Members of the local community had the opportunity to meet new NIU men's basketball head coach Mark Montgomery on Monday night at "Mark Madness" at the NIU Convocation Center. The DeKalb Daily Chronicle spoke to Montgomery following the event to get his reaction to the response he has received from the community. The Daily Chronicle's Ryan Wood also wrote about the excitement the community had for the new head coach. 

Mark Montgomery was introduced yesterday as the new head coach of the NIU men's basketball program. Read the official announcement and watch the archive of the introductory press conference. See what Montgomery's colleagues and former players have to say about the hire on the Montgomery Fact Sheet.

Also, check out what the media had to say about the hiring of Montgomery. The DeKalb Daily Chronicle talks about Montgomery's initial excitement to see the Convocation Center and the NIU community. The Daily Chronicle also spoke with Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo about the readiness of his former associate head coach to take on the top job at NIU and shared its take on NIU Associate Vice-President and Director of Athletics Jeff Compher's third major coaching hire in less than a year.

Elsewhere, the Daily Herald notes that Montgomery has a big fan in his former mentor Izzo and the Rockford Register Star talks about Montgomery's plans for building a winner at NIU. The Chicago Sun-Times notes Montgomery's previous success recruiting in the Chicagoland area ESPN's Scott Powers writes about Montgomery's belief that Huskie hoops is a sleeping giant and Joe Rexrode of the Lansing State Journal shares the Michigan State side on the new head man at NIU.

A series of video interviews with Montgomery are also available around the web. David Kaplan of Comcast SportsNet Chicago had the opportunity to speak with the coach following his introduction. Montgomery also sat down with the Rockford-area television stations; you can see his interview with WTVO here, his WIFR interview here and his chat with WREX broken up into three parts here, here and here.

Don't forget that all members of the community and the Huskie family are welcome to come meet Coach Montgomery on Monday night when NIU hosts "Mark Madness" at the Convocation Center. The free event will take place from 4:30-6 p.m. in the main concourse of the Convocation Center, free light snacks and beverages will be provided.

Former Huskies basketball player T.J. Lux, the all-time leading scorer in NIU basketball history, was recently named boys basketball head coach at Merrillville High School in his hometown of Merrillville, Ind. Lux, who graduated from Merrillville in 1995, had been an assistant for the Pirates for the last three seasons. Lux scored 1,996 points in his career at NIU and was a three-time Academic All-American.

Before NIU basketball signee Zach Miller plays for the Huskies at the Convocation Center this fall, Miller will help lead his Glenbard East High School team at the Convo tonight. Miller and the Rams will take on Rockford Auburn in the 4A Super-Sectional at 8 p.m. In the Sectional Final, Miller scored 22 points and dished out 12 assists as Glenbard East defeated East Aurora 80-62.