Photo: Courtesy The Dallas Morning News
In a stunning announcement this morning, the Dallas Stars have dismissed former Denver Hockey head coach Jim Montgomery. No details are available at this time.
NEWS: Jim Montgomery has been dismissed as the team’s Head Coach.
Effective immediately, Rick Bowness will assume the role of Interim Head Coach for the team. #GoStars https://t.co/mC6C6Q7KHA
— X – Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) December 10, 2019
In a statement, Stars GM Jim Nill said:
“The Dallas Stars expect all of our employees to act with integrity and exhibit professional behavior while working for and representing our organization. This decision was made due to unprofessional conduct inconsistent with the core values and beliefs of the Dallas Stars and the National Hockey League.”
GM Jim Nill press conference held earlier today:
Prior to joining the Stars, Montgomery coached Denver for five seasons, earning a 125-57-26 record during that span. He led the Pioneers to a national championship in 2017. He also won a national championship as a player with the University of Maine in 1993.
Wishing Jim Montgomery and his wife, Emily, and two sons, JP and Colin and two daughters Ava and Olivia Kate the best with this unexpected news. Montgomery remains a treasured member of the Pioneer family.
Without any details, I feel badly for Jim Montgomery and his family. They were such a big part of the DU community. Every encounter I had with him was a positive and everyone I know felt the same. They have a tight family so hopefully they have the all the support they need. Let’s just hope they are all o.k. and whatever happened can be sorted out and corrected.
What the heck? That came out of nowhere. Guess it’s not hockey related, as he has done quite well as an NHL coach, and had the Stars playing well this year. I have no idea what he did, but you’d think he’d be in demand for another hc job whenever the dust settles from this. Kind of nervous, though, to hear what caused this.
We’re living in a climate where unprofessional conduct of any kind will get you fired. The nature of the statement leads me to believe that this was something that could not be swept under the rug, and I feel horrible for the whole Montgomery family.
I pray Monty’s past conduct doesn’t eliminate him from consideration for other coaching opportunities in the future. To lose his undeniable hockey coaching talent would be a shame.
Montgomery is a pretty young guy, who has been on a consistently upward trajectory. I think he has time to recover from whatever this is, take corrective measures, and be in demand whenever the appropriate amount of time passes. He also seems like a guy who will take accountability for whatever he did. Let’s see what happened. But I don’t, for now, worry about his long term professional prospects.
Stars GM said it was a “material act of unprofessionalism” that it happened in the last week, was a “surprise” and was not a criminal act – no team members or employees were involved.
Shocking, bizarre, sad, and head-scratching. Wow. I hope Monty gets back on his feet and hope there were no other parties harmed in any way. What a crazy story.
Rumor has it, the coach at Maine is on the hot seat. Maybe they could hire Monty to go back and resurrect a once national power house.
Daughters Ava and Olivia Kate round out the Montgomery family.
Vizaroo – You are right. We’ll update. Sad situation.
Seriously? Well at least we know the name of his daughters now!
I watched Nill’s press conference and learned virtually nothing. A “material act of unprofessionalism” is as as vague as vague can be. Speculation abounds. I assume at some the details will emerge, but he and the Stars organization are certainly playing this one close to the vest.