Posted on Wed, 03/26/2008 - 14:30 — by pjh87
Dear Sandy Barbour,
I know I have been hard on you last few months trying to get you fire Ben Braun. And thank you for firing Ben Braun today. I will not insult your intelligence and suggest who you should hire to replace Ben Braun. I trust you will do your best and find us a great coach. I just hated to see Cal's Men's BB program be so irrelavant as it was the last 3 years. With what we have here at Cal, we should be competing for the Pac-10 title year in and year out. I can't wait to see how our beloved Cal community comes out to support our Men's BB team next year.
Go Bears!!
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Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 14
I'm sure both Amy and MoronfromSC are disappointed you let Ben go. It's time for a new era in Cal's mens B Ball. I for one disagree with Ray Ratto's recent article regarding the Cal fan's lack of patience. I believe we true fans have been very patient with our former coach. 12 years was enough. Jeff Tedford has done a wonderful job raising our level of expectations. Why shouldn't it be the same for men's basketball. Joanne Boyle has done it for the women. Ray, we may not be Duke, UCLA, or Kansas but we should try to be and not except less then our best effort. Again, thank you Sandy for your courage and good luck on the search.
Adios from the land of margeritas and guacamole
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 44
Sandy,
Wow!! When I said I trusted you to find Cal a great coach, I honestly expected you to find some up and comer coach that we could rally behind. But Mike Montgomery?? That is way beyond my wildest expectations for finding a great coach. I LOVE the Mike Montgomery hire big time. No more empty seats at Haas for home games next year... Awesome hire!! Great Job!! Cal now has the best athletic department in the country, and the results next year are going to be a great thing to watch. Thank you for your committment to excellence in Cal athletics. Go Bears!!
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1851
It's kind of neat too the way this kind of came of of nowhere because the media made it look like others were in the front running and Pete Newell made his recommendation, but I wouldn't doubt it if Sandy Barbour had her sights set on Montgomery all along. Everybody I talked to today is thrilled with Montgomery being the CAL coach.
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 14
Landing Montgomery is absolutely huge and exceeds all expectations. I did not think this could actually happen. I am very excited to start going to Cal basketball games again after a 3 year hiatus. I'm a little surprised/disappointed there hasn't been a bit more of a reaction about this. This is absolutely gigantic for Cal. If Anderson stays, this group should become winners immediately under Monty. He's coming back to coaching basically for one reason. To win a national title -- came close but couldn't pull it off at Stanfraud. The one potential downside to this is that, given his age, Montgomery can't really be considered a "long-term" hire. However, I'm excited he's bringing in his son, John, as an assistant. I can't help but have visions of a repeat of the Dick Bennett/Tony Bennett progression at Washington State.
RickySanchez
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 322
Wow! This is great!........................Although my wife, the Stanford Fan disagrees with me. I'm sure this will cause me to get into all kinds of trouble at home. "Hey honey, where'd that guy Montgomery come from again? No I mean before the Warriors deal...and what was his record again? He sure looks good in Blue and Gold. Not like that sickly cardinal red color. I'm havin some fun now... Hey BJ can I sleep on your couch tonight? I'll bring my Cal blanket.
Peas (dial 1-800- We got Montgomery) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sandy: I want you to kill every gophers on the golf course! Carl Spackler: Correct me if I'm wrong Sandy, but if I kill all the golfers, they're gonna lock me up and throw away the key.
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1851
WP, since this is a Sandy Barbour thread, you should write a disclaimer that your recurring post-script message about Sandy instructing Carl to kill all the gophers on the golf course has nothing to do with this topic. We wouldn't want people to think it's a quote from Sandy Barbour instructing the golf team to blundgeon the Minnesota Golden Gopher golphers if they happen to meet in on the links this season.
I know your wife is a Stanfurd fan, but tell her to look on the bright side. Tara Vandeveer's job is safe right now. We're very happy with coach Boyle! He he...
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 14
Interesting article from L.A. Times - on Dribble / Drive offense - It's Kansas Vs. Memphis for NCAA Crown
If Mike wants to consider a "hot" offense, Coach Walberg is available. I've witnessed his high school teams at Clovis West smoke the competition repeatedly. Year in and year out with lesser talent they gave the state's top schools fits. Calipari credits Walberg. Monty will do his own thing - but this should make for interesting speculation!
Adios from the land of margeritas and guacamole
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 4
I love the Montgomery hiring, but it just seems weird...being a Stanfurd guy and all. I sure hope he doesn't pull a Roy Williams. I can see it now: Cal gets bounced in the second round of the Tourney, Stanfurd gets to the Final Four, and Monty shows up on CBS wearing a Cardinal sweater!
Go Bears!
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 14
If we get bounced in the second round, at least we'll have gotten that far! Keep the faith. Adios from the land of margeritas and guacamole
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1851
That's true. If we get bounced in the second round, it'll be a good thing. I don't know, you look at those teams in the final 4 and even the Elite 8, and it seems they are getting bigger and better all the time. It's better if we keep our expectations from getting too lofty and just focus on getting back in the tournament and look at everything else as gravy. If we get what we want and experience the success Montgomery had with his Stanford teams, you can beat he will become a very hot commodity and other big time programs will be after him, but I think it's safe to say Stanford wouldn't be one of them... but you never know, they have another Axe to grind!
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1851
They say Mike Montgomery is expected to name Jay John as his assistant. That's pretty good to have an assistant who has been a PAC-10 head coach. I knew Jay John was head coach at Oregon State, but didn't know he was also an assistant under Lute Olson too. I think this shows what a big advantage it is to have a highly regarded coach like Montgomery because he can get some other experienced coaches to work on his staff that other candidates for the job may not attracted. Heck, Jay John possesses the qualifications to be a PAC-10 head coach, so CAL's staff should be as strong as anybody's experience-wise. We're off to a good start.
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 14
Bazooka, I couldn't agree with you more. This is very exciting stuff. Jay John as an assistant is absolutely fantastic. In addition, there's one holdover from Braun's staff (good move), an assistant coming in from Old Dominion (a very successful program), and, of course, John Montgomery -- probably Cal's next coach. Wouldn't it be ironic if Cal became a Montgomery dynasty? In any event, Montgomery's accomplishments at Cal have already been impressive, and he hasn't even coached in a game yet. Now, if he could just keep Anderson in school ....
RickySanchez
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1851
Just as a joke, the Straw Hat band should break into their rendition of "All Right Now" during Montgomery's first home game against Stanford.
Having Anderson stay would be the icing on the cake. I saw they let one of their recruits get out of his letter of intent which was probably expected, but it opens up a spot for the new staff to make a statement about how they will recruit right away. You have to like the way Montgomery said he would seek some advice from Tedford. That's quite a humble statement coming from a coach who has already proven himself. You know he doesn't want to end his career with those two years with the Warriors, so I expect he is really motivated to turn CAL around. He must have seen some kind of potential for CAL to win, so the fact that he even accepted the job should give CAL fans a lot of hope that we have the potential to get to the next level. You never know what will happen, but there's a lot of reasons to be excited.