Mike Montgomery isn’t going anywhere.
The head coach of the Cal men’s basketball team agreed to a two-year contract extension through the 2015-16 season, according to a press release Monday.
“Mike is a proven winner as a coach on the basketball court and as a mentor in developing our student-athletes here at Cal,” said Athletic Director Sandy Barbour. “His tremendous achievements speak for themselves. Mike epitomizes the mission, vision and values of our department and I am excited he will continue to lead our men’s basketball program for the next four seasons.”
The Bears are coming off a 24-10 season in which they finished second in the Pac-12 and received an NCAA Tournament berth. In his four years at the helm, Cal has reached the tournament three times and amassed an 88-47 record. In 2009-10, the Bears won the Pac-10 title, their first league championship in 50 years.
Montgomery’s best season in Berkeley might have been the one not to make the NCAA Tournament. He guided a squad decimated by graduations and transfers — without a single returning starter — to an 18-15 record and NIT berth. The season marked the emergence of defensive stopper Jorge Gutierrez as an offensive leader and Allen Crabbe, the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, as a dead-eye shooter.
The pair of guards led Cal’s return to March Madness this past season. Gutierrez, Montgomery’s first recruit, was the first player in league history to win Pac-12 Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year.
“I am very proud of what our student-athletes have accomplished on and off the court during our first four years,” Montgomery said. “Thanks to the tremendous support of the University, the administration and my staff, we have established a strong foundation of success and look forward to continuing to add to the rich tradition of this program.”
In 30 years of coaching, Montgomery has a .686 winning percentage (635-291). He led Stanford to 12 NCAA Tournaments, four conference titles and one Final Four in 18 years with the Cardinal.
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Sandy says the coach “epitomizes the mission, vision and values of our department.” Cal men’s basketball graduation rate is 33%. The average graduation rate for men’s basketball in the NCAA is 67%. Duke, the national champions a year ago, graduated 100%. How does such a low graduation rate reflect any mission, vision, or value of a Cal department?
Mentoring student-athletes? Proud of his players accomplishments off the court?
Hello. Zero (yes, that’s a 0) African-American players graduate. Montgomery tosses his hands up. ‘They just want to go to the NBA’. ‘The people I recruit just aren’t interested in going to class. What can I do?’
What a sham!
Let’s hope they’re not readying an extension for the football coach.