Alger: Pflugrad's been perfect so far, now he needs to win

He's done everything right.

Since being hired nine months ago to fill the controversial yet widely successfully shoes of former head coach Bobby Hauck, Robin Pflugrad has been the darling of Missoula. The Eugene, Ore. native amassed a celebrated recruiting class—including the Oregon 6A player of the year Jordon Johnson—in a short time span. He took to spring drills with vigor and tempo. He's been seen out in the community, and the attitude of the football program is "night and day" compared to the Hauck regime, a member of the staff said.  People are relaxed. They're comfortable. Things are fun again.

But for all the good he's done over the last months, nobody knows better than Pflugrad the inevitable truth about coaching: that none of that matters come Saturday. No matter how much he smiles during interviews or jokes with players at practice, no matter how easily he's made people forget about Bobby, starting Saturday, things will be different.

The moment the Griz take to Washington-Grizzly on Saturday, fans will finally have a quantitative method in judging Pflugrad. Any move Pflugrad has made leading up to Saturday can be discussed and debated, but from now on, there will be only one way to judge the coach, and that's by the record.

Every game, every play, every point scored by the Griz will be dissected. If Pflugrad's Grizzlies don't post a 38-0 shut out of the Mountaineers on Saturday, you'll hear talk that maybe Bobby would have done better. If the Griz somehow, just so happen to lose a regular season game this year, again he will be compared to Hauck—and this time not favorably. For all of the grief Hauck has gotten in the past year, the one thing that can't be debated was his ability to win. Going 80-17 over a seven-year span is downright amazing.

To compare Pflugrad to Hauck would be absolutely unfair for a first-year head coach. But in this town, it will happen. Griz fans expect dominance; they crave perfection. And if Pflugrad's team this season under-performs compared to last years, it's guaranteed the fans will start to grumble.

Forget the fact that this Montana team is drastically different from the one last year. Sure, Andrew Selle and Chase Reynolds still anchor the offense. But the Grizzlies also have an offensive line that has been decimated by either graduation or injury, a talented yet unproven receiving core and a defense that lost the leadership and dominance of those such as Shann Schillinger and Shawn Lebsock. The Grizzlies have a lot more questions than most No. 2 ranked teams in the country should.

Regardless, Pflugrad will be expected to win.

And in the end, it only matters so much how many hands he shakes, how nice of a guy he is, or just how damn much we like him.

If Pflugrad's team fails to perform starting Saturday, Griz fans may be craving an old coach, the same one they didn't like quite so much.

tyson.alger@umontana.edu