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Beginning his fifth season coaching the Cougar running backs and quarterbacks is Philip Montgomery. This past spring Montgomery was promoted to Co-Offensive Coordinator in addition to his other assistant coaching duties. Montgomery joined the Cougar staff in 2003 after serving as offensive coordinator, quarterback and backfield coach for some of Texas' finest high school football programs. Montgomery recruits the areas of Houston, Klein, Cypress, West Texas, the Panhandle and Arlington Mansfield, Cisco and Ranger Junior Colleges. This past season Montgomery played a vital role in the Cougars ranking as the number one offense in Conference USA as well as sixth nationally. Both of his star pupils-junior running back Anthony Alridge and senior running back Jackie Battle-rushed for well over 800 yards a piece. Alridge was a consensus Conference USA Second-Team pick, while Battle was a consensus Conference USA Third-Team selection. Because of his history with UH head coach Art Briles, Montgomery meshes well with the Cougar football program and helped Houston return to the postseason for the first time since 1996. Montgomery coached Kevin Kolb, who was named the Conference USA Freshman of the Year in 2003 and broke every UH passing mark for freshman quarterbacks. He also coached running back Anthony Evans, who rushed for 1,149 yards in 2003, and was named Second Team, All-Conference USA, as well as Jackie Battle, who was named the Cougars' MVP of the 2003 Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl after rushing for 124 yards and three touchdowns. The Cougars finished 12th in the nation in both rushing offense (215.54 yards per game) and total offense (458.31 ypg.), as well as 16th nationally in scoring offense (34.46 points per game.) The offensive unit topped 500 yards of total offense six times and was over 400 yards 10 of 13 games. The Cougars topped 40 points seven times, including the final three games of the year. UH was one of only three Division I schools (Texas and Texas Tech were the others) to score more than 40 points in at least seven different games. In 2005, Montgomery again assisted in the Cougars' return to the postseason and coached Kolb to a Third Team, All-C-USA selection as well as running back Ryan Gilbert, who was named to the Conference USA First Team after rushing for over 1,000 yards. As offensive coordinator at Denton High School, Montgomery coached the squad to a 10-2 record and bi-district championship in 2002. Prior to Denton, Montgomery spent six years as a quarterback and backfield coach at Stephenville High School, winning back-to-back AAAA/Division II state championships in 1998 and 1999 under head coach Art Briles. Montgomery tutored standouts Kelan Luker (all-state quarterback) and Zac Hunter (all-state running back), who helped lead Stephenville to a national record for most offense in a season (8,664 yards) in 1998. He also coached quarterbacks Kendal Briles to earn AAAA/Division II Offensive Player of the Year honors in 1999 and Tie Lassater and Kevin Kolb to AAAA/Division II Offensive MVP titles in 2000 and 2001, respectively. After lettering in football for four years at Tarleton State, Montgomery got his coaching start as a student assistant at his alma mater tutoring running backs and serving as the summer weight room coordinator for two seasons. Montgomery, a native of Eastland, Texas, earned a Bachelor of Science degree in exercise and sports studies from Tarleton State in 1995. Montgomery and his wife, Ashli have two children; their son, Cannon, is nine and daughter, Maci, is seven. He and his family live in Pearland. |
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