The Bobcat Nation

From MSU-

BOZEMAN, Mont. – Brian Priebe, a Bobcat basketball assistant coach for the past three seasons, has opted to leave the coaching profession for a position in the private sector, MSU head coach Brad Huse announced Tuesday.



“Brian did an outstanding job in all phases for our program and our players will really miss him,” Huse said. “Brian was a very important contributor and his departure leaves us with a big hole to fill. I’ll miss working with Brian but I know this was too good of an opportunity for him to pass on. Brian has a great family and the good news is that they will be staying in Bozeman. We certainly wish him the best and thank him for his contributions to Montana State and our basketball program.”



Priebe joined Huse’s staff in the spring of 2008 after eight seasons at Loyola Marymount. Priebe’s coaching career began as Operations Director at Washington in 1993, and after two seasons he joined the Eastern Washington coaching staff, where he remained until moving to Loyola Marymount. Priebe graduated from Washington in 1995.



“I’ve really enjoyed my three years as part of the Bobcat family,” Priebe said. “With my family and I staying in Bozeman we plan to support the MSU athletic programs in every way we can and know that not just men’s basketball but each of the programs have great leadership and are headed in the right direction for many future successes.”



Huse indicated that the replacement process begins immediately.



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MSU-

Is this a devastating blow to the program or an opportunity to get better?

BelgradeBobcat wrote:Is this a devastating blow to the program or an opportunity to get better?

Opportunity. I hope. I'm trying to be positive. It's tough.

BelgradeBobcat wrote:Is this a devastating blow to the program or an opportunity to get better?

opportunity. and he might not be the only one to leave. he was smart to do it now when he had another opportunity because it would have been much worse for him to be let go in the coming weeks. huse realizes he needs to make some moves to both the roster as well as the coaching staff so i'm expecting an interesting offseason.

we need coaches who can recruit....

Anybody worth cherry picking off of EWU's former staff? Might make sense since we recruit in Washington.

BelgradeBobcat wrote:Anybody worth cherry picking off of EWU's former staff? Might make sense since we recruit in Washington.

Hey, stay away from Cherry!!

Oh, wait. Never mind....

BelgradeBobcat wrote:Is this a devastating blow to the program or an opportunity to get better?

Priebe didn't really do much to impress me.

Plus I think we need to get a coach with some midwest/PNW connections.

Brian is a great guy and, as the article states, has a great family. I'm glad he is staying in Bozeman and hopefully this is an opportunity for Brad and the MSU mens team to get better.

ilovethecats wrote:opportunity. and he might not be the only one to leave. he was smart to do it now when he had another opportunity because it would have been much worse for him to be let go in the coming weeks. huse realizes he needs to make some moves to both the roster as well as the coaching staff so i'm expecting an interesting offseason.

As is always the case when performance isn't up to expectations, someone has to be responsible and until the head coach is ultimately fired, it falls on the assistants. Not always fair, but so it goes...

What I know

Coach Priebe was offered and accepted his new job back in early January. His new/future employer allowed him to stay with the team until the season ended. Coach Huse has been keeping his eye open and recruiting if you will his replacement since then. That said he/they will not limits their options to just those candidates. I think Huse will be meeting with candidates over the next couple weeks.

Speculation from Mslacat

It would not surprise me if Huse and his staff were identifying some young up and comers from the JC ranks or maybe from a small college ranks. Right now coaches Starr and Carson have been doing most of the recruiting for the Bobcats so they can take look for a coach who they think they can develop or they think has potential. This method seems to have been the one Huse has had the most success with. If a JC assistant just happens to have a very good player who might want to come with him even better - like what happened with coach Starr and Marquis Navarro. As someone else mentioned, though, a lot of assistants are finding themselves out of work right now so someone may surface who they may not be able to turn down.

It would be nice to have a coach who knows the post game....and can recruit and coach big men.

Helcat72 wrote:It would be nice to have a coach who knows the post game....and can recruit and coach big men.

My dream

mslacat wrote:

Helcat72 wrote:It would be nice to have a coach who knows the post game....and can recruit and coach big men.

My dream

It would even be nice to have "big men."

Helcat72 wrote:It would be nice to have a coach who knows the post game...

Yeah, those post game interviews can be a bitch at times. Besides which, do you also know just how hard it is for a reporter to go try and find a coach for an interview after the game while he's cowering in the corner of some lockerroom? Let me tell ya, it ain't easy. That Brick Breeden Fieldhouse can be awfully big and lonely at times.