Locals flock to annual MCA Clinic

With the high school and college sports seasons now on the horizon in Montana, there’s still one very big week for all of the coaches in the state before they hit the fields, the gyms, the courts and anywhere else sports are played.

Every year, at the end of July and early August, coaches from middle school to college descend on Great Falls for the annual Montana Coaches Association Clinic. The three-day event is an important week for coaches of all sports, and this year’s version runs from Wednesday to Friday.

The event always has plenty to offer coaches from all walks of Montana’s sporting landscape, and as always, local coaches will be a big part of the show.

Two locals in particular, Havre High Activities Director Dennis Murphy and Montana State University-Northern women’s basketball coach Chris Mouat, will have key roles this week in the clinic. Both will be clinicians in their respective fields.

Murphy, who has been the AD at HHS for the last 14 years, was named the MIAAA Montana Athletic Director of the Year in 2014. He was also the Class A AD of the Year in 2012, and has been a finalist for the NHSACA National AD of the Year, including this summer when he traveled to Rochester, Minnesota, for the awards ceremony.

Murphy’s role this week in Great Falls will be to speak about different was of promoting high school student-athletes, and he, along with Great Falls Public Schools AD Gary DeGooyer, will lead a roundtable discussion during the event on the current state of high school athletics.

Mouat, who has been a speaker at the clinic before, is one of seven coaches who were chosen to speak about basketball at this year’s clinic. Mouat is coming off a season in which he led the Skylights to a 29-6 overall record and an appearance in the NAIA Elite 8. Mouat is heading into his 11th season at MSU-N, and has taken the Skylights to three NAIA national tournaments.

He isn’t the only basketball coach with local ties to speak this week in Great Falls. Former Northern men’s head coach Jay Pivec is also returning to Montana for the clinic. Pivec, who has a coaching record of 605-258, is currently the head coach at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota.

Basketball will also provide the biggest speaker of this year’s clinic. Every year, a top coach in the profession is brought in to speak and this year, it’s former Louisiana State head man Dale Brown. Brown arrived in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in March, 1972, with a dream that was perceived by many who knew the LSU basketball program as impossible. The dream was to make basketball a fan favorite in Tiger Country and to make it a nationally respected program as well. Brown’s straightforward, determined approach, combined with his knowledge of the game, excellent recruiting skills and positive philosophy made his dream a reality. Equally amazing was his 25-year career as the Tiger’s head coach and winningest coach in LSU BB history. He also has the second most wins in SEC history.

Other speakers of note at this week’s clinic include Montana State head football coach Rob Ash, Montana head coach Bob Stitt, former UM quarterback and current Glacier High head coach Grady Bennett and legendary Butte High wrestling coach Jim Street, who led the Bulldogs to 15 Class AA state championships, including a state record 13 in a row from 1980-1992.

Overall, the clinic will feature 52 different speakers, while also playing host to the 2015 Montana Coaches Association Hall of Fame induction ceremony Thursday afternoon.