Posted on: Sunday, May 23, 2004
New pro coach once candidate at UH
"I believe there's a real opportunity to succeed there (at the University of Hawai'i). It is a situation where the right person could do well and a place that I'm extremely interested in."
— Mike Montgomery,
March 20, 1985.
By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist
Seeing Mike Montgomery leave Stanford for the Golden State Warriors and a reported four-year, $10 million contract recalls a once-upon-a-time moment in University of Hawai'i history when he could have become the Rainbows men's basketball coach.
It dusts off nearly 20 years of what-ifs.
Consider that following the 10-18 finish of 1984-85, UH was in the market for a coach to replace Larry Little. The selection committee whittled the "finalists" to six. One, Neil McCarthy, withdrew to take the New Mexico State job. That left a field that included Paul Westhead, formerly of the Los Angeles Lakers, Merv Lopes, architect of the Chaminade "miracle," former New Mexico coach Gary Colson, ex-Brigham Young coach Frank Arnold and the youngest of the bunch, 38-year-old Montgomery, at Montana.
Montgomery entered as the darkhorse, but by the time he completed his campus interviews, he captured not only athletic director Stan Sheriff's imagination but the fancy of many who met him.
The hangups?
Some of the usual suspects at UH: Money and politics. UH was restricted by a pay scale that maxed out at $58,800, and that for only the most experienced of coaches.
If Sheriff, try as he might, had trouble interesting boosters in anteing up a competitive package to woo old friend Norm Stewart from Missouri, he also had his work cut out in selling a young, relatively unknown coach from the Big Sky Conference.
Never mind that Montgomery had 133-66 record, three consecutive 20-win seasons and some interesting ideas.
In the end, weighing the considerable financial, political and other obstacles, Sheriff would tell friends he didn't think he could toss a young coach and his family into the situation. Instead, UH chose the 50-year-old Arnold, who desperate for another head coaching job, pledged to sell out Blaisdell Center and came for what the school had to offer.
Two years later Arnold threw up his hands after an 11-45 record (3-29 in the WAC) and left to be an assistant at Arizona State.
At that point the Rainbows were fortunate to get former assistant Riley Wallace back from Seminole (Okla.) Junior College to pick up the pieces and rebuild the program from the depths of five consecutive losing seasons.
Montgomery?
He returned to Montana, went 21-11 and then took the job at Stanford, where he remained for 18 years until Golden State called.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.
