Dreikosen thankful for his time as Rocky Mountain head coach

JOHN LETASKY

406 MT Sports

BILLINGS — For Bill Dreikosen, it’s all about his faith and his family.

Yes, being the head men’s basketball coach at Rocky Mountain College for 25 years — and spending 33 years total at the school with a five-year stint as an assistant men’s coach proceeding his head coaching career, and another three years there as a player — was a big part of his life, but to Dreikosen that didn’t define him.

On March 17, Rocky announced in a press release that Dreikosen would no longer be heading up the men’s basketball program at the school. Athletic director Jim Klemann told The Billings Gazette and 406 MT Sports that the school appreciated Dreikosen’s “impact on RMC and our student-athletes,” but that “we felt it was the time to move on and take the program in a new direction.”

Dreikosen, who coached the Battlin’ Bears to the 2009 NAIA men’s basketball national title and is the school’s all-time leader in wins with an overall record of 399-364 according to a RMC press release issued on March 17, said on Tuesday that his contract wasn’t renewed.

“(Former UCLA men’s basketball coaching great) John Wooden said it best. He said, ‘Hey, if you go into coaching, you’re going to get blamed for things you didn’t do and you’re going to get credit for things you didn’t do,’” Dreikosen told The Billings Gazette and 406 MT Sports. “And I got a lot more credit than all my time that I didn’t, that I had more of a small part in than maybe some people thought, ‘Oh, I was a big part of it.’ But that’s just all parts of leadership. You’re going to have those things.”

The 54-year-old Dreikosen said his wife Kally, whom he married in 1997, daughter Zoee, and sons Peyton and Jordan, will be fine moving forward and that he is thankful for the support of Kally and his children, without which coaching the Battlin’ Bears for so long would’ve been a bigger challenge than it was. Dreikosen, who also taught officiating high school sports in the fall and coaching basketball in the spring at RMC, said he was no longer employed by Rocky.

But instead of dwelling on the events of the past week, Dreikosen was focused on the positive memories. He was also appreciative of the support he received over the years from the community and colleagues at Rocky, his former players, assistant coaches, others in the Frontier Conference, his Faith Chapel family, along with many others too numerous to name individually. Dreikosen was especially grateful for Garry Matlock, whom he coached under for five years and played for one season at Rocky, and succeeded as head coach in late March of 2000. He also expressed gratitude for deceased former Rocky president Arthur DeRosier Jr., past RMC vice president for institutional advancement Jay Forseth, and former RMC AD Terry Corey, all of whom Dreikosen said hired him to be head men’s basketball coach.

“And so, from our perspective, from my family, from me directly, it’s really just more about the appreciation,” said Dreikosen. “Not only of the last 30 years, but there’s so many parts to this, and so I wouldn’t want anybody, you or anybody in the community, to dwell on whether something was right or wrong and how something was handled or not handled. What’s important to me is that we get the proper thank yous out and appreciation of everything that this community and the people that we know that supported us as a family and as a program in the last 30 years.

“So, really that’s what I would like to say and just (let people) know, we’re on Team Jesus, you’ve heard that before, and Team Dreikosen is doing great and we look forward to what God has in store next. Always remember that God’s timing is perfect, but sometimes he closes doors when maybe we don’t think we’re ready. But God’s future is always far brighter than we could ever imagine.”

Dreikosen — who played basketball for two years at Miles Community College before venturing to RMC — played at Rocky for a year under Jeff Malby before hurting his knee in preseason and missing the next season, and then for one year under Matlock. He graduated from RMC in 1994 with an education degree with a major in history and a minor in economics. After graduating Rocky, the 1989 Hinsdale High School graduate who helped his team to the 1988 Class C state boys basketball title, spent the 1994-95 school year at Medicine Lake coaching junior high girls basketball and high school boys basketball.

After a year in Medicine Lake, Dreikosen returned to Rocky and became a fixture at the NAIA school that competes in the Frontier Conference and is located on Poly Drive in Billings.

According to the RMC press release issued last week, the Battlin’ Bears won the Frontier Conference regular season once (2014), the Frontier Conference Tournament four times (2002, 2003, 2013, 2014), and made seven national tournament appearances (2002, 2003, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2019) under Dreikosen.

Dreikosen was the 2008-09 NAIA Coach of the Year and he was the Frontier Conference Coach of the Year in 2014 after leading RMC to its first outright regular-season crown in 20 years and back-to-back Frontier tourney titles.

While the previous few seasons were a struggle in the win-loss column for the Battlin’ Bears, Rocky did bounce back to finish this past season 19-11 overall and 7-8 in the league before bowing out of the conference tourney in the semifinals.

Dreikosen said he’ll always remember the 2009 champions, but said all of his teams will always hold a special place in his heart and that he still regularly communicates with many of his former players.

While he’s proud of each of his team’s accomplishments for what they achieved during that individual season, Dreikosen did say of the 2009 NAIA national champs: “That was a special team; a special group of guys and that’s something you’ll never forget. I tell the kids, you’re on a journey and you’re creating memories and the longer and the farther you go and when you get to the ultimate pinnacle like that in something that you do, it was definitely an exciting time and something that we’ll never forget.”

While at Rocky, Dreikosen said his main goal was to help develop the student-athletes on the Battlin’ Bears roster; not just in terms of wins and losses but in in all areas of their lives. Dreikosen is also thankful for the life lessons he learned while at Rocky and for those lessons helping to shape the person he is today.

“I think the thing that we focused on in our program, in our mission statement, was using basketball as a vehicle to teach kids more about life and to be ready and prepared to face future endeavors in life,” said Dreikosen. “And more importantly than winning championships in our program, we really stress being a champion. And, so every year you’ve obviously subject to scrutiny and different things on how many wins did you get. And for us, there’s a lot more to winning. And that’s most importantly what I was really trying to help kids in their walk in life. I would tell them, ‘The most important thing you’re going to leave Rocky Mountain College with is not a degree. And that’s kind of scary to some people until you finish the statement. The most important thing that I feel like our guys left Rocky Mountain College with in 30 years was the man they became. And a really important part of the man they became was finishing a degree and learning how to stay committed in a classroom and get that degree. And they also learn through their sports and have to push through in difficult times when they’re hurt, or when they don’t feel like practicing. So, it’s really a culmination of all that, but in the end it’s really the man that they become and I’m thankful for the man that I’ve became in the last 33 years.”

“The man that I’ve became through 33 years is definitely different than the person I showed up on campus with in 1991 as a student there. And that’s a credit to so many different people. And Matlock is a big one in that. He believed in me, and always has.”

Kally has been Dreikosen’s “rock” in life and he’s grateful for everything his wife helped him with throughout his time at Rocky.

“I can’t stress it enough that to do what I’ve done for as long as I’ve done it, I could not have done without Kally. She’s been my rock the whole way,” he said, adding, “that if it wasn’t for my wife and kids, it would have been much more difficult. And so, I’m very, very thankful for that.”

As for what he’s going to do next, Dreikosen said he wasn’t closing any doors. Maybe one day, he’ll coach basketball again. One thing is for sure, Dreikosen knows his life isn’t defined solely on his time as Rocky’s men’s basketball coach. And, he said Kally has helped him see that.

“Basketball coaching is what I did to make a difference,” Dreikosen said. “It’s not who I am, and I’ll never forget that. And that comes straight from my wife, like I said, she’s my rock. Basketball coaching is what I did to serve God with the gifts that I’ve had.”