MISSOULA — It's news no one saw coming until late Tuesday evening with those involved that then shocked the general public on Wednesday morning as head football coach Bobby Hauck at the University of Montana is officially retiring from leading the Grizzly program.
"Eight years ago we sat in the Canyon Club and welcomed him back, and I'm just grateful for his willingness to come to the University of Montana for a second time and do the things that he has done here and built a program that is tremendous and means a lot to this university," University of Montana athletic director Kent Haslam said.
Press Conference: Bobby Hauck, Kent Haslam address Hauck's retirement from Griz program
The winningest coach in Montana and Big Sky Conference history sent shockwaves on Wednesday with his retirement announcement.
It caps off Hauck's second stint that began in 2018 and completes 14 seasons as the leader of his alma mater.
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"I love the Montana Grizzlies," Hauck said. "I consider this my football program. I think I've been a good steward of this football program. We've had a lot of success here, but I wasn't going to have them spread my ashes on the practice field because I dropped dead out there. There comes a juncture where it's time to do something else.
"Unbelievable run here. We've spent a good part of our adult lives here, Stacey and I, pouring ourselves into this program. And to do it right, there's no other way. And so, it's been a labor of love, but we've given a lot of ourselves to this university and this football program and, frankly, to this state, which is the place we love the most."
The reasons for Hauck's retirement stem from the ever-changing landscape of college football, a familiar refrain he's spoken about over the years that have chipped and weathered away at his enjoyment of the job and eventually led to the finale.
"Dealing with what college football has become is not always enjoyable as a head coach," Hauck said. "And I just haven't been enjoying it enough. I want to enjoy my career and my job. And a lot of the head coach stuff in current day, Division I college football is not enjoyable. And so, I just think it's the appropriate time. It's a perfect time for me to retire."
Hauck even had specific examples.
"Dealing with agents and the transient nature of this and the lack of forward thinking by young people, which it's never been a strong suit for centuries for young people," Hauck said. "But now when they've got adults pushing them and pulling them in different directions, and I kind of got tired of all that, dealing with agents and the transient nature of it.
"I always loved facing that challenge and the competitiveness of keeping score, but also the challenge of developing young men and all those things. But as college football has changed over the last couple of years, I've started to embrace my shelf life ending at some point. I've had more days where I didn't enjoy coming to work very recently. There's not really an opportune time to announce you're retiring in our calendar, but for the benefit of this football program, we had to get a team together and that wasn't an option to do that at some point prior to this."
Haslam said he got word from Hauck at 8 p.m. Tuesday, and Hauck added he came to the decision Monday after consulting his wife and praying on it.
The staff was alerted Tuesday, and the players were looped in Wednesday morning.
"I don't know what retirement means for me. I'm not exactly sure what I want to do. I don't know if that includes football or not," Hauck said. "I love football. I mean, I dearly, dearly love football. It's been a passion my entire life. But I do know that I don't want to ever be a head coach. We wouldn't be sitting here today if I had any desire to be a head coach, because if I ever wanted to be a head coach, it would be here at the University of Montana. And I just I don't want to do that anymore. It does not have allure for me anymore.
"I care about people. And when you're the head coach in college football, you've got to embrace leadership. And in terms of embracing leadership, you're going to make decisions that can negatively affect people you care about. Through your best efforts, you do your very best to try to make decisions that make everybody happy. You're not going to make everybody happy. And the other thing is you're going to make decisions and do things and take criticism and not be able to defend yourself, nor want to take time to do that."
So, the Hauck 2.0 era comes to a close, with the school announcing wide receivers coach Bobby Kennedy will take over, as UM now turns the page to a new chapter. Kennedy will hold an introductory press conference on Thursday at 2 p.m.
Montana also released its signing day additions on Wednesday, which included the high school recruits from the early signing period and the transfer additions through this latest portal cycle.
"I'm proud of the records, but I'm proud of the men in this program and how they compete and the core values that are everybody that has played in this program develops work ethic, toughness, discipline and character," Hauck said. "It is a big decision. It's a hard decision. But, you know, for me, it's the right decision."
