Northern Illinois University has extended the contract of men’s basketball head coach Mark Montgomery by two years, NIU Associate Vice-President and Director of Athletics Sean T. Frazier announced Friday. With the extension, Montgomery now has four years remaining on his contract, through 2017-18.
This past season, in his third year as head coach at NIU, Montgomery led the Huskies to their largest single-season win turnaround in program history with a 15-17 overall record, a 10-win improvement from 2012-13. NIU’s 10-win improvement also ranked as the 10th-best in the country in 2013-14 and Montgomery finished second in the voting for Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year.
“I’m excited about the direction of our men’s basketball program under Mark and his staff,” Frazier said. “He has changed the culture of the program and that’s not easy to do. I feel confident that under his direction, and with the support of our fans and community, we’ll continue to take this program where we want it to be, which is to the top of the MAC and beyond.”
“I would like to thank President Baker and Sean Frazier for their commitment to myself, our staff and our program,” said Montgomery. “We made many positive strides this past season and I am excited about the future of NIU basketball. We look forward to raising the bar and reaching new heights in years to come.”
Despite having the second-least experienced team in the MAC in 2013-14, Montgomery led NIU to its most non-conference wins, six, since 1999-2000 and its most home wins, 10, 1994-95; NIU closed the season with a five-game home winning streak. The Huskies also recorded their first top-50 RPI win since defeating Wisconsin on Dec. 14, 1999, when they topped Toledo on Feb. 26.
NIU claimed the No. 7 seed in the MAC Tournament, earning a first round home game for the first time since 2003, and advanced to Cleveland for the second time in three seasons.
Under Montgomery’s guidance, Jordan Threloff earned All-MAC honorable mention recognition and Aaric Armstead was named to the MAC All-Freshman Team.
Stay with HoopDirt for the latest college basketball coaching news and rumors.
