The Montana Grizzlies are going in a new direction in 2014/2015 and while former Washington State head coach Ken Bone is not going to be the man in charge, he will be a key assistant in the attempt to revive the UM program.
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Bone struggled in the Pac-12, going 80-86 overall and 28-61 in conference play. His teams rarely had an identity and while he was knowldegeable about the game in general it rarely seemed to translate to the floor. It was always my opinion that the game in the Pac-12 was just a little too fast and furious for Bone to handle, so it’s good to see him land on his feet at a lower-level school where he can be successful again.
Bone had been much more successful with the Pilots, leading them to an NCAA berth before taking on the WSU challenge that didn’t work out. Bone will serve on staff under first-year UM coach Travis DeCuire, who said he liked what Bone brings the bench in terms of experience.
"“All of his teams have probably over-achieved. Offensively, when you look at the University of Washington when they had their success and Sweet 16 runs he was a big part of that. They were probably in the top five or six in scoring, and we’re looking at getting to that point in scoring, and 85 or 90 points a game, if possible. So that’s important for us. He had some success at Washington State and his teams were good offensively."
I think this is a good spot for Bone at the moment. Hopefully the guy gets another shot as a head coach somewhere, but I don’t think there’s any question he needs to be in a smaller conference, it just suits his coaching style better.