Michael John Montgomery (born February 27, 1947) is a retired American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

coach. He is best known for his 18-year tenure at

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

(1986–2004), where he led the program to 12 NCAA Tournaments, including a Final Four appearance in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

. Montgomery previously served as head coach at the

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

(1978–1986). Following his time at Stanford, he coached the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 194 ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA) for two seasons (2004–2006) before ending his career at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

(2008–2014). He announced his retirement from coaching following the 2013–14 season. Over his 32-year collegiate coaching career, Montgomery made 16 NCAA Tournaments, captured 6 conference championships, and amassed nearly 700 victories. He also led Stanford to the NIT championship in

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

Early years

Born and raised in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

, Montgomery graduated from its

Millikan High School Robert A. Millikan Senior High School is a high school in Long Beach, California, United States, administered by the Long Beach Unified School District. It is located near the intersection of Spring Street and Palo Verde Avenue in the Los Alto ...

and attended

Long Beach State California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is a public research university in Long Beach, California. The 322-acre campus is the second largest of the 23-school California State University system (CSU) and one of the largest universities i ...

. He received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree in

physical education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorati ...

from Long Beach State and later a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in physical education from

Colorado State University Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...

Fort Collins A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

. Montgomery is an alumni member of

Sigma Alpha Epsilon Sigma Alpha Epsilon (), commonly known as SAE, is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity. It was founded at the University of Alabama on March 9, 1856. Of all existing national social fraternities today, Sigma Alpha Epsilon is t ...

fraternity A fraternity (from Latin language, Latin ''wiktionary:frater, frater'': "brother (Christian), brother"; whence, "wiktionary:brotherhood, brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club (organization), club or fraternal ...

, which he joined while at Long Beach State.

College coaching career

Montgomery compiled a 677–317 () overall record in over 30 years at Berkeley (2008-2014), Stanford (1986–2004) and Montana (1978–1986). He boasts 31 winning seasons in his 32 years as a head coach at Berkeley, Stanford and Montana. Montgomery's Stanford teams reached the NCAA tournament ten straight times from 1995 to 2004. Stanford reached the Final Four under Montgomery in 1998, the school's first Final Four appearance in 56 years. He made his third appearance along the USA Basketball sidelines in 2002 when he was named an assistant under

George Karl George Matthew Karl (born May 12, 1951) is an American former professional basketball coach and player. After spending five years as a player for the San Antonio Spurs, Karl became an assistant with the team before getting the chance to become a ...

for the US national team in the

2002 FIBA World Championship The 2002 FIBA World Championship was the 14th edition of the competition now known as the FIBA Basketball World Cup, the international world championship for men's basketball teams. The tournament held by the International Basketball Federation in ...

. Prior to being named head coach at Montana in 1978, he was an assistant for the Griz in Missoula for two seasons under new head coach Jim Brandenburg, who succeeded

hall of famer A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...

Jud Heathcote George Melvin "Jud" Heathcote (May 27, 1927 – August 28, 2017) was an American basketball player and coach. He was a college basketball head coach for 24 seasons: five at the University of Montana and nineteen at Michigan State University H ...

in 1976. Brandenburg left after two season for

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

in 1978 and Montgomery was promoted. At Montana, Montgomery coached future NBA players

Micheal Ray Richardson Micheal "Sugar" Ray Richardson (born April 11, 1955) is an American former professional basketball player and head coach. He played college basketball for the Montana Grizzlies. The No. 4 overall pick in the 1978 NBA draft, Richardson played in ...

and

Larry Krystkowiak Larry Brett Krystkowiak ( ; born September 23, 1964) is a retired American professional basketball player, and former head coach of the Utah Utes men's basketball team. Early life He was born in Missoula, Montana, to Bernard and Helen Krystkowia ...

. Prior to Montana, Montgomery was an assistant for three years at Boise State under Bus Connor, and had previously been an assistant for a season each at four different schools. In 2000, Montgomery was named the Naismith and Basketball Times Coach of the Year. He was also named the Pac-10 Coach of the Year four times. Following his career at Stanford, he was awarded the John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching Lifetime Achievement Award.

NBA coaching career

Montgomery left Stanford to become the head coach of the

on May 21, 2004. He coached the Warriors for two seasons, during each of which the team compiled identical 34-48 records. Montgomery was terminated as Warriors coach on August 29, 2006.

2007–retirement

On August 30, 2007, Stanford University announced that Montgomery was returning to the university as Assistant to the Athletic Director on a part-time basis. According to the announcement, "his duties will include fund raising and public relations while also serving as a mentor to Stanford's coaching staff." On April 4, 2008, Montgomery was named the head coach of the California men's basketball program. In his first season the Golden Bears went 22–10 and made it to the NCAA tournament, where they lost in the first round to

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. On February 27, 2010, Cal defeated Arizona State, 62–46, to clinch at least a tie for the Pacific-10 Conference championship, the first for the school since 1960. On March 6, the Bears defeated Montgomery's former team, Stanford, 71–61, to clinch an undisputed conference championship. Cal was defeated by

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

in the finals of the Pac-10 tournament, but received a bid to the NCAA tournament, where they were seeded 8th in the South Region. The Bears advanced to the second round, where they were defeated by eventual National Champion

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

. On March 31, 2014, Montgomery announced his retirement from California.

Personal

In October 2011, Montgomery revealed that he had recently been diagnosed and treated for

bladder cancer Bladder cancer is any of several types of cancer arising from the tissues of the urinary bladder. Symptoms include blood in the urine, pain with urination, and low back pain. It is caused when epithelial cells that line the bladder become mali ...

. After a surgical procedure was performed, Montgomery declared himself "cancer-free. On February 18, 2013, Coach Montgomery was reprimanded by the Pac-12 Conference for shoving one of his players in the chest during a game against USC. The conference did not announce what punishment Montgomery received for his actions, although he was not suspended. Commissioner Larry Scott commented, "While emotions can run high in competitive environments, Pac-12 coaches are expected to conduct themselves in a manner that will reflect credit on the institution and the conference." Montgomery and his wife Sara have two adult children; son John is an assistant coach at

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

Head coaching record

Mike Montgomery in huddle at 2008 Golden Bear Classic championship game

College

NBA

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References

External links