COLUMBIA FALLLS — After 33 years of coaching basketball in Montana, Columbia Falls' Cary Finberg has been inducted into the Montana Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
Finberg started his coaching career in Dillon, then returned to his hometown, where he coached both the girls and boys basketball teams and won six state championships between the two.
“Coming back to my alma mater in my hometown, that was something special,” Finberg said. “Obviously, you know, I wanted to bring a tradition and a winning formula back here and, you know, luckily I had the kids to get that done.”
One of those kids was his nephew, Chris Finberg, the current Columbia Falls boys basketball coach, who played for Cary in high school and began his career as an assistant coach under his uncle.
Chris said when he began coaching the Wildcats he carried an important lesson from Cary.
“He was always trying to learn. He'd go to coaching clinics and he would try new things at practice or maybe in games and try different things with different teams,” Chris said. “The biggest thing he told me that stuck in my mind, if you expect your kids to get better, then you should be doing the same thing. And the results speak for themselves.”
Cary Finberg’s willingness to keep learning brought him 533 career wins, but some of the games that stick out are the losses.
“I look back at the 17 times we placed at state. Those teams that took second and third, you know, they had successful seasons, they just come up maybe a game short or possession short,” Finberg said. “They were great teams and great memories there, as well, so those teams can't be forgotten, because they had successful seasons, as well.”
Those successful seasons will be honored with Finberg’s induction into the MCA Hall of Fame in July, an honor he will share with four other coaches he admires.
“A lot of great coaches I looked up to growing up and obviously through my playing career and obviously early into my coaching career,” Finberg said. “To be included with those people, definitely something special and definitely something I'm proud of.”
The induction ceremony will be part of the 2025 MCA awards ceremony and coaches clinic on July 31 at Great Falls CMR High School.
