Inside The Huskies

Hauck Retires: Was UW Assistant, Husky Beater

He directed the biggest upset of a Washington football team in its annals.
Dan Raley|
Montana Grizzlies coach Bobby Hauck celebrates after upsetting Washington in 2021.
Montana Grizzlies coach Bobby Hauck celebrates after upsetting Washington in 2021. | Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

Bobby Hauck could have retired five years ago -- and everyone would have understood.

In 2021, he engineered the biggest upset of a University of Washington football team ever, directing his Montana Grizzlies to a shocking 13-7 win over Huskies in Montlake.

It was the Big Sky against the Pac-12.

The FCS against the FBS.

And down went a 21st-ranked Jimmy Lake team on a somber night at Husky Stadium, losing to an inspired underdog coached by a former UW assistant in Hauck.

On Wednesday, Hauck -- the winningest coach in Big Sky history with a 151-43 record -- surprised everyone by announcing his retirement.

"There's never a convenient spot in the college football calendar to announce you're retiring, so today's as good as any," Hauck said Wednesday at a press conference. "I wasn't going to have them spread my ashes on the practice field because I dropped dead out there."

Hauck, 61, coached at Washington as a defensive backs and special teams coach on Rick Neuheisel's staff in 1999-2002, sharing in a 34-24 Rose Bowl win in 2001 over Purdue and quarterback Drew Brees.

He went from Montlake to take the first of his two head-coaching stints at Montana, his alma mater.

Hauck coached the Grizzlies from 2003 to 2009 before leaving to take the UNLV job, which didn't work out for him and he was fired after his teams went 15-48 in five seasons.

After serving as an assistant at San Diego State, Hauck returned to Montana for a second time in 2018.

Four seasons later, he brought the Grizzlies into Husky Stadium and led them to the first win by an FCS team over a ranked FBS school.

"This is App State over Michigan," Hauck said in a postgame interview session, comparing his game to tiny Appalachian State from tiny Boone, North Carolina, stunning the Wolverines 34-32 to open the 2007 season.

The outcome basically ruined a UW football season that ended up 4-8, was partially responsible for Lake's midseason firing and proved to be a major embarrassment for a longstanding and prominent West Coast program.

Hauck left the field hugging his family members that night while his players ran around the field euphoric over the outcome.

Over 14 seasons at Montana, the coach won eight Big Sky titles, earned 13 playoff berths, collected 20 postseason victories and appeared in four FCS national championship games, losing the 2023 game to South Dakota State 23-3.

Nothing would be bigger than putting a beating on the Huskies.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Published
Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

Home/Football