Former Stanford and Golden State Warriors coach Mike Montgomery apparently has agreed to replace Ben Braun as the head coach of Cal's men's basketball team.
Naturally, Montgomery's decision will turn some heads and have some Cardinal faithful calling him all sorts of bad names and have some old Golden Bears wondering why on earth Cal couldn't find someone else to coach their basketball team. Remember, too, that this is different from, say, Leo Durocher's going to manage the Giants after having managed the Dodgers (because the Dodgers fired him). But, of course, I'm far from calling Montgomery a traitor or arguing that Cal is surrendering to Stanford.
Bottom line is a) Montgomery is an excellent coach with a proven track record and b) Cal needs to replace Braun with a better coach (and Braun was a pretty good coach who ran a good program). The choices are finding an up-and-comer who has the chance to become another Coach K or hire a proven winner out there. Montgomery is a proven winner, and he should excel at Cal.
Good choice for Cal and Montgomery, but the public commentary from the partisans should be amusing to say the least.
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3 comments:
Rick Pitino worked for Kentucky and for Louisville in his sports career. If that can work, so can this...
So much for loyalty.
What a slap in the face to all of his fans who supported him at Stanford. We considered him family.
It takes a certain man, i suppose.
I think that you're going too far in taking offense to Montgomery's joining Cal. It's not as though he left Stanford for Cal. The Warriors and time off intervened. Ironically, the Stanford job is now open, and I wonder in a recent post (on 4/11) whether Montgomery's contract has an "out" clause that would enable him to return to The Farm now. Seriously, while it is hard for a Stanford fan to stomach, I wouldn't take too much offense to it. Good coaching jobs are hard to come by, and the Cal job is a very good one.
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