University of Hawai'i at Manoa Athletics

John Montgomery begins his second season on the Rainbow Warrior staff. Montgomery coaches the UH wing players, oversees team rebounding, and serves as the program’s scouting and recruiting coordinator. He also monitors academics and admissions and assists with the team’s media efforts. 

During the 2015-16 season, Montgomery helped the Rainbow Warriors win a school-record 28 games, claim both the Big West regular-season and tournament titles, and capture the program’s first-ever win in the NCAA Tournament. Under his direction the Rainbow Warriors led the Big West in rebounding margin (+4.3). Meanwhile, he helped junior wing Aaron Valdes earn all-Big West honors as the team’s second-leading scorer.    

Montgomery came to the Manoa campus after a six-year run with the California Golden Bears of the Pac-12 Conference. Montgomery served as director of basketball operations at Cal for three seasons before being elevated to assistant coach for the 2011-12 season. He worked primarily with the team’s guards and aided in the development of Pac-12 Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year Jorge Gutierrez, along with all-conference honorees Allen Crabbe and Justin Cobbs. Crabbe earned Pac-12 Player of the Year honors in 2012-13 as a junior before embarking on a promising NBA career with the Portland Trailblazers.

In his six seasons at Cal, the program went to four NCAA Tournaments and two NIT’s. The 2009-10 Cal Bears team won the Pac-12 for the first time since 1960, then known as the Pac-10. Overall, the team posted an impressive 130-73 record during Montgomery’s tenure with the team. In the 2012-13 season, the second of back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances, Cal defeated UNLV in the second round before falling to eventual Final Four participant Syracuse.

Following his time at Cal, Montgomery served as director of basketball operations at the University of San Francisco for one season before making his way to Hawai‘i.

As a player, Montgomery was a four-year letterwinner at point guard for Loyola Marymount. As a senior, he started 12 of 30 games and averaged 5.5 points and 2.4 assists per game. He poured in a career-high 20 points, dished out eight assists and went 3-for-6 from three-point range against Pepperdine. He also helped the Lions to a win over nationally ranked Gonzaga, scoring 12 points and making three free throws in the last minute to seal the victory.

A native of Menlo Park, Calif., Montgomery earned his bachelor’s degree in sociology with a minor in business administration from Loyola Marymount in 2007. He is also the son of legendary basketball coach Mike Montgomery, a 2016 inductee into the College Basketball Hall of Fame.