eGriz
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Joined: 27 Mar 2002
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Location: Missoula, Montana
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The stories are in order as they appear in this content area:
Griz safety Cooper anxious to hit the field (Missoulian).
Hauck looking to get young players reps (Great Falls Tribune).
MSU receivers look good (Great Falls Tribune).
UM officials point finger at fiscal manager (Missoulian).
Getting a shot (Independent Record).
***
Griz safety Cooper anxious to hit the field
By JON KASPER of the Missoulian
Observe Montana Grizzly football practice for a few minutes and you'll see what Van Cooper Jr. loves.
The sophomore backpedals from his safety position, scans the field, and makes a beeline for the ball carrier or the intended receiver.
"We're out here hitting,'' Cooper said after finishing up a rain-soaked practice Thursday at Riverbowl. "That's what I was known for in high school was hitting. I'm bringing that to Montana.''
The 6-foot-2, 210-pound sophomore might've seen action last season, but he was a partial-qualifier academically. Cooper practiced with the team but could not play. He's making his mark this spring, getting reps behind starting safeties Matt Lebsock and Tyler Thomas.
"Last fall I was out there getting to know the plays,'' Cooper said. "I wanted to play, but I couldn't. With spring ball, I know I can have a chance to play next year. It's motivating me to do better every day.''
Cooper was considered a steal when he signed with the Grizzlies in February of 2003. Cooper starred at Denver's Cherry Creek High School as a junior and senior after transferring from Henry Ford High School in Detroit. Several Division I-A schools backed off of Cooper because of his academic issues. He chose Montana over former Griz coach Joe Glenn and Wyoming on signing day.
"He's a really talented individual,'' said Montana coach Bobby Hauck. "He's gotten better every day. His physical skills are starting to show up because he knows what he's doing out here.''
Thus far, academics haven't been a problem for Cooper. He earned a 3.0 grade-point average his first semester, but has his goals set much higher.
"I'm trying to get that up and get on the dean's list next semester,''
Cooper said. "That's my biggest goal, getting my GPA up.''
"I'm glad he mentioned that, because that means he's proud of the fact,''
Hauck said. "I'm proud of him for doing that. He was an academic risk coming in. For him to get a 3.0 his first semester is a great accomplishment.''
Cooper said he's picking up Montana's scheme quickly. Cooper has spent most of his time at free safety.
"All of those safeties, before it's said and done, will know both positions,'' Hauck said.
Cooper has certainly done his work in the weight room. He squatted 485 pounds, benched 315 and power cleaned 220 at the end of winter conditioning.
He might remind some Grizzly fans of former UM safety Trey Young.
"He's a lot faster than Trey,'' Hauck said. "He's just a baby right now. If things go the way I think they will for him, he'll be a big-time player here. Everyone will know his name by the end of next season if he keeps progressing the way he has this spring."
"He's got a ways to go,'' Hauck added. "He's playing really well right now and he makes enormous strides darn near every day we're out here. He can make a huge impact for us next (season).''
Cornerback Tuff Harris won't see action in Saturday's scrimmage. Harris, a sophomore, suffered a foot injury during Tuesday's practice. Hauck said there is a slim chance Harris could return by the end of spring.
Hauck said former quarterback Justin Hartman talked to him Thursday. Hartman quit the team last week, informing the coaches and the media of his decision my e-mail.
"He's trying to figure out what he wants to do,'' Hauck said. "I'm sure I'll have a chance to visit with him down the road again.''
Grizzly Scrimmage
What: The Montana football team will hold its second spring football scrimmage.
When: 9:30 a.m.
Where: Washington-Grizzly Stadium.
The plan: Roughly 60 plays.
Coach Bobby Hauck says: "The big deal for us is for our young guys to play and get some game-speed and live full-go reps. Those are hard to come by.
The young guys need all those we can give them. We're in a balance between trying to stay healthy and getting our young guys the reps they need to get ready for the fall. We need to keep playing.''
Players to watch: On offense, take a look at No. 69 Chris Orwig. The former defensive lineman is trying to nail down a starting spot at left guard. On defense, check out No. 92 Mike Potts. The sophomore from Missoula Loyola is making strides at defensive end.
Next week: UM will practice Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The Griz will conclude spring drills with a noon scrimmage on April 17 at Nelson Stadium in Helena.
***
Hauck looking to get young players reps
By Special to the Great Falls Tribune
MISSOULA -- The Montana Grizzlies continue spring drills this morning at 9:30 with a controlled scrimmage at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.
Head coach Bobby Hauck said there will be about 60 plays to the scrimmage.
"We will have a lot of young players playing against Maine (UM's 2004 season opener on Sept. 4 in Missoula) and we need to get them as many game-type reps as possible," said Hauck.
The second-year coach said there have been several bright spots this spring.
"Our linebacking core has had a very good spring so far, and the young guys are pushing our veterans," Hauck said. "Tyler Thomas, Matt Lebsock and Van Cooper have all looked good at safety. Craig Ochs has looked great at quarterback."
Hauck has shuffled several players along the offensive line. He said junior Chris Orwig, who moved to the offensive front from the defensive line last fall, has made great strides and is currently atop the depth chart at one of the guard positions.
Montana concludes spring drills April 17 in Helena with a noon scrimmage at Carroll College's Nelson Stadium.
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MSU receivers look good
BOZEMAN -- Montana State has had questions about its receiving corps all spring, and Friday afternoon Ricky Gatewood and Mike Williams apparently provided some answers.
The two young receivers both made significant contributions to highlight the Bobcats' 69-play scrimmage in Bobcat Stadium.
Gatewood, a junior-college transfer who redshirted last fall, caught three passes for 145 yards, including two 65-yard touchdown passes. Williams, a sophomore who also redshirted last year, caught three passes in traffic for
46 yards.
"I think we're getting to (Travis Lulay's) level," Gatewood said. "He's a great quarterback. As time goes on, we keep improving."
Gatewood's scores were the only touchdowns of the afternoon, although the several drives in the situational scrimmage were ended prematurely. Lulay, a second-team All-Big Sky choice last fall, connected on 16 of his 24 passes for 289 yards.
Backup signal caller Rick Coppack was 8-for-14 for 79 yards.
"Travis Lulay was the most valuable player of our conference in my mind last year," MSU head coach Mike Kramer said. "He's obviously done nothing this spring to dissuade me of that opinion this spring. The receiving corps, which is considerable, is something I've been waiting for this spring to shine, and they did that tonight. I think they showed the most dramatic improvement of this scrimmage."
Blake Wolf, MSU's senior tight end, led all receivers with six receptions for 59 years. Brandon Roosevelt (14 yards), Kellen Alley (23) and Great Falls native Matt McCullough (27) each caught three passes, as well.
Young cornerbacks Jimmy Beal, DeAngelo Wall, and John Lebrum each broke up passes on Friday. In addition, the secondary picked off its first pass of the spring when sophomore safety Ryan Force intercepted a pass from Lulay, his roommate, to end the scrimmage.
"In the secondary we're evolving from a group led by Joey Thomas and Kane Ioane to the next page, and that can be a painful process," Krame said.
"Ryan (Force) is developing nicely into a first-string safety."
Montana State enters its final week of spring practice on Monday. The spring concludes with a full-scale scrimmage April 17 at 2 p.m. in Bobcat Stadium.
***
UM officials point finger at fiscal manager
By BETSY COHEN of the Missoulian
Although the UM Athletics Inquiry Panel has weeks of research ahead of them, they now have a better understanding of how the University of Montana's athletic department could rack up a deficit of nearly $1 million, and how it could include $381,000 in accounting errors.
At its Friday meeting - the panel's second gathering - queries were addressed to Marie Porter, UM's interim athletic director; Chuck Maes, UM assistant athletic director; Bryan Newton, director of the Grizzly Scholarship Association, a private fund-raising arm for Grizzly athletics; and Cynthia Fritch, president of the GSA Missoula chapter.
Interviews with the panel guests revealed that nearly all avenues for athletic department expenditures led to Rob Edwards, the department's former fiscal manager.
In particular, interviews revealed:
Edwards, who resigned Sept. 21, 2003, received little oversight by Wayne Hogan, UM's former athletic director;
Edwards did not give coaches and administrators timely information about budget requests;
He rarely informed staff about the status of their budgets or if program budgets were in trouble.
As ordered by the state commissioner of higher education, the panel is investigating the cause of the deficit, which came as a surprise to UM's top administrators and the state Board of Regents in February. Three months earlier, UM President George Dennison had told regents the athletic department budget was balanced and he expected a $200,000 surplus going into the 2004 fiscal year.
News of the deficit prompted Hogan's resignation, criticism from the regents and formation of the panel, which is expected to offer its findings and recommendations to the regents at their May 20 meeting in Havre.
The flow of money in the athletic department was controlled by Edwards, Maes told the panel Friday.
"It was really controlled by one person," he said, which has been a tradition of that job.
Maes served as the department's fiscal officer in 1988 when the budget was just shy of $2 million and long before it became the $10 million beast it is today.
When asked why budget problems didn't arise back then, Maes said because it was a more manageable budget, and one he knew intimately.
"I grew up with it," he said. "I knew it."
But in 2000, when Gary Hughes, UM's longtime field house manager resigned, Maes took the opportunity to change jobs in the department.
By then, Grizzly athletics had grown into a much bigger bear, with a budget bigger than he wanted to juggle.
"That job is overwhelming when you are there by yourself," Maes said. "Now it is a $10 million budget with just one more person working there."
Although Edwards' accounting practices have significantly contributed to the deficit issue, Maes said, and only he can explain why he did what he did, he said Edwards was handed a task too big to handle alone.
"Not to have anyone to rely on," Maes said, "I think you would swim and tire quickly."
Before Grizzly athletics exploded, before the campus and greater community came to demand national championship titles, the department's fiscal officer had the time to balance the books and make team travel arrangements.
When Edwards was fiscal manager, he was asked to tackle the same duties, despite the demands of a bigger budget and expanded programs.
UM has learned from that mistake, Porter said. The next fiscal manager hired won't be asked to book team airline tickets, arrange hotel accommodations or be expected to fly to game destinations days before the team to make sure plans are running smoothly.
If the job was overwhelming, panel members asked, did Edwards ever ask for assistance?
"Rob indicated he felt stressed," Porter said. "But as was his personal style, he wouldn't ask for help, nor would he accept help."
When asked why Hogan didn't know about budget problems, Porter explained that because of Edwards' style, Hogan would have no way to know the magnitude of the problem.
Hogan did know that Edwards was not giving coaches and other athletic administrators budget reports in a timely way, Porter said. But long before news of the deficit was published, Hogan was making attempts to improve the flow of information between Edwards and the rest of the department, she said.
To complicate accounting matters, Edwards was also the sole accountant for the Grizzly Scholarship Association, which is technically a private nonprofit organization. But because of NCAA recommendations, GSA is closely connected to the athletic department and Newton, its director, is considered a state employee who receives a paycheck from the university paid with GSA funds.
Although Newton's direct boss was Hogan, he worked more closely with Edwards.
The relationship, Newton said, was awkward because Edwards was the GSA accountant, and the organization and its board had little control over how, why or when he moved money from the GSA account to the athletic department.
When asked to explain his relationship with Edwards and what kind of control Edwards held, Newton said:
"I had been in the position (of GSA director) 18 months. It was my understanding he was employed by us to oversee our finances. I heavily relied on his decisions."
When Edwards made transactions that involved moving GSA funds in the athletic budget, Newton said he trusted the process.
"I usually never questioned things," he said. "I felt it was proper authority coming from the right place."
A weak link between the athletic department and the GSA is that the board had no formal budgeting process with athletics that outlined the amount of funding it would give the department, said Fritch of the GSA Missoula Chapter.
To further complicate things, the GSA did its fund raising in conjunction with Grizzly football ticket sales, between May and September. That money, Fritch said, was raised for scholarships to use for the next academic year.
Since the deficit became public, UM officials have attributed $381,000 of the nearly $1 million in red ink to accounting errors. Of those errors, $264,000 is traced to advances on GSA scholarship money, funds Edwards accessed before its time and accounted for twice in the ledgers.
In spring 2003, before Edwards resigned, GSA was attempting to change its fund-raising cycle so it could be more fiscally responsible, Fritch said.
"We requested from Rob to get budget information, but we never got it," she said.
Board members "felt Rob was not doing a good job," and urged Hogan to release Edwards from his GSA accounting duties, Fritch said.
Until Edwards resigned, the athletic department tapped GSA funds whenever it needed to.
When asked if this relationship was abusive, Fritch said:
"I think when you have someone serving two masters (with) signature authority in both places you have that potential."
Edwards did not attend Friday's meeting. Both he and Hogan will be invited to formally appear before the panel April 23.
***
Getting a shot
By FRANCIS DAVIS, Helena Independent Record
Greg Carothers just wants his shot to play in the NFL. And the former Capital High standout thinks he'll get it.
Carothers finished his career with the University of Washington Huskies this past season, and he recently worked out for NFL scouts from Tampa Bay, St.
Louis, Seattle and the New York Jets.
But the 6-foot-2, 235-pound linebacker isn't concerned about getting drafted by the NFL later this month. He just wants a chance to prove he can play at the professional level.
"I feel pretty good that I'll get a shot somewhere," he said earlier this week during a phone interview from Seattle. "A lot of guys get caught up with getting drafted, but sometimes the best situation is to find a deal as a free agent with a team you think you have a shot (with). ... The key to the NFL is longevity, that's how you make your money."
Carothers played three years in the Husky defensive secondary before moving up to outside linebacker this past season. He said he expects to play linebacker as a pro.
He worked out for the NFL scouts at UW. He said he ran a 4.68 40-yard dash during the workout and bench pressed 225 pounds 19 times. His vertical leap was 36 inches.
"I think the agility stuff I did really well, but I wasn't happy with my 40 or my bench press," he said. "I've run a 4.59. They kind of rush you through."
Carothers said he enjoyed his time as a Husky, despite a senior season which began with the departure of head coach Rick Neuheisel. Neuheisel was fired for participating in a college basketball office pool.
"I think everything went well," he said. "Senior year was disappointing, but
(overall) I played more than I expected, and I played earlier than I expected. You don't get an understanding of what it's like until you do it, but I really enjoyed it."
He is 35 credits away from a general studies degree and 50 credits away from a psychology degree. He may get into coaching someday, but he doesn't think his playing days are over just yet.
"There's a lot of leagues out there," he said. "There's the CFL and the European, and coaching could be a possibility. I think I could be a strength coach somewhere. But right now by focus is on playing."
During a Husky career that featured a trip to the Rose Bowl and Pac-10 conference honors, Carothers said a highlight was playing in this year's Shrine Game, an all-star game featuring some of the best college football players in the country.
"It was interesting to see how other teams play football," he said. "And you play with guys you thought you hated."
He said another highlight was the support he received from his family and friends.
"My parents (Brian and Bobbi) traveled to about 85 percent of my games, along with a lot of my friends" he said. "It was just awesome to look out at 70,000 fans and know you have 18 to 20 people there to support you. I just like to say thanks to my family and friends."
Come April 24-25, Carothers expects to be in Helena watching the draft at his parents' house.
"I'll be back at home with my family and friends," he said. "I'm just looking for a shot. I'm confident it's going to happen. It should be exciting to just sit back and watch."
Source: Tom Griz Fan
April 10, 2004
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