Basketball Doesn’t Hold Court at Hart

It’s a conflict that goes all the way back to leather helmets and hoops made out of peach baskets.

OK, maybe not that far.

But for decades, football and basketball coaches have been at odds over players, whispering sweet nothings in the ears of two-sport athletes, telling them the dangers of playing that other sport and the importance of focusing on one endeavor.

Politics and agendas are forced onto athletes who play football and basketball, and coaches occasionally get caught in the middle.

That’s what happened recently at Hart High, where David Montgomery was fired after three seasons as boys’ basketball coach.

Principal Gary Fuller, citing confidentiality regarding personnel matters, declined comment.

Montgomery, who remains a math teacher at Hart, believes he was relieved of his coaching duties because he insisted his players devote more time to basketball.

A native of North Carolina, Montgomery bleeds basketball. That’s apparently a problem if you coach at Hart, where football is king.

The Indians have won three Southern Section football titles since 1995, including the last two Division III championships.

The region’s top program in the 1990s is an assembly line of college prospects who rarely experience losing.

Hart has compiled a 71-10 record since 1994 and, if the 9-3 season in 1996 is thrown out, the losses in the last six years can almost be counted on one hand.

Hart basketball is a kennel full of mutts next to the football team’s prized German shepherds.

The basketball team went 12-14 in 1998-99 and 11-16 last season despite Montgomery’s attempts to level the playing field . . . within his own school.

He told two-sport athletes to spend more time playing with the basketball team in the summer, an important developmental time for football as well. Montgomery acknowledges he told players that competing in football would diminish their success in basketball.

“I’m just honest with the kids,” Montgomery said.

Some people agree with Montgomery.

Some disagree, including a few parents of Hart dual-sport players who were incensed by his demands.

Bottom line: Montgomery didn’t see much of football-basketball players Kyle Matter, Travis Nicol or Evan Allen during the summer. They spent a majority of their time in football passing leagues.

Montgomery said his requests to share players in the summer fell on deaf ears with Hart’s football coaches.

“If you’re going to share [players], it should be 50-50,” Montgomery said. “It wasn’t even close to that. It was like 5-95.

“In the sport of basketball, at the level we play at, you have to have a Division I athlete’s body in order to play both [sports] successfully. Even then, you’ll have to commit time to it.”

Dean Herrington, a football assistant, said coaches never forbade players from competing in summer basketball. He dismissed Montgomery’s claims as “ridiculous.”

“We encourage all of our guys to play other sports,” Herrington said. “There’s no problems with that. There were times when they would lift [weights] with us in the morning and play basketball at night. There were times where they just didn’t want to go play basketball, but you’ll have to talk to them about that.”

Matter said he was up front with Montgomery last summer. At the time, Matter was battling for the starting job at quarterback.

“I told him football was my top priority,” said Matter, who ultimately won the job and threw 48 touchdown passes. “He told me I could take basketball off during the summer so I could focus on football. He understood that football was our top priority.”

Matter, Nicol and Allen missed the first month of basketball because of the football team’s four-game foray through the playoffs.

“I didn’t ever say it’s got to be total basketball,” Montgomery said. “What I’m saying is you can’t just leave us in June, come out on Dec. 20th and expect to have a cohesive team unit. It won’t happen.”

Accordingly, Montgomery predicted the basketball team would start slow and finish strong.

Sure enough, Hart started 1-6 and had to win three of its last four Foothill League games to qualify for the playoffs.

The Indians battled Golden League co-champion Quartz Hill in a first-round Division I-A playoff game and lost, 54-53.

A few weeks later, Montgomery was dismissed.

The only diagraming he will do next year at Hart is on an overhead projector in algebra class.

Montgomery’s fate was not a surprise to other basketball coaches in the region.

Jeff Young, who guided Chaminade to Division III-A championships in 1998 and ‘99, realizes he is in a fortunate situation. At his school, basketball has a higher profile than football.

Young can’t fully fathom the road Montgomery had to travel at Hart, but he realizes he wouldn’t want to make the same journey.

“I wouldn’t want his job,” Young said. “I love [Hart], the area, the gym’s beautiful. But it is such a football powerhouse. The football program is so much more appealing than the basketball program.

“When you roll in there and face that situation, that’s a tough beast to tame.”

A logical solution is offered by basketball Coach Art Sullivan of Burroughs, who has guided his team to consecutive Foothill League titles.

Sullivan places a premium on communication between football and basketball coaches, especially during the summer.

“You can’t be obsessed with your sport during the summer,” Sullivan said. “It’s for everyone. It’s unfair for a coach to dominate either sport during the summer. You have to share the athletes.

“There has to be mutual respect between the coaches. You’re both trying to do the same thing. The coaches have to talk face-to-face and even bring the kids in every once in a while and say, ‘Here’s the deal.’ ”

Obviously, a solution was not found at Hart. A basketball coach lost his job.

The football team will again be a powerhouse in the fall. The imbalance continues.