Griz Basketball Welcomes New Coaches to Staff

The Montana Grizzlies Men's Basketball sideline will look slightly different for the upcoming season. Gogriz.com announced one new assistant coach and two promotions from within, but don't worry, Head Coach Travis DeCuire will still be at the helm for his 9th season with the program.

Welcome to Missoula, Reuben Williams

He's the new "kid" on the block. Reuben Williams comes to Montana from the University of Arkansas. Williams spent last year in Fayetteville as a graduate assistant for the Razorbacks. Before Arkansas, Williams was a student manager at Cal State Fullerton and coached at the high school level in Long Beach, according to gogriz.com. Williams is a Long Beach, Calif. native and played his collegiate ball at Willamette University in Salem, Ore, according to his profile on Arkansas' Athletics page.

Good to see Williams has some experience in the Northwest. Welcome to Missoula, Coach.

Internal Promotions

In January, the NCAA Division I Council increased the number of coaches a team could employ. Each team can add 2 assistant coaches to their staff, with recruiting limitations. Coach DeCuire's squad took advantage of the new rule by adding newbie Reuben Williams and by promoting DJ Broome and Anderson Clarke.

Broome acted as the Director of Student-Athlete Development for the last two seasons. His profile on gogriz.com explained his role in years past.

"As the Director of Student-Athlete Development, Broome led Montana's community service efforts and helped run an academic team that achieved a GPA over 3.0."

In his new role, Broome will be working more with Associate Head Coach Chris Cobb and Assistant Coach Jay Flores (duh). Fun fact according to the Montana Sports Information article: Broome, during his playing days at Humboldt State, squared off against a Chico State team coached by Chris Cobb and a player name Jay Flores.

It comes full circle.

Last, but certainly not least, Anderson Clarke was bumped up to Assistant Coach status. Clarke was the Director of Operations since 2017. All the hard work of preparing travel itineraries, scouting, film prep and logistics paid off for the Australian native.

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Best of luck to Coach Payne

Sadly, the Griz Basketball staff also had an assistant from last year depart Missoula for Bozeman... cringe. Coach Zach Payne took a position on the Montana State Men's Basketball staff under first-year Head Coach Matt Logie. Payne spent four seasons in Missoula.

We wish Coach Payne the best of luck, even if he turned in the maroon and silver for blue and gold.