"Bobbie" runs off another Montana kid

L&C-CAT · Post by **L&C-CAT** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 9:34 am

Hartman quits Griz

By JON KASPER - Missoulian - 04/02/04

A letter University of Montana quarterback Justin Hartman e-mailed to the media and Grizzly coaches Thursday wasn't an April Fools' Day joke.

Hartman, a sophomore from Great Falls Russell, announced in a one-page letter that he has left the program.

‘‘As of April 1, 2004, I Justin Hartman, regretfully inform you that due to the current situation and direction of this program I have decided to leave the football team and pursue other interests,'' he wrote. ‘‘After my grayshirt year, Coach Glenn left Missoula to follow another coaching venture. Coach Bobby Hauck was hired in his place under the pretense that he was going to throw first and throw often. None of which has been true.''

The 6-foot-1, 190-pound Hartman, who was pressed into action last season because of injuries to Craig Ochs and Jeff Disney, said in the letter and in a phone interview from his home in Great Falls that he had been lied to by Hauck and other coaches, and that Hauck had made disparaging remarks about his abilities.

‘‘These rumors, from Coach Hauck, were reported as follows: 'I never would have recruited Justin Hartman out of high school.' 'I have lost faith in Justin's arm.' Comments such as these, I feel, should not be said about a player behind their back, especially by their leaders and coaches.''

Hartman said he had yet to speak personally with Hauck about his decision to leave. Hauck said he saw the letter Thursday but hasn't spoken to Hartman.

mslacat · Post by **mslacat** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 10:05 am

Big bomb here in Missoula, It is amazing how a kid can go from world beater to "wasn't that good any way" in 24 hrs.

JahGriz · Post by **JahGriz** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 10:23 am

I believe Kramz lost 17 scholarship players within his first year. New coaches need to clean house a bit. Kramz did a heck of a job of it, I think. Kramz didn't worry about offending parents or boosters, he ran things his way.
I'm happy to see a scholarship open up, because there is no way Hartman could have ever been a solid QB at this level. I had to cover my eyes every time he threw the ball last season, because it was painfull to watch.

catatac · Post by **catatac** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 10:39 am

mslacat wrote:Big bomb here in Missoula, It is amazing how a kid can go from world beater to "wasn't that good any way" in 24 hrs.

Should be used to it by now. If you read the entire article, there are some things I would find troubling if I were a Griz fan. Hartman sounds a bit immature and probably shouldn't have slammed the coaches the way he did, but between he and Sampson leaving, they're thin at QB and we all know how bullet-proof Ochs is. This bigger issue, however, is that something is obviously going on regarding the coaches' leadership abilities. This is yet another example of Hauck's inexperience as a head coach. He said he hadn't spoken to Hartman about this? That tells me that either Hartman was not being communicated with, or at a minimum, did not feel comfortable discussing the situation with the coaches. Both of these scenarios are failures on the coaches' part.

mslacat · Post by **mslacat** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 10:57 am

I think we have to give ah-hum Hauck some leway here, and as much as I hate to admit it JahFriz is right shake out does happen. Although I do not remember this this vocal, and high profile of a recruit during Kramers "transitional period". I am just glad it is over their (or here in my case) and not in Bozeman.

Post by **SonomaCat** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 11:01 am

Is there some sort of unwritten rule in college sports that you don't go public and flame your coach when you quit? I can't remember any other time where a kid quit by simultaneously emailing the media and the coach, although you know there are unhappy players quitting all of the time, especially in competitive positions like QB. I don't think the fact that he quit is all that surprising (a certain amount of attrition is expected, especially in a transition between coaches), but the way he quit is certainly unusual.

L&C-CAT · Post by **L&C-CAT** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 11:04 am

Here is some more detail from the Missoulian

http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2004 ... orts02.txt

Post by **SonomaCat** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 11:15 am

One thing I can say for Hartman -- he's a good writer.

VictorG · Post by **VictorG** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 11:16 am

I was wondering how long it would take before a 3rd string Griz player quiting made news over here! Been checking this board all morning!

I wish Justin well but am not sorry to see him go. Especially the way it happened!

I also covered my eyes every time he threw the ball last year although he did have a better arm than Sampson. Anyway, best of luck to both of them and I hope they end up where they WANT TO BE!!!!!

That said, I'm sure Bobby will find another QB or 2 so you guys don't need to worry!

mslacat · Post by **mslacat** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 12:05 pm

It would pretty hard not for us to talk about this the way it came down. My first reaction to the story when I read it was that both Hauck AND Hartman came out smelling a little bad by the way it was written up. Hauck came out as not knowing what was going on in his own program and Hartman came off as a little imature. In Hauck's case I won't let one incident paint a picture I think the true picture will be painted over time.

In Hartman's case I can not think of a better way to get back at Hauck than to transfer to MSU and walk on the mens basketball teamjavascript:emoticon(':roll:')
javascript:emoticon(':roll:')

Helcat72 · Post by **Helcat72** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 12:19 pm

A few thoughts...I don't think this is unusual in itself. There have been lots of kids who have quit both programs (MSU and UM) but as someone else has said what makes it unusual is the way he has done it ...so publically! It appears he is trying to indict the whole program in the name of Griz faithful...like "I have to speak up to save Griz football from Bobby Hauck".

All I can say, like Mslacat said It's nice to see some turmoil goin on over there for once instead of in Bozeman!

I think this may be just the tip of the iceberg considering the recruits Hauck has stockpiled from the Montana highschool ranks. Maybe Kramer has pissed off some kids by not offering them scholarships, but at least he didn't lock them up from competing for one at other 1-AA schools!

hoags11 · Post by **hoags11** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 1:15 pm

I find it very unusual that a player would dismiss himself from the team in such a public fashion and then drag the coached through the mud. All coaches clean house, Kramer sure did when he arrived and now look at were the cats are.

Its hard to say whether Hauck said the things Hartmen claims!! We need to face the facts, both Disney and Ochs are great QBs in their last year at Montana.

Patience is a virtue! Justin should have remembered this!!

As for Hauck, he has a history of shooting off his mouth, lets hope he didn't say the things Hartmen claims. If he did, maybe Dennison should sign him up for a PR/PC class!

WolfPtCat · Post by **WolfPtCat** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 4:50 pm

I read about this in the Tribune, they made the kid sound like he really got a raw deal. It is very difficult to go from Home Town Hero, to 3rd stringer. I hope he lands on his feet. There are a lot of Frontier schools who would love to have him.

JahGriz · Post by **JahGriz** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 5:21 pm

Helcat: The MT kids Hauck has recruited are well underway to contributing to the team or already starting: Hilliard, Utterback, Ryan, Lebsock, Murphy, Johnson, Kain, etc. And these guys will only be sophmores next year. There are a couple others Hauck recruited from MT who are still developing and will probably be starting the following year and possibly getting some good pt this year: Gustafson, Wells, Potts.
So the MT kids BH has recruited, are solid. They weren't recruited just because they were MT kids, which I think Glenn may have done a bit.
hoags may be right in BH needing some PR/PC classes though.

VictorG · Post by **VictorG** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 5:40 pm

Wells was recruted by Glen and red shirted Glens last year here. Hopefully he can contribute this year though!

BozoneCat · Post by **BozoneCat** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 7:01 pm

JahGriz wrote:Helcat: The MT kids Hauck has recruited are well underway to contributing to the team or already starting: Hilliard, Utterback, Ryan, Lebsock, Murphy, Johnson, Kain, etc. And these guys will only be sophmores next year. There are a couple others Hauck recruited from MT who are still developing and will probably be starting the following year and possibly getting some good pt this year: Gustafson, Wells, Potts.
So the MT kids BH has recruited, are solid. They weren't recruited just because they were MT kids, which I think Glenn may have done a bit.
hoags may be right in BH needing some PR/PC classes though.

I think you could have said the same thing about Hartman last year, and possibly even yesterday (about still developing and probably starting in the future). Also, it seems to me that Baby Hauck is much more concerned with signing Montana kids (and publicizing it to the media) than Joe Glenn ever was.

Was I the only one who read the Tribune today and had to smile a little with the positive way the Bobcat football program came out looking and the absolutely horrible way the griz program looked?!?!

Grizcat · Post by **Grizcat** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 7:15 pm

Not a whole lot to be upset in Grizville about this one. He exits, makes himself not look so good, another scholarship for the Griz to use---and he wasn't going to be the starter there next year anyway.

"Bobbie" runs off another Montana kid

"Bobbie" runs off another Montana kid

Great Falls Spin