Remembering Coach Cliff Hysell

Every time I see a sideline reporter interviewing a football coach at the end of the first half I think of Cliff Hysell.

Cliff was a difficult interview when the game was over. I can’t imagine trying to talk to him at halftime. If he had anything to say it might have been memorable, but it certainly wouldn’t have been suitable for print.

Hysell, 72, died earlier this week of a heart attack.

He was one of the last of a vanishing breed, an old-school coach who brooked no nonsense.

I covered Montana State home football games for the Associated Press during Hysell’s tenure with the ‘Cats. He was an imposing figure, stalking the sidelines in a long, black duster. He was even more imposing at the post-game press conferences where you didn’t want to ask the wrong question. Hysell could be a bit Bobby Knight-esque with sports reporters.

But he was also an outdoorsman and because of that he cut me a little more slack than the rest of the scribes in the room.

He read my column and would occasionally ignore questions about the game during the post-game interviews to talk hunting and fishing.

“You really snuck up on somebody’s decoy spread?” he asked me following a painful loss that had the roomful of reporters reluctant to pose the first question.

I was uncomfortable being singled out, especially because all the sports writers in the room were on deadline and didn’t need quotes from the coach that had nothing to do with the game.

But his smile was far better than his scowl, and it sure beat hearing him snarl, “That’s a stupid !%$#&! question.”

Hysell was a tough guy, who eventually stepped down as head coach in 1999 following eight seasons at his alma mater. He turned around a struggling program, coached six I-AA All-Americas and his Bobcats had more All-Big Sky Academic selections in the 1990s than any other school.

Unfortunately, Hysell will be remembered more for the wins he didn’t get than those he did. His teams never beat the much-hated Griz.

At the time of his retirement he told then Bozeman Chronicle sports editor Jeff Robinson that he might pursue his passion for fishing full-time.

I hope he caught all he wanted before he passed.

He was a good guy.

You just didn’t want to ask him any stupid !%$#&!questions.

Parker Heinlein is at [email protected]