NIU tabs MSU assistant Montgomery as new basketball coach

Northern Illinois has tapped into one of the nation’s elite programs in an effort to rebuild its flagging men’s basketball team.

Michigan State associate head coach Mark Montgomery, who contributed to 235 wins and three Final Four runs in 10 years at his alma mater, was hired Wednesday as Ricardo Patton’s successor.

Montgomery, 40, will be introduced during a “virtual” news conference at 1:30 p.m. Thursday.

He inherits a program that lost at least 20 games in each of the last five years — the only Mid-American Conference school to have done so.

NIU owns just two winning seasons since its last NCAA Tournament bid in 1996.

Those trends stand in direct contrast to Montgomery’s career. Though NIU marks his first chance to be a head coach, he has been affiliated with winners throughout his life.

The suburban Detroit native finished tied for ninth in the 1988 Mr. Basketball race after a stellar career at Southgate Aquinas High School.

He served as Michigan State’s starting point guard for three years, which included a 1990 Big Ten championship and seven NCAA Tournament starts. He ranks third on MSU’s career list for steals (168) and fifth in assists (561).

Montgomery spent four years as a Central Michigan assistant, where he helped the Chippewas go from worst to first in one season’s time, before joining Tom Izzo’s staff in 2001.

During Montgomery’s decade at Michigan State, he focused on the team’s guards and received a promotion to associate head coach before the 2007-08 season.

As Montgomery assumes control at NIU, he finds a roster without three senior guards (Xavier Silas, Jeremy Landers and Michael Patton) that combined for 44 percent of the points and 32 percent of the minutes.