Former Griz Head Coach Blaine Taylor Shares March Madness Memories, Ft. Rick Pitino

Former Montana Grizzly and Old Dominion Head Coach Blaine Taylor called into the Daily Drive on Tuesday, March 18th.

It's March Madness week, in case you haven't seen March Madness enough this week, and I wanted to hear Coach Taylor's experiences in the NCAA Tournament. He's been to the tournament with Montana and Old Dominion as head coach in 1992, 1997, 2005, 2007, 2010 and 2011.

Per usual, Taylor lived up to the hype.

What's it like coaching in March?

"A dream come true," said Taylor. "You know, you're a little kid watching TV and then you're a player, and then you're an assistant, then you're a head coach, then you're a fan. It's everything."

One of the years Montana played UNLV in the tournament, Taylor shared a story about one of his guys looking for advice at the press conference.

"Our point guard had about a $200 [car] wreck. he walks up and says 'What should I say about my car?' It's all those experiences, some of those small, some of those big."

I asked Coach Taylor who the guard was that got into a wreck. Was it Travis DeCuire?

"That guard was actually Shane Belnap. His car was so beat up they wouldn't even give him a parking ticket at Montana. It was a heap," said Taylor.

Coach Taylor has been to the tournament with all levels of teams - #1 seed Stanford, mid-majors like Montana and UC Irvine, and underdog winners like Old Dominion. Taylor says the stress of those mid-major schools goes through the roof.

"When you're at some schools, when you're in a 1-bid league, man, your conference tournament is pressure-packed. There's all this joy, but there's all this relief almost that 'Gah, we're there we made it," when talking about qualifying for the NCAA Tournament.

Taylor's teams have done some damage like the time his #11 seeded Old Dominion Monarchs took down #6 seed Notre Dame.

Rick Pitino ringing the bell?

Our conversation bled into the controversial decision of putting North Carolina in this year's tournament. It led Taylor to the time he took ODU to the NIT in New York City... how cool is this?

"Me and Rick Pitino rang the bell to open the stock market one morning when we got the finals of the NIT... Yeah, it's quite the memory."

For more great stories and memories with Coach Taylor, check out The Daily Drive with Ace Sauerwein podcast below.