Mark Montgomery (basketball)


Mark Allen Montgomery is an American college basketball coach and the current head men's basketball coach at Northern Illinois University. Montgomery replaced Ricardo Patton as head coach of the Huskies on March 24, 2011. Previously, Montgomery served as an assistant to head coach Tom Izzo at Michigan State for ten seasons, the last four as Associate Head Coach. The Spartans reached the NCAA Tournament in each of Montgomery's ten seasons on the staff, including three Final Four appearances and a trip to the title game in 2009.

Playing career

Montgomery was a four-year letter winner at Michigan State from 1988–92. Upon completion of his college career, he held the school record for games played at Michigan State. He was an All-Big Ten Third Team selection in 1992. He ranks fourth all time in assists and fourth all time in steals for MSU. He averaged 5.3 points and 4.5 assists per game and was a member of the 1990 Big Ten Championship team. He played with current MSU associate head coach, Dwayne Stephens.
Upon finishing his college career, he played four years of professional basketball in Europe and averaged more than 25 points per game.

Coaching career

Assistant at Central Michigan

Montgomery spent four years as an assistant coach at Central Michigan, joining the staff in 1997 under head coach Jay Smith. He was a part of their MAC conference championship team in 2001.

Assistant at Michigan State

Montgomery returned to MSU prior to the 2001–02 season. In 2007, he was promoted to associate head coach under Tom Izzo. He helped MSU to three Final Fours, 2005, 2009, and 2010 including the National Championship game in 2009. He coached for MSU for 10 seasons before being hired as a head coach.

Head coach at Northern Illinois

On March 24, 2011, Montgomery was introduced as the 27th head coach in NIU history. Montgomery took over a program that had traditionally struggled, going 35–83 in the prior four seasons.

Head coaching record