Montgomery spent eight years at MU. He made lasting friendships. It's the only place he's ever been a head coach. And he got forced out after compiling one of the worst records in school history.
"It's not the way I wanted it to end," said Montgomery, sitting for an interview last weekend minutes from his Akron home. "But if you're in coaching long enough, things like that happen. I had to stop feeling sorry for myself because I realized I'm not the only coach that's ever been fired, and I'm not going to be the last. Some things happen like that for a reason."
He was the RedHawks' offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for four seasons (2001 04). He followed Terry Hoeppner as head coach the next four seasons and won two Mid American Conference East Division titles, yet had a 17 31 record.
No Miami head coach with more than a year at the helm has a worse winning percentage than his .354.
It stings a bit as the 45 year old Montgomery thinks about it now. He knows there are things that could've been done differently. But he also knows he gave his heart and soul to the program, and that makes the bottom line a little easier to accept.
"I hate that we weren't able to have the success that we wanted and that the Miami community deserved," Montgomery said. "We felt like we let them down. It was a tough ending, but I know I'm a better coach and person because of it."
He was 37 years old and became the youngest Division I A head coach in the country when MU Athletic Director Brad Bates announced his promotion prior to the 2004 Independence Bowl.
Montgomery's offense was very successful during his days as offensive coordinator, and he was very appreciative of Bates for giving him the opportunity to be head coach. He still is.
The RedHawks were 7 4 and MAC East tri champions in his first season. A 2 10 record followed in ha detto Non voglio dire a Kentwood ci aspettiamo di vincere 2006. There was a 6 7 mark and another East tri championship in 2007, plus a 35 10 loss to Central Michigan in the MAC title game.
In 2008, Montgomery's squad lost its last five games and finished 2 10.
Some things were beyond his control. Injuries were rampant during his Es ist schwierig tenure.
"We lost a lot of great seniors off the '05 team and went with a really young team in '06, and we felt like we had a lot coming back in '07 to be successful, but we had a ton of injuries," Montgomery said. "We went through a spell between '06 and '07 where I think we put 12 kids on medical spendete mehr als Kampagne 80000 bis Boehner seit 2010 Kongress hardships that could no longer play football, and most were linemen, kids that we really felt good about in the future. Probably the biggest disappointment was at the end of '07, not going to a bowl game.
"The '08 season was heartbreaking. We didn't play well against Vanderbilt in the opener, and we felt that was a huge game. We didn't play well in the league, and the league was pretty good that year. When I look back at that year, you've got to make sure your offense and defense complement each other. We weren't in sync all year, for a lot of different reasons. That was disappointing because I thought we had a chance to be a pretty good football team with a lot of people back."
His final season included his final victory, a 27 20 triumph at Bowling Green. Miami was just 2 5 at the time, but was still alive in the MAC East race.
"And we came home and really laid an egg against Kent State," Montgomery recalled. "We were up I want to say 7 3, and the next thing you know we turn the ball over four straight times and it's 31 7 at the half, and it just got out of hand. I don't know if we lost confidence, but we weren't the same team after that game."
The final score was 54 21. The RedHawks then lost to Buffalo (37 17), Ball State (31 16), Toledo (42 14) and Ohio (41 26). The last game was an afternoon affair at Yager Stadium.
Montgomery didn't think it was his last game at Miami. He knew that was a possibility, but he was quoted after the game saying the 2009 season "starts Sunday with a team meeting."
"I ran into (Ohio coach) Frank Solich going into my press conference," Montgomery said. "He was very nice and said, 'I hope you get to stay.' I remember saying, 'I don't know, Frank. I don't know.' "
Montgomery was gone the next day.
"I had been set to meet with the AD (and deputy AD Jason Lener) the next morning. That had been set up for a while," Montgomery said. "They were very good about it. They told me as soon as I walked in. I think it was the first thing out of their mouths: We're not going to renew your contract. I thanked them for the opportunity and just said I'll resign.
"I remember thinking at that time, half of me wishes I would've known the day before, so maybe I could enjoy that last game with the team. The other half doesn't want to know. I don't know how I would've felt about that."
Montgomery does have some regrets about things he could've controlled. He continued to call the offense when he became head coach and felt things became "stale" on that side of the ball.
"I hate to admit it, but we weren't real creative on offense," Montgomery said. "Looking back, we weren't as creative as we needed to be because we weren't physically better than people at that point."
Did he become more conservative as head coach?
"Could be. I think that happens sometimes when you're overseeing the big picture," Montgomery said. "The other thing was I felt like, especially in '07, we were really good on defense. Sometimes when you're afin de disposer de tels déchets really good on defense, maybe you have a tendency to be a little more conservative because you have confidence in that side of the ball."
