The University of Mississippi Athletics
Jerry Montgomery To Retire From Collegiate Tennis
9/18/2001 | Women's Tennis
Sept. 18, 2001
OXFORD, Miss. - Jerry Montgomery, who guided the Ole Miss women's tennis team to nine NCAA Championship appearances and the program's first-ever SEC Tournament Championship in 1999, is retiring from collegiate tennis, effective October 18, 2001.
Montgomery is moving back to his hometown of Shreveport, La., with his family, to take a leadership role in his family automobile business. Montgomery and wife, Allison, have four children, John Abraham, Mary Ivon, Robert Pickering and Margaret Anne.
"Jerry has taken our women's tennis program to an elite level in his 15 years," Associate Athletic Director and Senior Women's Administrator Lynnette Johnson said. "Jerry and his family will be missed on our campus and in our community. We wish them all the best."
"After much thought and prayer, Coach Montgomery has decided to make a career change," Athletics Director John Shafer said. "It is a tremendous loss for our program. Jerry Montgomery is not only a great coach, he is a great person. We will miss Jerry, Allison and the children. All in the Ole Miss family wish the Montgomery's the very best."
"I have dodged this decision for the past three years, because of my respect for Ole Miss, my commitment to our women's tennis program and our absolute love for Oxford as our home," Montgomery said. "I have been at Ole Miss for 15 years and it really has become part of me and my family. It's hard to imagine retiring from my position because, to tell you the truth, if I could be anywhere in the world doing whatever I wanted to do, I would be at Ole Miss. My student-athletes are so important to me, and if there were any way that I could stay, I would. But the truth is, I have run out of time.
"The hardest part of all, is looking at the prospect of my family and me leaving Oxford, the only home we've ever known," Montgomery added. "Even though we have no blood relatives here, our friends have become like family, and we will be leaving behind people whom we can't replace, people whom we love so much. Somehow I think we will return, but I don't know when or how. In particular, we are leaving behind a way of life and especially a church that means the world to us.
"I am very thankful for the leadership we have at Ole Miss. Our Chancellor, Dr. Robert Khayat, our Athletic Director, John Shafer, and our women's Athletic Director, Lynnette Johnson, have created a progressive environment of which we can be very proud. I have really felt their support in making this decision, which has been the hardest in my entire life. Whenever Ole Miss plays, you will see my family and me there, because we have great belief in what Ole Miss is doing, and our lives are so finely woven with the University community.
In his 15 years, Montgomery has proven himself as one of the top collegiate women's tennis coaches in the United States, taking the Lady Rebels to the top of the national rankings on a consistent basis. From 1996 to 1999, the women's tennis team was consistently ranked among the top 10 in the nation. Its final rankings for those years, were 1996 - #8, 1997 - #9, 1998 - #7 and 1999 - #6 . In 1998 and 1999, Ole Miss reached the elite eight at the NCAA Team Championships. The Lady Rebels finished among the top four in the SEC, the toughest league in the country, 14 times overall.
Montgomery has coached five All-Americans, 33 NCAA qualifiers, 16 All-SEC selections and two No. 1 nationally-ranked players in his tenure. He earned SEC Coach-of-the-Year honors in 1993 and 1999.
His teams have also been successful off the court. Since 1997, the Lady Rebels have earned the ITA All-Academic Team Award, and in 1998, boasted the highest GPA in the nation in Division I tennis. Montgomery has coached four Academic All-Americans and 28 All-SEC Academic honorees. The women's tennis team has also consistently achieved the highest GPA of any athletic team at the University. In the spring of 2001, the Lady Rebels finished with a 3.53 GPA and had five of the nine players on the Chancellor's Honor Roll.
With the conference going to divisions this year for women's tennis, Montgomery takes great pride in the fact that his teams have dominated the Western Division over the years. From 1990 through 2001, the Lady Rebels were 57-2 against competition in the West during regular season play, and 24-0 among it's two biggest rivals, Mississippi State and LSU.
While giving up the only thing he has known for the past 15 years was a difficult choice to make, Montgomery says he placed it in the hands of God, and determined that this is what is best for his family.
"The Holy Spirit has moved rapidly in the past few weeks to make me come face-to-face with what God was telling me to do," Montgomery said. "I am very thankful for my wonderful wife Allison, who helped me see that the time is now and that this is absolutely God's will. It's hard when your emotions are pulling you strongly in the opposite direction."