The Football Brainiacs

Image from TulsaWorld.com (photographer: Matt Barnard)

I saw a comment on our site recently where a reader was asking what we hear from high school coaches about coach Jerry Montgomery. Oddly enough we’ve had so many coaches offer their unsolicited opinions on coach Montgomery that I had actually already thought about writing a post about exactly what the reader asked.

As I’ve mentioned before on our site, my roommate, John, in grad school was Jerry Montgomery’s teammate. In fact my buddy John played on the DLine with Jerry so he knew him pretty well. When coach Montgomery was hired by Oklahoma the first thing I did was ask John about him and he raved about Jerry. He assured me that Oklahoma had hired a great coach, a great talent evaluator and a great recruiter. One of things that stood out to me about what John said was that coach Montgomery was a great leader back when he played for the Hawkeyes. Players loved Jerry but John actually told me that even his parents loved Jerry! All that just told me that coach Montgomery has always been a stand up guy. He isn’t putting on an act. You can’t fake who you are for over a decade. Coach Montgomery is just an authentic and genuine guy who people love and have always loved.

And that is exactly what we hear from coaches over and over. One coach I was talking to basically told me that other coaches we’re promising a certain player early playing time to entice him to commit. He said Jerry never did that. He said that he promised the opportunity to earn a spot – and he has certainly proven that by the fact that guys like Matt Dimon have played – but he doesn’t make grandiose and empty promises just to get a kid to commit. Another coach told me that a lot of guys will walk in like they’re “too cool for school” talking a big game. He said Jerry is a “meat and potatoes kind of guy”. He said he’s just someone that they trust is going to shoot them straight. They trust that he’s going to be honest and upfront. The coaches just love him and trust that he is going to take care of their players. And while empty promises may get you a kid here or there, in the long run building real relationships with coaches and having the trust of coaches is going to land you more quality players down the road and it’s going to ensure that you get the right kids.

I wish I could record the conversations I’ve had with coaches when they talk about coach Montgomery and share them with y’all because they say a ton of great stuff and they are so enthusiastic when they talk about him. Unfortunately I don’t write any of it down so there is obviously a lot of I’ve left out. But to bottom line it for you, everything I’ve heard about coach Montgomery has been overwhelmingly positive and should get Sooner fans excited. Coach Montgomery isn’t just a good coach, he’s a good guy. He’s someone coaches trust and are willing to open their doors to and just like John’s parent many years ago loved Jerry, recruits parents love coach Montgomery.