MISSOULA — Brian Holsinger has now had a few months to settle into his new role as the Montana Lady Griz head coach.
Along with completing the hiring of his full coaching staff, Holsinger, who was hired by the program back in April, has finally gotten a chance to work with his current players, while also hitting the recruiting trail as the program moves forward.
Now a little over two months into the job, Holsinger said he took his time when putting his staff together to make sure his three assistants in Jordan Sullivan, Nate Harris and Joslyn Tinkle were the right hires and would fit well together.
"They’ve had experiences together, and that was really important in my last hire," Holsinger said. "I wanted them to feel comfortable to fit together because when you enjoy each other, you’re better. And so they’ll work together better and the willingness to challenge each other, because there will be challenges at times, is more understood when you know each other and so that will be really helpful and we have a blast."
Holsinger and his family have also gotten a chance to begin getting accustomed to the city of Missoula and Montana again, now that they've completed their move to the Garden City.
"I mean, we drive to work everyday and we’re like, 'This place is amazing,'" Holsinger said. "It’s really such a nice city to live in and so you start there and then you work into the fact that you get to work with fantastic people everyday so that makes it fun and we’re on the same page, we’re working hard. There’s some things, no matter what, you’re going to be behind on and just everyday you try to prioritize and you try to just keep moving and going forward."
The Lady Griz roster is beginning to complete itself as well under Holsinger for the upcoming 2021-22 campaign.
The team recently added guard Sammy Fatkin back to the roster after Fatkin previously played for UM from 2018-2019. Along with her addition, incoming international freshmen Lisa Kiefer of Germany and Lamprini Polymeni of Greece are signed to the program as well as Eastern Carolina transfer Katerina Tsineke who rounds out the remainder of the team and roster.
But it hasn't stopped there, as Holsinger and his staff have already hit the recruiting trail for 2022, with Melstone's Draya Wacker announcing her commitment recently to UM.
Holsinger added that through the remainder of the summer before school starts, along with camps, recruiting will continue to be the biggest element for the program as the fall approaches.
"Recruiting is an all-the-time thing, it just never stops," Holsinger said. "You’re always looking for the best fits here. We want to find kids we can give the greatest experiences of their lives, on and off the court. It takes hard work, there’s no easy way around it. It doesn’t just all of a sudden show up, you have to find those kids and find the ones that’ll help you win the Big Sky championship."
