Angelina College

Head men’s basketball coach JJ Montgomery enters his second year as the heads men’s basketball coach at Angelina Junior College after spending the previous two years as the head girls' basketball coach at Somerville High. Coach Montgomery is bringing a wealth of knowledge and understanding of the game into the very same college basketball program with which he played – and starred – several years ago. Despite his late arrival in the new season, he says he has very high expectations for his young team and “feels this group can do something special.”

For the past two years, Montgomery was the head girls' basketball coach at Somerville High School. In those two years, Montgomery’s teams set a number of school records and created a very successful girl’s program. Over two seasons as head coach, Montgomery helped the Lady Yagua's reach an overall record of 49 wins against just seven losses. The Lady Yeguas in 2019-2020 earned a top 10 ranking in the state of Texas, which was their highest ranking since 2001. That year Somerville set a school record of winning 22 straight games and also a school record for the most wins in a season set at 30.

Because of his success at Somerville High, Montgomery received a number of coaching honors, and for the first time in 20 years, the program saw a number of its players receive college offers to continue their playing careers at the next level.

In 2018-2019, Montgomery became the head men’s basketball coach at Lone Star Community College. In his first and only season at LSCC, Montgomery showed his coaching prowess, as he helped the men’s basketball program win the most games (23) in its history. He finished that season leading LSCC to an overall record of 23-3.            

Coach Montgomery is a Lufkin, Texas native and played both high school and collegiate basketball in his hometown. While at Lufkin High School, Montgomery became the first player in Lufkin High School history to earn District Player of the Year honors in three consecutive years; he also was named First Team All-State in both his junior and senior seasons. To date, Montgomery still holds the LHS records for most points scored in a game (54), most points in a season (1,109), and the most points in a career (3,187).

Following his brilliant high school career, Montgomery continued playing basketball at Angelina College. In his first season as a Roadrunner, Montgomery averaged 28 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game. He was named to the Region 14 First Team All-Conference list after a phenomenal first season.

Montgomery would step it up a notch higher in his second season at AC, as he led the conference in scoring by averaging more than 32 points per game. His performance landed him another First Team All-Conference award, along with a Conference Player of the Year award. Capping his sophomore honors was his naming as a First Team All-American, making Montgomery just the third athlete in Angelina College history to earn the honor.  

As of 2021, Montgomery still holds Angelina College records for most points scored in a single season (897) and most points in the career (1,799). In 2015, Angelina honored Montgomery’s play by retiring his No. 5 jersey.

From Angelina College, Montgomery went on to play Division I basketball at Arkansas State University. In his first season, Montgomery led the Sun Belt Conference in
scoring, averaging 18.9 points per game and was named the conference’s Newcomer of the Year, along with a First Team All-Conference award.  In his final collegiate season, Montgomery followed his junior year averaged 17.8 points per game and was again named to the Sun Belt All-Conference Team.

For the next 10 years (2005-2015), Montgomery played professional  basketball in Europe. He played three seasons in the ULEB Cup playing for Thessaloniki in Greece and Gornik Walbrzych in Poland. Montgomery also played in the Euro Cup in Slovakia, Cyprus, Ukraine, Finland, and Poland.
           

Montgomery’s coaching philosophy:

“Coaching basketball is teaching...teaching not only fundamentals, how to play the game, team skills, etc... but also life skills. Coaching is about impacting these young people. We are not their parents, but we are in a position to be a positive, important person in the lives of each of our players. I believe you teach by your example and by how you treat others. A coach should be a person of integrity. Players are looking for guidance, along with your belief and trust in them, but more importantly they want to know that you care. A coach should be a player’s mentor more than a friend. Those young players are searching for that structure and discipline. A coach should focus on helping develop character – not characters. That coach/player relationship is so important and goes a long way, and if done right, it will carry a player even farther than a basketball career."

Montgomery is the son of Carolyn Montgomery of Lufkin.