He has established himself in that upper echelon of Montana Grizzly basketball coaches. And his accomplishments are being recognized.

A college sports program looks for stability, continuity and ongoing success. The University of Montana believes that men's head basketball coach Travis DeCuire checks those boxes and more. And while a new agreement went a little under the radar, according to public records, Coach DeCuire's achievements have been recognized with a new contract adding three more years to the one that was set to expire June 30, 2022.

A lot of this was actually finalized in December of 2011. Perhaps the coach wanted to keep the attention on his players and staff and not on himself as the 2021-22 season played out. And now on paper, it looks like eight seasons and counting for the head man, who also had a very successful career as a player for the Griz, now signed through June 30, 2025.

While it was not the season the Griz had hoped for, Coach DeCuire's team did win 18 games this season, and contributed to some impressive career milestone accomplishments.

His win total at Montana is now 160, which places Coach DeCuire in second place for all-time wins with the program.

This season alone, he passed former Griz coaching greats Mike Montgomery and Wayne Tinkle. He has a ways to go yet to catch the all-time leader, George Dahlberg, who has 221 career victories.

When Montana beat Eastern Washington in late January, it was DeCuire's 100th Big Sky Conference victory. Only one Big Sky coach ever got to that number faster in the history of the league.

It is an incentive-laden contract that can fill a lengthy spreadsheet. Post-season wins, regular-season conference championships, retention, collective academic success of the players in the classroom, etc. But a quick check of the public record on where it starts shows that Coach DeCuire's base salary will increase to $185,711 annually from the previous $180,000. And If he remains employed by UM on July 1 of every year of the contract, there is a retention bonus of $50,000.

Congratulations to a true bleeder of maroon and silver, Travis DeCuire. Here's to lots more success in the years to come.

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