Cal to hire Montgomery as its coach

Former Stanford coach Mike Montgomery will be introduced as the new coach at California today, Cal Athletic Director Sandy Barbour announced.

Coaching a former rival isn’t unheard of: Rick Pitino was called a traitor when the onetime Kentucky coach accepted the Louisville job in 2001.

Montgomery left Stanford in 2004 to coach the Golden State Warriors but was fired in 2006. He has been working as a television analyst and as an administrator in the Stanford athletic department.

If negotiations are completed, Montgomery would replace Ben Braun, who was fired last week after 12 seasons at the school.

Cal’s top player, Ryan Anderson, announced this week he would make himself available for the draft but said he would not hire an agent so he would have the option of returning to school.

During 18 seasons at Stanford, Montgomery took the Cardinal to 12 NCAA tournaments and reached the 1998 Final Four.

“I just think it’s another great coach, coming back to the league,” Washington Coach Lorenzo Romar said, referring to the Pacific 10 Conference. “The last four or five years, great coaches have come into this league.”

Speculation has been that if Montgomery returned to a college coaching job he would seek to hire his son, John, a former Loyola Marymount player who has been an assistant at Furman, as an assistant.

--

Robyn Norwood

------

Indiana freshman guard Eric Gordon is leaving the Hoosiers to make himself available for the NBA draft, according to a report from the Indianapolis Star. The Big Ten’s leading scorer will become the fifth Indiana starter to leave the program.

------

As expected, former Nevada Las Vegas coach Bill Bayno was named to take over the Loyola Marymount program, leaving his position as an assistant with the Portland Trail Blazers.

------

Tulsa rallied after a slow start to beat Bradley, 70-64, and win the inaugural College Basketball Invitational tournament. Each game of the best-of-three championship series was won by the home team.