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George Pfeifer begins his first season as head coach of men’s basketball at Montana State University Billings. He comes to the Yellowjackets with a rich background in resurrecting and building championship level programs.
Pfeifer comes to MSUB after three years at the University of Idaho where he inherited a program that was in last place and predicted by every media and coaches poll to finish last. In the end they proved those predictions wrong finishing in the middle of the Western Athletic Conference winning three of their last five league games to give the program the highest finish in the WAC.
Prior to Idaho, Pfeifer had a very successful tenure at Lewis-Clark State College where he was the head men’s coach from 1989-2005 and the assistant coach from 1987-1989. He gained his 200th career win as the Warrior Head Coach in 2001—02, and then set the school record for coaching career wins with 213 victories in a 105-79 win over the University of Great Falls, while garnering 294 career wins at his alma mater. During his tenure, he built L-C into one of the strongest programs in the Pacific Northwest and led the Warriors to national prominence.
During the 2002-03 season, the Warriors team posted a school-record for wins with a 31-6 overall record and an .837 winning percentage. Prior to his arrival as a coach, L-C had won only one playoff game in its basketball history as a four-year institution in 1947. It took Pfeifer only three years to guide L-C to a conference title and their schools’ first berth in the NAIA championships beating Simon-Fraser University, Western Washington and St. Martin’s College in a best two-out-of-three series. At that time, it marked the first time in the 99- year history of the men’s basketball program that it qualified for a national tournament. That year, the Warriors posted 23 wins which was a school-record at the time for wins in one season. Two years later in 1995, Pfeifer led L-C to its second NAIA berth in a victory over Seattle University.
In his 16 years as the L-C head coach his teams would play in eight title games, eight district championships and reach the national tournament six times. When he took over the program, the school record for wins in a single season was 21. In Pfeifer’s last six seasons, the Warriors averaged over 23 wins per year. He has been selected Coach of the Year five times and has recruited and coached 18 NAIA All-Americans as well as 18 Academic All-Americans. Of the 75 men’s basketball records held at L-C, Pfeifer coached teams had posted 51 when he left.
Not one to shy away from playing tough schedules, the Warriors under Pfeifer’s rein faced 26 NCAA Division I opponents. In 2000, the Lewis-Clark State defeated the University of Idaho 68-54 and Boise State by 14 points in 1995. In two meetings against Washington State, L-C dropped both decisions on a last second shot and by five points.
Prior to his current position at L-C, Pfeifer had a two-year stint as an assistant basketball coach under legendary head coach, Dick Hannan. He also served as the head women’s basketball coach at Rocky Mountain College for two years (1985-87). Pfeifer also was an assistant coach for men’s basketball at RMC during the 1984-85 campaign under Mark Adams. He was a part of RMC’s first-ever NAIA National Tournament berth after being crowned District XII champions.
Pfeifer also served as head coach for two years at Hardin High School in Hardin, Mont., and three years at St. Maries High School in his hometown of St. Maries, Idaho. In his two years at Hardin, Pfeifer led the team to back-to-back appearances at the Montana State High School Championships. Hardin had not been to the state tournament in over 20 years, and were 5-56 over the three years before his arrival. He also led St. Maries to a 21-3 record in his third year and a fourth place finish at the Idaho State Class A-2 Tournament. Prior to his arrival, St. Maries had only won one game in each of the three seasons leading up to Pfeifer’s arrival.
He graduated from Lewis-Clark State in 1979 with a Bachelor of Science degree in social science and a minor in physical education and coaching. Pfeifer received his master’s degree in secondary education administration in 1989 from the University of Idaho.
He has been married for 26 years to Susan, who teaches in the Billings School District. They have three children. Their oldest son, Duncan, who is in his final year of his engineering degree, Jennifer who just graduated with her business finance degree and their youngest daughter, Abigail, who is starting her freshman year All three of their children have or are attending the University of Idaho. Pfeifer’s son-in-law, Kassidy Probert, graduated from Idaho in 2007 and his daughter-in-law, Kylie graduated from Idaho in 2008.
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