BOZEMAN — Waded Cruzado had been in Washington, D.C., but she took a flight that got her to Seattle in time for the game.
Montana State University’s President since January 2010, Cruzado took her seat in the University of Washington’s arena ready to see the Bobcat women’s basketball team play the Huskies in the first round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament. She saw the graphics and statistics on the scoreboard over the middle of the court and remarked to fellow MSU administrators that she wanted a similar one inside the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse. Montana State officials formed a plan and, in March 2018, from the state’s Board of Regents to spend $675,000 on a new scoreboard.
It was in place later that summer. Women’s basketball head coach Tricia Binford loves telling that story because it shows how Cruzado operates as the university’s figurehead. “She just makes things happen,” Binford said.
Cruzado that she would retire at the end of this academic year in June 2025 — a deserved conclusion to a lifetime dedicated to public education, but a severe blow to an athletics department that has thrived under her watch. Athletics Director Leon Costello called Cruzado the most competitive person he has ever met and said he will miss partnering with her to make MSU’s sports programs the best they can be. “She wants to win at everything, and the great thing is she wants to do it the right way,” Costello said.
“She wants to build the foundation and win and have sustai.