MISSOULA - When basketball season finds its stride later this season, the University of Montana will change the name of the court to honor one of the school's most accomplished coaches.
In a statement on gogriz.com, the university said it will rename the hardwood inside Dahlberg Arena to Robin Selvig Court in recognition of a coach who took 21 teams to the NCAA Tournament and logged 865 wins over the course of his career.
"The impact Robin Selvig had on the athletic department and the university is immeasurable," said Director of Athletics Kent Haslam. "To name the court after him is duly appropriate.”
The women's basketball team will be the first to play on the newly minted Robin Selvig Court when it matches up against Weber State in February.
Haslam said the court will become just the fifth at the Division I level to be named for a school's women's basketball coach. The others are at Tennessee, North Carolina State, Texas A&M, and Arkansas-Little Rock.
"We've been talking about this for a long time. We had to navigate a lot of ways to get it done," said Haslam. "I appreciate the support from Seth Bodnar and Clay Christian in this and their recognition that this is a deserved honor."
Selvig began coaching the Lady Griz in the 1970s when he was in his 20s. That was before the sport was even recognized by the NCAA, according to the school.
Montana won an NCAA Tournament game in the facility in 1984 against Oregon State, and later won NCAA games inside Dahlberg Arena against Utah, Cal State Fullerton and UNLV.
The Lady Griz went 40-2 in conference tournament games at home under Selvig. His record inside the building was 511-61.
Selvig was humble in the recognition.
"It will make me think about the teams and the players every time I see it," he said. "They were obviously a huge part of everything we accomplished.”
