In a decision that the Montana Grizzly Marching Band director called "ridiculous," the band at the football game at Washington-Grizzly Stadium on Saturday was asked to play fewer songs so that canned music could be played instead.
Grizzly Marching Band director Dr. Kevin Griggs sent a message Saturday evening to band members saying that the athletic department asked him not to play the fight song after each touchdown, and that the stadium would play "Cotton-Eyed Joe" instead, according to a KPAX-TV report.
“They feel canned music pumps up the crowd more and is more interesting than the band music," Griggs wrote. "You know that I find that to be a ridiculous opinion and I will fight for you and the role you play at the games."
This follows a decision made near the start of the season to not include Montana State University’s marching band at the "Brawl of the Wild" game so that more tickets to the game could be sold.
Quintin Soloviev, Creative Commons
Griggs told the news station Monday that he is “working with the athletic department for a positive resolution."
Griggs pointed to Griz athletics’ Nic Hallisey as the person who made the change, writing in the email:
“The person responsible for the offensive and ignorant attitude regarding our participation is Nick Hallisey - Associate AD (Marketing and Communications). The GMB will continue to take the higher ground and remain the professionals in this fight. There are many ways that we can respond to this and I think that more people need to know that they are now trying to cut us out of participation at our own home games.”
But in a statement issued on X (formally Twitter) Monday afternoon, UM athletics director Kent Haslam said the adjustment that was made to Saturday's Brawl of the Wild game was to allow "athletics marketing to be more spontaneous and engage the crowd more quickly" playing music when the Grizzlies were on defense. The band would still be allowed to play at the opportunities when the team was on offense.
The other change, Haslam said, was that the band was asked to play the fight song only after touchdowns, and that for Saturday's game, athletics marketing would take the opportunity after the extra point to play music.
In the statement, Haslam said the "athletic department will continue to work with the Grizzly Marching Band to make Grizzly football games the best environment in the country."
There were more than 27,000 fans at Washington-Grizzly Stadium on Saturday.
