By Bobby Narang
Three days into this calendar year, the Northern Illinois University men’s basketball program made headlines.
In a shocking in-season move, the Huskies parted ways with long-time head coach Mark Montgomery, January 3, Northern Illinois athletic director Sean T. Frazier announced.
“We thank coach Montgomery for his commitment to NIU and his efforts to advance NIU men’s basketball over the last 10 seasons,” Frazier said in a statement. “We wish him the best in the future.”
Associate head coach Lamar Chapman takes over the head duties on an interim basis for the rest of the season. Montgomery, a former point guard and assistant coach at Michigan State, never built a consistent winner, nor recruited the Chicago area with success during his tenure. The Huskies won just one of their first eight games this season, with their only victory against winless Chicago State. Northern Illinois has lost all three of its Mid-American Conference games this season, including a 68-42 home defeat to Bowling Green January 2.
Montgomery had just two winning seasons and finished with a 124-170 record, to rank second all-time in coaching victories at the school behind John McDougal (136-141, 1976-1986). The Huskies compiled an 18-13 record last season, to tie for first place in the Mid-American Conference West Division with an 11-7 record, the best conference record in Montgomery’s tenure. Montgomery’s teams compiled a 63-98 record in Conference play.
Frazier promised Huskie Nation that he will conduct a national search to find the best candidate to the program.
“We will be meticulous and efficient in finding the best person and coach to lead the Huskie men’s basketball program moving forward,” Frazier said.
Before arriving at Northern Illinois, Chapman spent nine seasons as an assistant at Stony Brook University (N.Y.). His coaching career began with a two-year stint at Muskegon Heights High School in Michigan before moving on to three years at Central Michigan and two at Toledo, each as an assistant coach.