But Robin Selvig, appreciated almost as much for his humility and sense of humor as his 699 wins as Montana Lady Griz basketball coach, is not the least bit comfortable with high praise.
“Legend - I don't know what that is, usually that's somebody dead and gone,” he says with a grin. “Then there's the saying ‘Legend in your own mind.'
Make that a coach who can become the fifth fastest in NCAA history to reach 700 wins with a victory over Illinois (3-1) Wednesday at the Caribbean Challenge in Cancun, Mexico. Only Adolph Rupp, Pat Summitt, Jerry Tarkanian and Stanford's Tara VanDerveer have reached the pinnacle faster.
“He makes great adjustments, always one step ahead,” said Jon Newlee, who coached against Selvig six years at Idaho State and had his home debut at Idaho ruined by Selvig's team last week. “I've loved the coach vs. coach situation with Robin, trying to keep ahead of him as near as I could. I feel like I'm coaching against the best in the country.
“On top of all that, he's the most humble guy, the most normal guy, a lot of fun off the court. I enjoy talking to him in the summer. He's been really great to me and my staff and one of the best memories I take away from Idaho State is games against him.”
Selvig's reputation goes beyond the Big Sky Conference.
“I joke with him he's going to win more games than I'll ever coach,” said Joe Legerski, no slouch himself with a mark of 102-56 in his sixth season at Wyoming.
Much has been written about Selvig over the past three decades. The Missoulian has touched on everything from his fiery bench persona (longtime assistant Annette Rocheleau claims she can't hear out of her right ear anymore) and practical jokes to his pregame piano playing, poor driving skills and propensity for losing overcoats.
On any given game night Selvig will have fans enthralled with his not-so-subtle advice to his players on the floor. To the unknowing observer it may seem harsh at times, but he and his players have an understanding.
“He would always yell at me, ‘Dana, you're the best player for the other team!' ” former Lady Griz Dana Conway said. “But off the court he's such a laid back guy, cracks jokes. You know he just loves the game and he's so pumped up to win and he wants to pump up his players too.”
Whether it's basketball, cribbage or racing to the top of the Rattlesnake on a mountain bike, Selvig loves to compete. Yet he never takes himself too seriously, which is probably why he sees no point in rehashing past accomplishments or his career record (699-199).
“I just try not to think about it,” Selvig said. “We're going to have a tough stretch of games here (in Mexico) so it might be a while.
“There's enough to be stressed about. You don't need one more. That's the kind of thing when it happens it will be fun and we'll think about it more when it happens, but it doesn't have anything to do with what we want to do with this year's team.”
Like Conway, ex-Lady Griz Johanna Closson has her share of amusing anecdotes to tell about Selvig. But she also has a deep admiration for the 56-year-old family man and his intuition in keeping his players sharp without pushing too hard.
“He's got a good balance of different components,” she said. “In practice he's not intense. He knows how we'll respond. He knows not to wear us out.
“Some coaches have like three-hour practices and it's a long season. Robin knows when to do things. He's just one of those coaches that everybody loves and respects naturally.”
Carla Taylor has competed against Selvig's team both as a player and coach at Weber State. Still, she considers him a friend and mentor.
“Robin has not compromised his philosophy of building a program at Montana, using Montana kids,” she said. “He has stayed loyal and committed to ... making the Lady Griz program a dynasty.”
After Wednesday's game against Illinois (at 2:30 p.m. MST), the Lady Griz will tangle with nationally-ranked Maryland (3-1) on Thanksgiving Day and then South Dakota State (4-0) on Friday in Cancun. The motivation to secure Selvig's 700th win is strong for the Lady Griz players, according to senior Britney Lohman.
“This is a pretty big highlight of Rob's career, and to reach that milestone is a great accomplishment not only for him as a coach but for us as a program,” said the forward, whose team has plans to present Selvig with a special memento. “It'll be a great experience to be part of the team that gives that back to him.”
Asked if he enjoys coaching as much now as he did, say, 200 wins ago, Selvig is quick with a one-liner.
“I don't know if I ever enjoyed it,” he joked. “No actually I enjoy lots of it.
“Right now I pretty much feel like I always have. Stressed for each game, worry about things you shouldn't worry about. Each year I'm hoping to not be quite as consumed, and I still think you can do just as good of a job and not be worried so much. I maybe do a little better job of that than I used to, but things are not much different in terms of how you feel each season.”
The only thing that seems to change is Selvig's wins total - and the number of lives he touches as a Montana original.
THE SELVIG FILE: 699 wins...28 winning seasons...26 20-win seasons...22 national tournament appearances...21 conference championships...17 postseason conference championships...77 all-conference players...18 conference coach of the year awards
Sports writer Bill Speltz can be reached at 523-5255 or bill.speltz@lee.net.
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