Montana Grizzlies Sports, Football and Basketball : Grizzoulian

There should be a set of large quotation marks floating above Jerry Glanville at all times. In an Oregonian article on Montana's conference domination, the Portland State head coach had this to say about Rob Ash's first recruiting class at Montana State.

"Montana State did something that I think will change the conference," Glanville says. "They signed 14 kids out of Texas in one year. How does that change them? Well, everybody in Texas runs 'rapidamente.' There are no slow players in Texas. They're all fast. So that will change Montana State."

I hope it does so the Griz can learn something. Montana's lack of speed was apparent in the playoff losses to UMass and Wofford.

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It's Vikings Day here at the Grizzoulian. Portland State officially announced the arrival of their new uniforms and it's not pretty. The helmet design is original, but doesn't look great. The jerseys look decent at best but are far from original.

Some quotes and images:

Todd Van Horne, Creative Director for Nike, led a team that created the stylized and Viking-inspired spear logo and uniforms. The Viking uniforms lean heavily toward Glanville's favored black color scheme, while the helmets will have the new spear logo running over the crown.

"When Coach (Glanville) came to town it was an opportunity for inspiration," Van Horne said to the media. "We (at Nike) huddled together and said 'there's energy here'. We needed to bring that energy very visually to the field. So we came down, had a nice conversation with coach and said 'hey, we've got a different point of view.'

"Coach describes black as not a color but an attitude, and we thought 'well, there it is.' Let's bring a new attitude and show a visual difference where Portland State University is now," said Van Horne. "I think you will see the very distinct difference of color, and the distinct difference of spear design that is much more aggressive, fitting into that new attitude."

I like the idea behind the spear. The way it runs up the helmet is something we haven't seen much of on a football uniform. The problem is, it looks like a retarded tatoo.

I don't like the jerseys. The plain black and white color is somewhat original but the jerseys are the same thing we've seen countless places. It looks like Nike just swapped out the colors on the Montana template.

Glanville has obviously brought attention and attitude to Portland State. I was hoping the new uniforms would match the enthusiasm. Nope, just another gimmicky Nike design.

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This is why I love YouTube. You can pull up ridiculous things from any celebrity's past. Also, there's video of someone playing a videogame. Why is this on there? Who is watching this besides me?

Anyway, the footage is from Jerry Glanville's Pigskin Footbrawl. Wait for the 1 minute mark to see what Glanville did with his previous Vikings team, where he was the "leader of a renegade band of WARRIORS WITH A BAD ATTITUDE." Is Jerry modeling his real Portland State team after a fictional videogame squad?

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In a move that doesn't include jumping to a team that won't get killed by teams from power conferences, Portland State head coach Jerry Glanville is looking at scheduling games with SEC teams.

"When we were at Hawaii, we had a chance to go to Alabama and I promise you, none of our kids will ever forget that trip," said Glanville, who was the Falcons' head coach from 1990-93 and the defensive coordinator from 1979-82.

Glanville said Portland State will open with a Pac-10 team for three of the next four seasons but he still wants to bring his team South. Glanville said he's talking to "a couple of SEC teams" but won't reveal which ones they are.

For what's it's worth before he's coached a single game, this Glanville hire is looking very very good. If PSU displays any kind of success in these FBS games and Glanville sticks around for a few years, I would not be surprised to see PSU take a very serious look at moving to the FBS. Based on his brash personality alone, Glanville looks like the type of coach who could get them there.

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If you pause the video, let it load all the way then click ahead to the one minute mark you'll get to see Portland State's new ad.

Well, it's not as good as the Griz football ad, but it is something. They don't have much to brag about so they put in what they could -- Jerry Glanville's swagger and the fact that season tickets are only $60. 

It will be very interesting to see just how much of an effect all this publicity will have on the Portland State Viking program. Glanville & Co have been getting exposure, but will it result in more fans and a better program? One could say that the Vikings are the only show in town that time of year, but that's not completely the case. Fans have the 'Blazers and minor league baseball overlapping either ends of the season.

Hell, Blazers hype alone should have a decent shot and completely overshadowing any mention of Portland State. Seriously, for the next few months, not a single sports fan in Portland is going to care about anything other than the Blazers.

On top of this, it's so hard to get fans of teams like Oregon and Oregon state to cheer on a I-AA team. When I first came to UM, it took a little while for me to believe that I-AA football wasn't a joke. However, it all starts with wins. Glanville will bring in some fans but he can only keep them if the team is doing well.

One more important question: what happens if the fans just don't come? From every story I've read on Glanville, his goal is to create an incredible gameday atmosphere like that of Green Bay. What if, despite Glanville winning a bunch of games, it just doesn't happen? Would he consider continuing his climb back towards mainstream ball? I'd say so.

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I woke up this morning--my third after returning from Zootown--to find Portland State and Jerry Glanville splattered across the front of my sports section. It wasn't exactly what I wanted to find on this fine Mother's Day. The story is extremely well written and I have no doubt the increasing number of articles like this will only lead to further success of the Portland State program.

The man made famous during decades spent coaching in college and the NFL, for careers in broadcasting and car racing, for, above all, the character known as Jerry Glanville, is now the coach at Portland State.

And he wants you to be a Viking.

He wants to play you the music that will announce his team's entrance during home games, all war horns and tribal drums beating into crescendo — Star Trek meets Scandinavia. He wants you to see the Viking hull and Viking statues in his office. He wants to tell you the first city the Vikings conquered: Portland, England, in 789.

He's rolling now, ever the salesman, trying to bring Vikings into vogue. He grabs a vintage Viking helmet, made of steel, bought on eBay, from behind his desk.

"You're going to love this," he says, invoking his favorite phrase. "Everybody has worn that thing. The president. The players. Me. Put that bad boy on."

Further proof that Glanville can sell blind men glasses rests awkwardly atop your head. You wear the helmet. You met Glanville 45 minutes earlier.

You want to be a Viking.

One can only hope that his personality brings more success and attention to the Big Sky and I-AA football. One can also hope that after bringing in said attention, he pulls a Bob Huggins and peaces out before kicking the pedestal out from under the Griz.

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As many of you have probably heard, former NFL head coach and Hawaii defensive coordinator Jerry Glanville has decided to become the head football coach of the Portland State Vikings. Jerry seems pumped going into this thing, probably too pumped for coaching I-AA football, and has said some interesting things. One thing he mentioned is that he would like to turn Portland into the Green Bay, WI of I-AA football (sorry Jer, that's already taken). This really isn't the funniest analogy in this whole fiasco; that would come from Will Leitch over at Deadspin.

The Green Bay for I-AA football. Now there's a goal! Actually, we think Portland State is to college football what Jerry Glanville's Pigskin Footbrawl is to legitimate football video games.

Needless to say, it's going to be fun having this nut in the Big Sky Conference.

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