at Montana on Nov. 8. 

Through the first two games with the Griz, Wortham had nine catches for 137 yards and a touchdown, seven carries for 38 yards, two punt returns for 37 yards, and five kickoff returns. 

“Hopefully going to have him with the ball in his hands a few times a game,” Hauck said. “Mike’s good with the football in a variety of ways, returning or catching it ... I’m glad he’s wearing maroon and silver, because he’s a fabulous addition for us. I just like who he is. He’s new to the program, but I saw him on the other side of the deal, and he’s a handful.” 

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 1205, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @CdAPressSports. 

    Bobby Hauck