MISSOULA — How can it feel like a homecoming when a girl who was born and raised in West Texas ends up in Missoula to begin her college coaching career? When it’s Leia Beattie, Lady Griz to her roots but only now finally able to fully embrace her family’s long history with the program for the first time.
Beattie, who competed for both Montana State and Northern Arizona during a five-year collegiate playing career that ended in March, joined the Montana coaching staff last month, adding to the family legacy that began 35 years ago.
Her mom, Kelly (Pilcher) Beattie, played for the Lady Griz in the 1990s and was inducted into the Grizzly Sports Hall of Fame last fall. Her aunt, Carla (Beattie) Cunneen, who was Beattie’s high school coach at Midland Classical Academy in Midland, Texas, also played for the Lady Griz in the 1990s.
“It’s been amazing to come and play here. Great environment, great history, a really fun place to play,” said Beattie, who went 4-1 at Dahlberg Arena as a visiting player. “I’m excited to be on this side of things. It’s such a great program with so much upside.”
Beattie knew nothing but success as a player, going 111-49 with the Bobcats and Lumberjacks, starting against Stanford as a sophomore in the 2022 NCAA tournament and playing in the WNIT and WBIT her final two seasons at NAU.
Over five seasons, her teams never finished lower than third in the Big Sky Conference.
It led to various shades of blue taking over the wardrobe of her mom, who played for the Lady Griz in copper and gold when Montana was in the first half of its dynastic decade of the 1990s. She’s ready to go exclusively maroon from this point forward.
“Her path was her own and we supported her, even when she was with the Cats. It was great watching her,” says Beattie’s mom, a Missoula native who was All-Big Sky with the Lady Griz as a junior and senior and on three NCAA tournament teams.
“For this opportunity to come up, I was pretty excited for her and for us. I’m super excited to have her back there. I got my Griz gear out already and bought a few new things, so I’m ready.”
She joins the staff of first-year coach Nate Harris, who was rewarded with the full-time job in March after leading Montana through the end of the season in an interim role. When he was hired, he opted to split his open assistant position into two spots for coaches at the start of their coaching journeys.
“We wanted to get some young people who really wanted to coach and also have people who understand and appreciate what this program is and have as many of them as possible,” said Harris, who has known the Pilcher-Beattie clan for decades.
“They are highly competitive, highly successful, very driven people. When you’re hiring an entry-level position, it’s less about what they can do and more about who they are. Are they competitive, do they care about other people, are they resourceful and capable? Leia is one of those people.”
Because of COVID, Beattie had a five-year college career, playing in 159 games, making 115 starts between two schools. She totaled 1,452 points and hit 281 3-pointers, her best seasons her last two at Northern Arizona.
Playing for former NAU coach Loree Payne, Beattie scored 753 points (10.8 per game) over two seasons as a Lumberjack while knocking down 155 3-pointers on nearly 40 percent shooting from distance.
Her dream of playing in a second NCAA tournament came to an end in March in Boise when favored Northern Arizona, which defeated Montana twice in the regular season by a combined 39 points, fell to the Lady Griz 71-67 in the Big Sky semifinals.
“They played with a lot of passion and grit,” says Beattie of the Boise edition of the Lady Griz. “Even though they had some bumps in conference, they came in a very confident team. They knew they could do it. That’s what Nate was preaching to them. They executed really well.
“He has a way of keeping it simple, of keeping the main thing the main thing. We’re going to come in, we’re going to work hard, we’re going to play for each other. I played for a lot of great coaches, and I think he is going to be a great coach as well.”
She comes from a family of coaches, starting with her grandfathers, Russ Pilcher and Jim Beattie, the former a member of the Montana Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Her mom was her head coach in junior high, her aunt in high school.
“There are a lot of coaches in my family, so it’s always been in the back of my mind,” Beattie said. “It wasn’t until this last year when it was, okay, coaching is something I can see myself doing. I love being around the game and want to stay around the game. This was the perfect transition.”
Beattie earned an undergraduate degree in finance from Northern Arizona in 2024, then added a master’s degree in business analytics as a fifth-year player.
“It feels surreal to be here. I literally just graduated last month and came right here and got into the thick of things,” she added.
“I feel fortunate that (Harris) believed in me. He knows the person I am and that I’m willing to work hard and learn. They are all great coaches here. I just want to do the best I can, soak it up, learn as much as I can and improve as I go.”
After spending the last four seasons game-planning for how to slow down Beattie and the successful teams she played on, Harris now has Beattie at his side, along with fellow assistants Lindsay Woolley, Emma List and Kayla Anderson, with one more assistant spot to fill.
“Watching Leia as a player and coaching against her, she is tenacious, she is relentless but she is also very bright,” said Harris. “I’m excited to see what she can do basketball-wise with the talents and gifts she has.
“So much of coaching is being creative, being relentless, having a set of traits that translate. Leia is one of those people. Whatever she picks up, she is going to be successful.”
