Jeremy Montgomery brings professional playing experience to Somerville

SOMERVILLE, Texas (KBTX) - It’s not every day a former professional athlete winds up coaching high school basketball. Jeremy Montgomery was trying out for NBA teams at one point, but he’s now coaching in Somerville as the Lady Yeguas prepare for the playoffs under their 2nd-year head coach.

Montgomery’s journey began in Lufkin where he was the high school’s all-time leading scorer and had his jersey retired (#34). He then went to Angelina College from 2001-2003 where the 2-time All-American led the nation in scoring at 34 points per game. Montgomery’s jersey was also retired at Angelina (#5). He then signed to play at Arkansas State University where he was a two-time first-team All-Sun Belt Conference Player and was named Newcomer of the Year in 2004. After Arkansas State University, Montgomery did a few NBA workouts, but when the NBA dream did not work out, he began his professional basketball career in Europe in 2006.

The East Texas native played in Finland for 2 years with Huima, 1 year in Greece with Makedonikos, 4 years in Poland with Gornik, Koszalin, Rosa Radom, and Kotwica. He played 1 year in Ukraine with Mykolaiv, 1 year in Cyprus with Keravnos, 1 year in Slovakia with Nitra, and a few more stops after those teams. After retiring, Montgomery was the head boys’ basketball coach at Lone Star Community College in Houston Texas in 2018-2019. He then made his way to Somerville to coach high school girls’ basketball.

In Montgomery’s first year at Somerville in the 2019-2020 season, the Lady Yeguas had their most wins in school history with a 28-4 record. The Lady Yeguas were able to crack the top 10 rankings in Texas 2A for the first time since 2001.

“The girls knew what they were getting,” said Montgomery. “They were very excited to get me as a head coach. They knew I knew what I was doing and knew what I was talking about. They also knew I was a very disciplinary coach that I was a hard coach, but that didn’t scare them off,” Montgomery added.

“It’s challenging and tough having him as a coach, and you just have to learn to toughen up when he gets on you’” explained Lady Yeguas’ Sophomore Guard Ramaya Carter. “Don’t cry just know that he’s trying to help you. You can’t take it serious. You can’t take it out on him. You can’t get mad at him because he knows what he’s talking about. He’s just trying to help you,” Carter added.

Montgomery’s wife, Dee Ellis, is also his assistant coach.

“I know what he needs. I know what he doesn’t like, so it goes hand in hand. I’m perfect for him,” Ellis said.

Ellis said the toughness Montgomery brings to the Lady Yeguas is something he’s picked up from playing in countries like Poland and Finland.

“Playing overseas has helped his coaching style because he was able to play under so many different coaches,” Ellis said. “For example, Coach Urlep was his toughest coach, but that’s the one he learned so much more from than anybody else. He has added that to the girls’ routines, what he’s learned, the drills, the training, the hard work, everything,” Ellis added.

“I learned a lot. I learned a lot about defense. I learned a lot about offense,” Montgomery explained on his time overseas. “So I definitely used a lot of the things that I learned over there and put into the program here. So far we’ve had a lot of success running the system that I wanted to run,” Montgomery added.

Montgomery said he’s doing what he loves on the sidelines in Somerville: “To watch these girls buy into it and really accept the challenge, that has been the fun part for me.”

After a successful first season, the Lady Yeguas continue to learn from Montgomery’s love of the game.

“This team, we have a lot of mentality and a lot of toughness,” said Carter. “We’re all strong. We can all come into the game and show our fans what they’re looking for,” Carter added.

“I want this to be a special year,” Montgomery exclaimed. “Whether we win state or not or how far we go, I want them to always look back at this year and say, ‘I had a great year back in 2020-2021 playing for the Lady Yeguas,’” Montgomery added.

The Lady Yeguas finished 2nd in District 26-2A. Somerville will begin its postseason run next weekend.

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