Cal's high-profile hiring of Mike Montgomery is a huge one for a program that has seen some mediocre coaching and play over the last few seasons. Monty deserves every bit of his reputation as a top-shelf teacher who gets everything out of his players. But he also comes with some baggage that could limit the effect that he will have on the Bears.
The most important of these issues is his willingness to recruit. Towards the end of his time at Stanford, Montgomery didn't put a ton of energy into recruiting, and the team suffered for it. His last two recruiting classes of Fred Washington, Tim Morris, Taj Finger, Peter Prowitt, and walk-on Kenny Brown produced some important contributors, but none of these players never showed the promise of being anything more than key role players. Now, much of the reason for Monty's lack of vigor can be attributed to very high admissions standards for athletes that won't be present in Berkeley; he won't ever lose out on a player like David Padgett because of grades. Nevertheless, this issue remains an important question mark that could limit his success.
More analysis after the jump.
Several of Montgomery's most talented teams at Stanford went out early in the tournament, with critics claiming that he didn't give his players enough freedom and that his teams peaked early in the season. While not entirely accurate, these observations hold some water. Players like point guard Jerome Randle, one of the most erratic players in the Pac-10, could have some trouble adapting to Montgomery's rigid system. Additionally, would he have ever given Ryan Anderson the freedom to move out to the perimeter and become on one of the best inside-out threats in the nation? The fact of the matter is that Cal generally draws better, more versatile athletes than Stanford, and it's hard to say how much Montgomery will allow them to move outside of their prescribed roles.
I'm not trying to say that this is a bad move for Cal. Montgomery is a terrific coach who always gets his teams ready to play. But this move is not a perfect fit, and it would be silly to assume that he will automatically turn Cal into one of the best programs in the conference. The Pac-10 is much stronger than it was during Monty's heyday -- for one thing, the other coaches are much, much better -- and it will be a chore to convince high-end recruits that Cal is a big program. This is a great day for Cal fans (if only because Montgomery will almost assuredly beat Stanford more often than Braun), but they need to be realistic about what this move means for the program. There's still a lot of work left to do in Berkeley.
