I hope a thread of gratitude could be printed out and forwarded to him. I may forward the link to John Montgomery on Twitter.

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Dear Coach Montgomery,

Mahalo for making it the most fun 6 year run of Cal hoops in my lifetime as a Cal fan (c/o '88). You are a first ballot hall of famer, the best Xs and Os coach in the Pac-12 if not the nation, and a great leader of young men. We were privileged to have you lead our alma mater's men's basketball program.

Congratulations and all the best to you and your family in your retirement.

Cheers,

KAB

I came in as a fan with you, Monty, and I have enjoyed it so much. Thank for bringing your incredible skills and making Cal basketball better! Enjoy your retirement, it is earned. Also, don't be a stranger. You'll get standing ovations every time you are in Haas.

Congrats to you, a GREAT coach and person... but I'm sad to see you retire today. I was hoping you'd coach at Cal longer than you coached at Stanford I'll always remember with great joy our first conference title in 50 years.
A few of my favorite personal Monty stories...

When I was a student at Cal, in old Harmon Gym we would sit opposite the opponent's bench, first row and heckle them non stop. In one game against Stanfurd, Monty got a technical near the end of the half which turned into four points. As he was leaving the court at half we were all in his face yelling "FOUR POINTS! Way to help and lead your team" and stuff like that. All good nature, student heckling So Stanfurd came back and beat us (as they did a lot when Monty was coaching) and as he was leaving the court he came right over to me, huge grin and said "how about those four points now!" and sort of pulled my cap down over my eyes. I loved it! So the next year during warm-ups he saw me and came over and said hi , asked if i was ever going to graduate and much to the amazement of all my friends we had a great convo. It was such a cool moment.

Flash forward to when we hired him I saw him shortly after and as soon as he saw me he said "Please tell me you're not still in school!!!" Pretty frickin' cool.

Last year down in Anaheim in the Direct TV tournament, Monty got a technical foul early in the game so i went down and sort of berated (no swearing) the ref here's a clip to it with everyone clapping after . Now, there was NO ONE in there so everyone could hear it all the players kind of smiled and Monty looked back and gave me a thumbs up. After the game he laughed and thanked for since he couldn't get another T.

Later last year after the UNLV game (which they won on the last second tip in of the airballed shot) i was in the hoops office and Monty invited me into his office and we just talked hoops for 15 minutes. It was soooo cool.

GO BEARS coach!!!

Six competitive seasons, ran a squeaky clean program, students are graduating, brought is quality high-character players, several upsets and near upsets, Pac12 championship and multiple POYs - just about all you could want in a coach. EXCEPT he never solved the Cal basketball curse to really put it together completely. We are still looking for that coach. But no regrets.

Thanks Monty!
:Monty

Thank you Monty. Glad you're retiring as a Golden Bear. You are one of the greats.

KoreAmBear;842298991 said:

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I hope a thread of gratitude could be printed out and forwarded to him. I may forward the link to John Montgomery on Twitter.

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Dear Coach Montgomery,

Mahalo for making it the most fun 6 year run of Cal hoops in my lifetime as a Cal fan (c/o '88). You are a first ballot hall of famer, the best Xs and Os coach in the Pac-12 if not the nation, and a great leader of young men. We were privileged to have you lead our alma mater's men's basketball program.

Congratulations and all the best to you and your family in your retirement.

Cheers,

KAB

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Beautiful, KAB! You nailed it and I thank you.

Of course, I support Monty in his decision, despite how sad his loss is for me.

I deeply hope that his decision is not caused by any bad turn in his health.

What a pleasure he has been in his tenure at Cal.

Wishing the best for you, Monty! You deserve it, you have earned it!

Thank You Monty for 6 very enjoyable years! We came over the hill from Sparks, NV for three games this year. Your team had a 3-0 record in those games. If we promise to get season tickets will you reconsider? :p

I remember hating Monty when he was at Stanfurd. He always seemed to get more out of his kids. He did it with class - there was so much to hate. Then, thankfully, he became a sturdy Golden Bear. I remember elation upon the announcement. Now he was getting more out of our guys and doing it with candor and class.

Coach, we wish you well and thank you for your time at CAL.

NVGolfingBear;842299024 said:

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Thank You Monty for 6 very enjoyable years! We came over the hill from Sparks, NV for three games this year. Your team had a 3-0 record in those games. If we promise to get season tickets will you reconsider? :p

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Here's to a truly talented coach who made a huge difference at Cal, and made me excited for every game. Thanks from a fan of the game, and of course, of Cal basketball in particular.

Thank you, Monty, for a fantastic six years. You coached with excellence and class. Enjoy your well-earned retirement. Go Bears!!

Coach Montgomery, mahalo nui loa for making Cal basketball a viable program once again! I enjoyed your "shaka" sign in Lahaina immensely.

I will miss Coach M. I have lived on the Peninsula for 3 decades and I attended most all Cal / $tanford basketball games at Maples back before Dr Tom Davis (whom I miss at the farm, very much) When Monty took over there I had similar expectations but I was jealously disappointed. Monty owned us during his time with the furd. I attended 90% of the games against Cal that he coached most every one with a disappointing result.
He had/has this coaching 'class' that transcends the sport.
I was overjoyed in 2008 when it was announced that he was hired by the Golden Bears. I took the day off, rushed to Berkeley and attended the inaugural press conference.; was even more overjoyed a few days later to learn that he had moved to Contra Costa county from the lower Peninsula. A sign that he really was done with County Club U.
Looking back over the 6 seasons, no surprise to me of the results he achieved for the Bears.
I wish you well, Mike. Thanks.
:cry:

Thank You Coach,
It was a great 6 years, you got the most out of what you had, and then some.
I'm sure you're glad to see Jorge get a shot with the Nets, you were a part of that.
I felt as comfortable with you as a coach, as I felt with Jason Kidd as a player bring the ball up.
Sad to see you go, but It's always a good idea to retire, when you're healthy and can enjoy it.
The Best to you and your family.

SanseiBear;842299035 said:

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Coach Montgomery, mahalo nui loa for making Cal basketball a viable program once again! I enjoyed your "shaka" sign in Lahaina immensely.

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You mean this one?

Thank you Coach Montgomery. It was a joy to watch your teams over the years. Such a fundamental teacher of the game. Enjoy your retirement. Go Bears.

Thanks Coach. I found it a joy to watch your teams, ESPECIALLY after you arrived at Cal. You will be missed on the sidelines.

KoreAmBear;842299068 said:

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You mean this one?

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:Monty

Thank you, coach Montgomery. You returned Cal basketball to respectability nationally and to a top-tier program in the Pac-12 conference. As a long-time fan of Cal basketball, I am greatful for all you've done for our program and for our athletes. I wish you many healthy, enjoyable, and rewarding years of retirement. You've earned it.

Thank you for being our Coach. We've really enjoyed the last six years. You will be greatly missed.

Happy Retirement!

:Monty

class act

Thanks coach, I really appreciated getting to watch a fun, well coached team over the last six years. You put a great product on the court and made sure the players took care of business in the classroom, we appreciate everything you did. Enjoy your retirement, you will be missed!

Coach.
I really enjoyed watching the product you put out on the floor for the past 6 years. I watched so so many of your games, both live and on TV. 'Tis sad to see you go, but it will be fun to see what you'll be up to next. Best of luck.

nm.

Thank you Mike for the successful and fun basketball run that Cal has achieved under your leadership

I have always been in awe how you can take a group of players and turn them into a team that can go out and compete with the best teams in the nation. The teams played smart, hard, and developed through their careers.

3 Conference POY (almost 4) in six years is an amazing record, and one that will likely never be repeated in the Pac 12

There were some huge wins during this six years, including NCAA tournament wins over Louisville and UNLV, knocking off #1 Arizona this year, thrashing UCLA, the ASU win for the conference championship, exciting road wins (e.g. Oregon on the last shot) and many many more

Thanks for the memories
It's been a great run
Good luck to you

Thanks Monty for bringing your class act to the proper side of the bay. The good news is I can now look forward to a great color man. I always enjoyed his analysis when he was on TV. He was/is able to succinctly give his views in a very common sense way that even I could understand. Go Bears.

Nowhere near where we want to be, but Monty has laid a good foundation. He has left the program in a very good shape. We should be able to attract a good coach to replace him.

LethalFang;842299658 said:

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Nowhere near where we want to be, but Monty has laid a good foundation. He has left the program in a very good shape. We should be able to attract a good coach to replace him.

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You had 20 other threads to chose from, and you posted that on this one?

Thanks Coach for all of your time and effort. I really appreciate what you've done for our program, the athletes, and the fans.

KoreAmBear;842299660 said:

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You had 20 other threads to chose from, and you posted that on this one?

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Seriously. I wonder if the "keeping-it-real" posters on this board are as socially clueless in real life. Hey, it's not in the rules so it must be fair game...right?

:facepalm

Thanks Coach Montgomery. I really appreciate the dedication and hard work that you brought to the cal program, as well as the many accomplishments you had here -- a conference championship(!) among many others -- you will be greatly missed.

(I doubt you have ever read any posts on this board before, and probably won't start now, but THANK YOU! :bear

RicoRico;842299834 said:

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(I doubt you have ever read any posts on this board before, and probably won't start now, but THANK YOU! :bear

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:bravo

I copied this thread to the Thank You Mike Montgomery board. I will close this thread here.

:Monty