There is an old saying there are only two kinds of coaches: those who have been fired and those who will be fired. Even when coaches are not asked to leave, in the current climate of collegiate sports, many coaches voluntarily and eagerly move on to more lucrative opportunities.
Not so for Rob Selvig.
In a profession that grows more nomadic by the turn of a transfer portal, Selvig stayed put, stayed true, and the result was a legacy that goes above and beyond the hoisting of a championship banner in an arena.
The new documentary “Playing Like A Girl: The House That Rob Built,” which emanates from the venerable LA-based Catholic studio Family Theater Productions, is not about championship banners, even though there are many. It is not about how women’s sports grew in stature and equity over the past three decades, as it obviously has.
It is about how a man, dedicated to the sport he loved, found his vocation in life and how that vocation touched the lives of hundreds of young women, who may have thought they would never get the opportunity to go to college or compete at an elite athletic level.
Selvig, we learn, loved the game he played since a child. When his collegiate playing days were over, he knew his next step was coaching. What he did not expect was that his first and last coaching job would be a women’s team at the University of Montana — not exactly one of the powerhouse basketball schools in the country.
He began before the days of the Title IX court ruling that finally leveled the playing field for women’s collegiate sports. It was a world of inferior facilities and little or no support from alumni or college administrations. But it was a job offer, and Selvig accepted the position to coach the “Lady Griz” basketball team. He stayed for 38 years.
Directed by former Lady Griz player and now Emmy-winning filmmaker Megan Harrington, “The House That Rob Built” is set to run on local PBS stations around the country, no small feat for a small Catholic production studio. It shows how Selvig’s life and coaching career intersected with those of hundreds of young women, many of them from rural small towns in Montana and Native American reservations.
Harrington was one of those small-town girls who always dreamed of playing for the Lady Griz team but was first told by Selvig that he did not have a scholarship to offer her. Then, one fateful night that she first believed was a prank, Selvig called her house: a scholarship had opened up and was hers for the taking.
We meet many other women with similar paths. Women like Malia Kipp, who was a teenage mother in high school living on a reservation in Montana and facing a future that seemed to only offer challenges when she met Selvig. He believed in her potential when she had serious doubts.
The film’s essence comes through this particular story as Kipp explained how overwhelmed she felt at juggling the responsibilities of being a mother, a student, and a collegiate athlete, and found a champion in Selvig. The self-confidence Selvig “coached” into her paid dividends far beyond a basketball court. After her playing days were over, Kipp graduated from law school and is currently the attorney general for her tribe.
The film could have been sustained if it was just about a great basketball coach. There is a lot of ground to cover, with a career that spanned 38 years and produced 865 wins, 24 conference championships, and 21 NCAA Tournament appearances.
But this film is not about wins and losses. It is truly a powerful story of a man who — like so many coaches — may have thought his first job would be a stepping stone to something bigger and better, but discovered something more important.
Many of Selvig’s former players vividly remember his tough and sometimes harsh coaching style, but they are unanimous in their love and respect for him. Selvig clearly reciprocates those feelings.
Though faith is never mentioned, and the University of Montana is a secular institution, Selvig’s Christian attributes, though sometimes wrapped inside a pretty tough coach, permeate the film and his acceptance, love, and commitment to his “girls” are reflected back at him through the stories the women in the film tell.
You do not have to know a thing about basketball to be deeply touched by this film. I guess the best way to sum up this film is that if you are going to be a bear, be a grizzly — especially a Lady Griz.
“The House That Rob Built” is playing during the month of November on local PBS stations. Visit TheHouseThatRobBuiltMovie.com for showtimes and more information.
