In an era when gender discrimination in sports was the norm, Coach Selvig built a “house” of inclusion and empowerme | dG1fLTJkMElEelZfSjA
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00:00When I was playing my sophomore year in college one of the things coach said one
00:04day in practice is whether you play like a girl and I didn't realize it at the
00:09time he was giving me a great compliment which I realized today after coaching
00:13girls for a lot of years that that was a really good compliment.
00:18And introducing the head coaches for the University of Montana Lady Grizz, Robin Zelby.
00:24It's been simply a phenomenal year for the Lady Grizz basketball team they
00:28would shatter individual scoring and attendance records they would remain the
00:31only major undefeated team in the country and they would make Robin Selvig
00:34the winningest coach in UM history.
00:38Rob Selvig was a pioneer in providing opportunities for women to participate
00:43in athletics. Nobody thought you can never produce revenue. Oftentimes they
00:46thought we were a cheerleading squad. No we're the girls basketball team. They're looking
00:50thinking these guys got no chance.
00:55When you see Rob on the court and with these girls you know that he was born to
01:01do that. Well what we started to do was show oh well they're good they're
01:06talented oh they compete. And then we'd get out there on the floor and play 40
01:11minutes of the most intense basketball they've ever seen. A small school from
01:15Montana can go compete with the best. All the fans stood up but I couldn't hear
01:20anything because it was so loud that it was silent. My junior year we set the
01:25attendance record. The game sold out days in advance. The largest crowd ever for
01:29women's basketball west of the Rockies.
01:33I don't know if there's another school in the country that has anything like
01:38this. I don't think he looked at me like I was a Native American. He looked at me
01:43as a basketball player. Just to have somebody say we believe in you well that
01:47probably changed the trajectory of my life incredibly. The impact that playing
01:52here and Rob has had on my life has been immense and I still feel as much a part
02:01of the Lady Grizz as I ever did. And it's been 35 years. He cared about everybody. I
02:08mean there is no question he cared about everybody.
02:13He makes you a whole different person. As much as you think it's about the wins
02:18and losses, it's about the person you meet.