There is no indication that Mike Montgomery, the former Stanford and Golden State Warriors head basketball coach, is at all interested in being the new men’s basketball coach at Long Beach State. Although, it would be a huge statement if Athletic Director Vic Cegles pulled off the coup and brought Montgomery back to The Beach.
Montgomery is the best basketball coach in the country who doesn’t have a job. He turned a struggling men’s basketball program at Stanford into a perennial national power, which was highlighted by leading the Cardinal to the Final Four in 1998.
At first glance, Montgomery is above coming to a Big West school rather than waiting for another job opening at a major conference school, like the Pac-10.
But the landscape in college basketball has changed in the last 10 years, and the difference from the major conference schools and the mid-major schools is getting smaller and smaller.
This can be seen from the recent success at Gonzaga, which is one of the best men’s basketball programs in any conference in the country.
Plus, there is the George Mason example. The commuter school from a large metropolitan area (sound familiar?) went to the Final Four last year, the first mid-major team to do so since 1979.
Even a quick peak at the upcoming Sweet 16 matchups this weekend shows schools like Butler and Southern Illinois, which aren’t even Cinderella stories, but instead are very talented teams that could repeat George Mason’s feat from a year ago.
The point is, Cegles might be able to sell Montgomery on the idea that just because he would have to play the UC Riversides and Cal State Northridges of the world in January, it doesn’t mean he wouldn’t also have the chance to play the Kentuckys and Dukes of the world in March.
Even if Cegles can convince Montgomery that he could win at the highest levels of college basketball at LBSU, the real challenge will be paying Montgomery’s asking price.
Former 49er coach Larry Reynolds was paid $185,000 last season as the men’s basketball coach. In his last job in the NBA with the Warriors, Montgomery was being paid an average of $3 million a year.
LBSU wouldn’t have to cough up $3 million a year to bring in Montgomery, but the university might have to offer as much as $900,000 a year (which is how much Ben Howland makes at UCLA).
Also, it is not as though the California State University system is overflowing with extra cash. Just ask one of your soon-to-be striking professors about that.
So, Cegles is going to have to work his magic.
One of the main reasons why Cegles was brought in to be the athletic director at LBSU was his track record in fundraising.
At Temple University, and before that at Arizona State, Cegles led successful fundraising campaigns. If you saw Cegles at men’s basketball games this season, you likely saw him spending more time shaking people’s hands than observing the product on the court.
CSULB isn’t lacking financially well-off alumni, and hiring a big-time head coach like Montgomery could be just what some of them need to open up their checkbooks.
Not only that, but bringing in Montgomery has the potential to pay for itself. The Walter Pyramid would surely be sold out for the foreseeable future, and the university would get immeasurable nationwide recognition for having a top college basketball coach patrolling the sidelines.
The bottom line is it is a real stretch that Montgomery would come to The Beach, but it shouldn’t just be dismissed as being impossible. In the next couple of days, Cegles should aim high and see if he can pull it off. If he can’t, then he could go to plan B.
Oh, and one last thing. Montgomery was born in Long Beach and is a CSULB alumnus. So let’s bring him home.
