Mick Durham Retirement Press Conference
3/13/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
With those words, Mick Durham closed the book on his head coaching career at Montana State on Monday. Below is the text of Durham's retirement press conference...
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MSU Athletic Director Peter Fields
“Good morning, thank you for all coming.
“I want to thank Mick Durham for his loyalty to Montana State, his long-term commitment to the University and our basketball program. His success is unusual in this day and age. In 16 years as the head coach, and another 13 as a player and assistant, Mick’s success will stand the test of time. He is the winningest coach in the history of the Big Sky.
“I accept Mick’s decision to step down out of respect for him as a person and out of appreciation for what he has done as a coach for Montana State.
“Mick Durham.”
Mick Durham, Montana State Basketball Coach
“This is gonna be hard. I was given an opportunity a long time ago. Where it led is unbelievable. Never in my wildest dreams did I, no. one, think I would ever play her, and no. two, think I would get the chance to be head coach, especially for 16 years. Walking into this building for 24 years was pretty neat. This is gonna be hard. It was a big deal to me. To represent the University was neat, and for it to end… It’s time. I know it’s time, you guys know it’s time, we need new leadership, we need new energy.
“The last couple months were just different. The season ended, and I just didn’t want to go recruiting, I didn’t want to do scheduling, I didn’t want to start getting ready for camps. It was different, it was telling me it’s time for something else. I appreciate Peter (Fields) and Allen Yarnell and President Gamble for giving me the opportunity to go out like this.
“The support for the last 29 years was unbelievable. (Pause) I know I can’t look at you (getting emotional), they’ve been there from the start. You can tell by all of them being here today. I always knew in the Fieldhouse, which corner of the Fieldhouse there would be cheers from. There might be boos from all the others, but that corner up there was going to be pro-Durham. If you ever wanted to bitch about the coach, you didn’t sit in that corner of the end zone. (laughter) My folks, my sister, my brother, my family, Donna, Mikaela, Kobey, Casey, they allowed me to do my job. As you know, allowing a coach to do his job means a lot of time away. They allowed me whatever I needed to do, however much time I needed away.
“My coaching staff, two of them are just coming back off the road today. James (Clark) and Jim (Muzynoski) are here. I wish Scott Carson (current assistant) and (former assistant) Jerry Olson were here. They were with me together for 10 years, I wish Jerry could have went out with me, too.
“In 16 years and eight years as an assistant, 24 years, we’ve had a lot of players in and out. I wasn’t very easy on many of them. I wanted things done a certain way, and I demanded a lot. For those that struggled with me I still think down the road they will be better people for it. I’m definitely going to miss my staff.
“It’s neat to see faces that I saw when I came in as a freshman 29 years ago. Some of them aren’t with us any more, my Cat Chat group at 10 o’clock (on Tuesday) mornings. That’s probably the neatest thing, the people that have been with me the whole time. We started the 6th Man Club, Bill Warden back there and Dan Rust started that. I appreciate what the community has done with that program.
“The people I need to thank the most are the people that work in this building. I’m going to take some time and thank those people. I know how hard you people work. I’ve seen a lot of coaches come and go, and I’ve always been here. For all the new coaches, coaches in women’s basketball, volleyball, football, Dale Kennedy in track, I appreciate you supporting our program and helping us out any way you can. The administrators, the booster club, the secretaries, everybody. Everybody went out of their way to help Mick Durham. The training staff, Rob (Higgs), Jaime (McCafferty), I know Jaime’s in here. Thank you. Mathias (Saxman), the equipment manager… I started with Bob Diamond. A lot of you don’t know who Bob Diamond is. They think Mathias is tough, Bob Diamond was really tough. He threw a whole rack of balls at me one day when I was in there asking for something. The secretaries, Karolin (Martinez), our secretary, Joan Sweet was here forever…
“I tried to treat people the way I wanted to be treated. The janitors, the academic center, which is kind of brand new, Kylie (Perlinski) and Jill (Allison, MSU’s late academic coordinator); the facilities people, Brad (Murphy) and Melanie (Stocks), would bend over backwards for us to get things done; the strength room, Justin (Braun) and Doug (Samuelson). Our Sports Information Director, Bill, has been with me a long time. The people in this building are very special. Hopefully I haven’t forgotten anybody.
“People are going to ask me, ‘What was your highlight, what was your lowlight?’ Everything just runs together. It’s been a great journey. The type of person I am, it seems like nothing was easy. Everything was the hard way. So for my last season, to work my ass off to be 15-15 is probably the way it was meant to be.
“I left here as a player and I felt great, and I left here as a coach with my head high. I’m anxious to watch the program. There’s a lot of hard work coming up for the new person, and I’m glad it’s not my hard work. (laughter) This is not an easy job. Peter’s got a big job in getting somebody in here, and we’ve got to make a commitment to the new guy and the new staff. I look forward to watching Bobcat basketball for a long time, and I really feel privileged that I was a part of it. I'll leave it at that, and take some questions.”
Questions from the media…
Q: What’s next for you
“We’re going to get in a car when I get done here and go find the closest beach we can get to, and hopefully it’s not the Bozeman Beach. (laughter) We’re getting out of town for a few days, and I haven’t thought a lot. I think there’s got to be something out there besides basketball, that’s all I’ve ever done. But we love Bozeman, and it’s hard to visualize living anywhere else.”
Q: Do you have an idea for a successor?
“We’re all Montana guys. I hope the new person has some ties to Montana, if not the head coach then one of his assistants. There’s a good assistant out there who played for me, Danny Sprinkle. Getting him back would be good.”
Q: When did the idea of retiring first hit your mind?
“I’ve thought about retiring for a long time, but when you’re 35, 40, 42 you can’t really retire. I’ve woke up in the middle of the night and thought about what I’d say when I left the past few years, which is kind of goofy. Last year we had a great season and when the season ended I was always ready to get ready for the next season, and this was different. I think you hear all coaches say the losing just wears on you. You win and you look to the next game. It’s such a tough business. You used to be able to out-work people. I always felt I could out-work people. But now you look at the other benches and there’s six, seven, eight coaches. It’s hard to out-work that many coaches. There’s money in those program. I think it was just basically the last few months. The tough part is (pause for emotion)… I used to think being emotional was a sissy thing, they say as you get older you get more emotional. Having a son in the program made the decision tough. (pause) I enjoyed the two years of coaching Casey.”
Q: Can you go back to the day 29 years ago when being a Bobcat became a reality
“I was a pretty determined high school kid, all 5-9 and 142 lbs, and if I didn’t get a scholarship I was going to walk-on. We had 15 scholarships back then, and I got the 15th scholarship. It was after I graduated (from Three Forks High). I remember we had 18 players out for the team, and I swear we had seven point guards, and that’s what I’m telling you. I just worked and worked, and it worked out.
“I grew up as a Bobcat, watching the Bobcats. This will age some of you people, but I snuck in the knothole at Bobcat football games at Gatton Field. My dad wouldn’t buy me a ticket, so he threw me through the knothole. There was a fence with a little square in it, and if you had season tickets you could throw your kids through the knothole to get into the games. So I’m one of those knothole guys that grew up with the Bobcats. I remember watching Jack Gillespie and Bill Brickhouse and Willie Weeks. If the Native Americans understood this, I had a dog named after Willie Weeks, a Native American, so I don’t think that mess we had a few years ago really reflected what I’m about. I grew up watching those guys, and I have great memories of watching the Bobcats. That’s when it all started.”
Q: Is there coaching in your future?
“I want to step back from the head position. I don’t know, I don’t know. I just said that it is intriguing to get away from basketball, but I think basketball will be a part of what we do at some point. I know there’s some assistants in here, maybe going back and being an assistant and enjoy life might be kind of nice. (laughter) We’ll just have to see.”
About affecting so many lives:
“We had some problems, we had some off-court things, but we had very few problems on the court when I had control of it, because I wouldn’t allow it. We were going to compete, but we were going to do it the right way and be classy. You can’t be nice and play Division I basketball, you can’t be nice and coach at this level. This is tough, this is a survival deal. I appreciate the players that appreciate me.”
Q: Are you going to play some golf?
“My brother Mark isn’t here, but he was with me all weekend when we were finalizing things. He and Griz… one of my best friends is named Griz. (laughter) Universal Athletics has been great, Larry (Aasheim) and Dick (Harte) and Griz (Gilmore). Mark and Griz wanted to get in my contract that I post every score so they can get my legit handicap. They would catch me after I’ve been on the road recruiting for two weeks and hadn’t played. That’s the one thing I love to do, and I’m fortunate to play when I was young. Usually Dick (Harte) and those guys, that’s a nice little pay-day on Sundays.”
“I really appreciate you showing up. I appreciate you stopping by. Most of the people in here are people that work in this building, and you people are great. I’m going to miss stopping by and giving you a bad time on a regular basis. Thank you for coming, and Peter, thank you very much.”
-----------------
MSU Athletic Director Peter Fields
“Good morning, thank you for all coming.
“I want to thank Mick Durham for his loyalty to Montana State, his long-term commitment to the University and our basketball program. His success is unusual in this day and age. In 16 years as the head coach, and another 13 as a player and assistant, Mick’s success will stand the test of time. He is the winningest coach in the history of the Big Sky.
“I accept Mick’s decision to step down out of respect for him as a person and out of appreciation for what he has done as a coach for Montana State.
“Mick Durham.”
Mick Durham, Montana State Basketball Coach
“This is gonna be hard. I was given an opportunity a long time ago. Where it led is unbelievable. Never in my wildest dreams did I, no. one, think I would ever play her, and no. two, think I would get the chance to be head coach, especially for 16 years. Walking into this building for 24 years was pretty neat. This is gonna be hard. It was a big deal to me. To represent the University was neat, and for it to end… It’s time. I know it’s time, you guys know it’s time, we need new leadership, we need new energy.
“The last couple months were just different. The season ended, and I just didn’t want to go recruiting, I didn’t want to do scheduling, I didn’t want to start getting ready for camps. It was different, it was telling me it’s time for something else. I appreciate Peter (Fields) and Allen Yarnell and President Gamble for giving me the opportunity to go out like this.
“The support for the last 29 years was unbelievable. (Pause) I know I can’t look at you (getting emotional), they’ve been there from the start. You can tell by all of them being here today. I always knew in the Fieldhouse, which corner of the Fieldhouse there would be cheers from. There might be boos from all the others, but that corner up there was going to be pro-Durham. If you ever wanted to bitch about the coach, you didn’t sit in that corner of the end zone. (laughter) My folks, my sister, my brother, my family, Donna, Mikaela, Kobey, Casey, they allowed me to do my job. As you know, allowing a coach to do his job means a lot of time away. They allowed me whatever I needed to do, however much time I needed away.
“My coaching staff, two of them are just coming back off the road today. James (Clark) and Jim (Muzynoski) are here. I wish Scott Carson (current assistant) and (former assistant) Jerry Olson were here. They were with me together for 10 years, I wish Jerry could have went out with me, too.
“In 16 years and eight years as an assistant, 24 years, we’ve had a lot of players in and out. I wasn’t very easy on many of them. I wanted things done a certain way, and I demanded a lot. For those that struggled with me I still think down the road they will be better people for it. I’m definitely going to miss my staff.
“It’s neat to see faces that I saw when I came in as a freshman 29 years ago. Some of them aren’t with us any more, my Cat Chat group at 10 o’clock (on Tuesday) mornings. That’s probably the neatest thing, the people that have been with me the whole time. We started the 6th Man Club, Bill Warden back there and Dan Rust started that. I appreciate what the community has done with that program.
“The people I need to thank the most are the people that work in this building. I’m going to take some time and thank those people. I know how hard you people work. I’ve seen a lot of coaches come and go, and I’ve always been here. For all the new coaches, coaches in women’s basketball, volleyball, football, Dale Kennedy in track, I appreciate you supporting our program and helping us out any way you can. The administrators, the booster club, the secretaries, everybody. Everybody went out of their way to help Mick Durham. The training staff, Rob (Higgs), Jaime (McCafferty), I know Jaime’s in here. Thank you. Mathias (Saxman), the equipment manager… I started with Bob Diamond. A lot of you don’t know who Bob Diamond is. They think Mathias is tough, Bob Diamond was really tough. He threw a whole rack of balls at me one day when I was in there asking for something. The secretaries, Karolin (Martinez), our secretary, Joan Sweet was here forever…
“I tried to treat people the way I wanted to be treated. The janitors, the academic center, which is kind of brand new, Kylie (Perlinski) and Jill (Allison, MSU’s late academic coordinator); the facilities people, Brad (Murphy) and Melanie (Stocks), would bend over backwards for us to get things done; the strength room, Justin (Braun) and Doug (Samuelson). Our Sports Information Director, Bill, has been with me a long time. The people in this building are very special. Hopefully I haven’t forgotten anybody.
“People are going to ask me, ‘What was your highlight, what was your lowlight?’ Everything just runs together. It’s been a great journey. The type of person I am, it seems like nothing was easy. Everything was the hard way. So for my last season, to work my ass off to be 15-15 is probably the way it was meant to be.
“I left here as a player and I felt great, and I left here as a coach with my head high. I’m anxious to watch the program. There’s a lot of hard work coming up for the new person, and I’m glad it’s not my hard work. (laughter) This is not an easy job. Peter’s got a big job in getting somebody in here, and we’ve got to make a commitment to the new guy and the new staff. I look forward to watching Bobcat basketball for a long time, and I really feel privileged that I was a part of it. I'll leave it at that, and take some questions.”
Questions from the media…
Q: What’s next for you
“We’re going to get in a car when I get done here and go find the closest beach we can get to, and hopefully it’s not the Bozeman Beach. (laughter) We’re getting out of town for a few days, and I haven’t thought a lot. I think there’s got to be something out there besides basketball, that’s all I’ve ever done. But we love Bozeman, and it’s hard to visualize living anywhere else.”
Q: Do you have an idea for a successor?
“We’re all Montana guys. I hope the new person has some ties to Montana, if not the head coach then one of his assistants. There’s a good assistant out there who played for me, Danny Sprinkle. Getting him back would be good.”
Q: When did the idea of retiring first hit your mind?
“I’ve thought about retiring for a long time, but when you’re 35, 40, 42 you can’t really retire. I’ve woke up in the middle of the night and thought about what I’d say when I left the past few years, which is kind of goofy. Last year we had a great season and when the season ended I was always ready to get ready for the next season, and this was different. I think you hear all coaches say the losing just wears on you. You win and you look to the next game. It’s such a tough business. You used to be able to out-work people. I always felt I could out-work people. But now you look at the other benches and there’s six, seven, eight coaches. It’s hard to out-work that many coaches. There’s money in those program. I think it was just basically the last few months. The tough part is (pause for emotion)… I used to think being emotional was a sissy thing, they say as you get older you get more emotional. Having a son in the program made the decision tough. (pause) I enjoyed the two years of coaching Casey.”
Q: Can you go back to the day 29 years ago when being a Bobcat became a reality
“I was a pretty determined high school kid, all 5-9 and 142 lbs, and if I didn’t get a scholarship I was going to walk-on. We had 15 scholarships back then, and I got the 15th scholarship. It was after I graduated (from Three Forks High). I remember we had 18 players out for the team, and I swear we had seven point guards, and that’s what I’m telling you. I just worked and worked, and it worked out.
“I grew up as a Bobcat, watching the Bobcats. This will age some of you people, but I snuck in the knothole at Bobcat football games at Gatton Field. My dad wouldn’t buy me a ticket, so he threw me through the knothole. There was a fence with a little square in it, and if you had season tickets you could throw your kids through the knothole to get into the games. So I’m one of those knothole guys that grew up with the Bobcats. I remember watching Jack Gillespie and Bill Brickhouse and Willie Weeks. If the Native Americans understood this, I had a dog named after Willie Weeks, a Native American, so I don’t think that mess we had a few years ago really reflected what I’m about. I grew up watching those guys, and I have great memories of watching the Bobcats. That’s when it all started.”
Q: Is there coaching in your future?
“I want to step back from the head position. I don’t know, I don’t know. I just said that it is intriguing to get away from basketball, but I think basketball will be a part of what we do at some point. I know there’s some assistants in here, maybe going back and being an assistant and enjoy life might be kind of nice. (laughter) We’ll just have to see.”
About affecting so many lives:
“We had some problems, we had some off-court things, but we had very few problems on the court when I had control of it, because I wouldn’t allow it. We were going to compete, but we were going to do it the right way and be classy. You can’t be nice and play Division I basketball, you can’t be nice and coach at this level. This is tough, this is a survival deal. I appreciate the players that appreciate me.”
Q: Are you going to play some golf?
“My brother Mark isn’t here, but he was with me all weekend when we were finalizing things. He and Griz… one of my best friends is named Griz. (laughter) Universal Athletics has been great, Larry (Aasheim) and Dick (Harte) and Griz (Gilmore). Mark and Griz wanted to get in my contract that I post every score so they can get my legit handicap. They would catch me after I’ve been on the road recruiting for two weeks and hadn’t played. That’s the one thing I love to do, and I’m fortunate to play when I was young. Usually Dick (Harte) and those guys, that’s a nice little pay-day on Sundays.”
“I really appreciate you showing up. I appreciate you stopping by. Most of the people in here are people that work in this building, and you people are great. I’m going to miss stopping by and giving you a bad time on a regular basis. Thank you for coming, and Peter, thank you very much.”
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