Selvig stepping down as Griz women's basketball coach

MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) — Montana women’s basketball coach Robin Selvig announced his retirement Wednesday after 38 years at the school.

Selvig, who turns 64 next month, announced the decision on the university’s website, saying he will be at the school until the end of August. The Big Sky Conference school will hold a press conference today.

Selvig was 865-286 at Montana to tie for seventh on the Division I career victory list. A former men’s star at the school, he built Montana into one of the better and most-consistent mid-major programs in the country, finishing with 36 winning seasons, 31 20-victory seasons, 24 conference championships and 21 NCAA tournament appearances.

“I’ve been extremely fortunate to experience the things I have with the people I have. I’ve been blessed,” Selvig said in the school’s release. “Your lives become intertwined, and that’s what makes it a family. You’re invested not only in coaching them, you’re invested in them when lots of things are going on in their lives. Those relationships are as special to me as anything.

“What we shared will never change or be taken away from us. Sharing young women’s lives for four or five years, that’s where the rewards come from.”

He was honored as the conference coach of the year 21 times.

Madi Schoening, who re-wrote the Sandpoint record books the past four years, was part of Selvig’s final recruiting class. She’ll be part of a team next year that will have a new coach for the first time in nearly four decades.

Selvig, a coaching icon in Montana, played alongside NBA great Michael Ray Richardson while at Montana, for coaching legend Judd Heathcote. Heathcote would later coach Magic Johnson to an NCAA title at Michigan State.

“Over 38 years, there weren’t many days I wasn’t excited to come to work, but I’ve started to lose that excitement,” Selvig said in the release. “The players have always given me their best. When you wear down a little, you start to wonder: Can I still give them my best?

“I don’t like that question, and I don’t like that feeling. I don’t like not being fired up for next year. The players deserve me at my best, and I don’t know if I have the energy to keep doing it. There are mixed feelings, but I think the time is right.”

The Lady Griz were 20-11 last season.

“This has nothing to do with the players,” Selvig said. “They’ve always been great and fun to be around. That’s what I’m going to miss. But every job has its good parts and bad parts, and the bad parts started outweighing the good. I would feel guilty if I couldn’t look the girls in the eye because I knew I wasn’t able to give them my best.”