[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 49 (Wednesday, April 17, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3419-S3420]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      RETIREMENT OF UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA FOOTBALL COACH DON READ

  Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, I rise today to echo what is probably on 
the mind of everybody who ever attended school at the University of 
Montana, and every Grizzlies fan in my home State. Coach Don Read, the 
football coach of the last 10 or 11 years, is retiring. He told us all 
Monday that he was retiring in order to spend more time with his wife, 
Lois, and the rest of the family, and to move in a new direction.
  We are losing a legend in Missoula. We are saddened by that, even a 
little bit stunned, because Coach Read is the winningest coach in the 
history of the University of Montana. When he arrived in Missoula 10 
years ago, he recruited heavily, ushering in the ``Read Era'' of UM, an 
era that culminated in the university's first-ever Division One-double-
A national championship just this past season. It was a thrilling ride 
for every one of us in Montana, and we cannot help but think of what is 
ahead for the Griz because of the foundation and the base that Coach 
Read has laid.
  Mr. President, Vince Lombardi, the legendary coach of the Green Bay 
Packers, said ``winning is a habit.'' No one typified the winning habit 
more than Coach Read. Since taking over the University of Montana 
football program in 1986, he has never had a losing season. His overall 
record there was 85 and 36. That is a winning average of better than 70 
percent, the best any coach at UM and the sixth best in the history of 
the Big Sky Conference.
  In his tenure at the University of Montana, Coach Read even managed 
to pull off 10 straight wins against his cross-state rival and another 
one of my favorite teams, Montana State University. His overall 
coaching record including his many years coaching in Oregon is an 
impressive 154 and 127 and one--he had one tie.
  Mr. President, I could go on about all the ``firsts'' and 
the ``mosts'' and the awards of Coach Read and what he has earned in 
his time at the University of Montana. Most wins by a Griz football 
team in a single season, five playoff appearances, three-time Big Sky 
Coach of the Year, selected Division One-double-A Coach of the Year by 
two national magazines, but all of that pales in comparison to Don Read 
as a man, and as a man that I know. He is loved and respected by his 
players and his colleagues and he is a fiercely devoted family man.

  You know they say the coach will probably be judged on the wins and 
losses. But basically, what effect he has had on the young men who have 
played on his team is just absolutely--you cannot measure that. By his 
own words, the demands of coaching is a 16-hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week 
job. It has a way of catching up with you. Coach Read wants to make 
sure that his players will have a full-time coach that devotes all of 
his energy toward that team. In that respect, I admire him for putting 
the needs of a team before his own.
  So the University of Montana is really losing one of the great ones. 
We want to thank him for the season just passed. The national 
championship is one that is not written about and is not voted on by 
sportswriters. It is played. Of course when you want it, he beat 
Marshall here in the State of West Virginia. It was a great thrill for 
all of us who live in the State of Montana.
  Coach Read said he believes his replacement will be the best coach 
ever. I hope he is right. But I tell you he will be stepping into some 
awfully big

[[Page S3420]]

shoes. Just like anybody else, he will have to get his cleats the old-
fashioned way. He will have to earn them. That is the way it will be.
  Mr. President, we bid farewell to a man who has brought so much 
respect and so much quality to the University of Montana and the 
football program, and we say goodbye, but we do not say so long.
  I yield the floor.

                          ____________________