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Brent Montague enters his fifth season as the Yellowjackets’
assistant coach. He also serves as MSUB’s NCAA compliance coordinator. In
addition to his coaching and athletics duties, Montague is a part-time
instructor in the Health and Physical Education Department.
Montague, who was a captain of Coach Carse’s first
Yellowjacket squad, graduated from MSU Billings in 1996 with a degree in
history.
As a senior Montague was the Yellowjackets’ iron man. He
played in all 28 games, leading the team in minutes played. Montague’s season
stats were impressive: 19.4 points per game, 8.6 rebounds per game, and a
team-high .818 free throw percentage. He averaged a double-double in conference
games with a per game average of 20.8 points and 10.2 rebounds. On a team that
averaged 95.1 points per game, Montague was the team’s high scorer in six games,
and his .419 three-point percentage was the highest on a team that made over 10
threes a game.
Montague is currently Coach Carse’s coordinator of scouting,
recruiting, and travel. He is also the director of the numerous Yellowjacket
boys’ basketball camps and clinics including the Billings Bees.
The most memorable games as a player occurred during
Montague’s final season, 1995-96, when the team was "just a group of hard-nosed
guys who believed in our coach and his philosophies." That season, MSU Billings
knocked off Division I Oregon State on the Beavers’ home court. The
Yellowjackets set an OSU opponents’ record for most three-pointers made in Gill
Coliseum when they buried 13 against the Beavers.
One piece of advice that Montague passes on to his players is
this: "You should get the most out of a day. Don’t take anything for granted.
Each day there is something to learn. Take those lessons and pass them on to
others. If you help others, they will help you when you need it."
Montague has been a Yellowjacket since he moved to Montana in
1994. Last year his loyalty and dedication to Yellowjacket Athletics were
rewarded when he was inducted into the Montana State University-Billings
Athletics Hall of Fame. "I didn’t know what I was getting myself into when I
loaded up my car in Seattle and drove out here," said Montague at the induction
ceremony. "I had never been here before and I didn’t know anyone here. But I’ve
been here ever since and I love it in Billings and at MSUB." Montague married former Lady Yellowjacket Krista Fjelstad shortly after
college. The couple lives in Billings and has two children, Dylan and Shayla. |
