UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND -- Head baseball coach Mark McQueen has introduced Lewis "Tag"
Montague as the program's new assistant coach. Montague replaces Ryan
Wheeler, who was named the head coach at Temple University in July.
A native of Richmond and a graduate of VCU and JR Tucker High, Montague comes
to the Spiders after spending the last two years as an assistant at Old
Dominion University. Prior to that, Montague was the head baseball coach
at Douglas Freeman High in Richmond where his team finished second in the
district in 2008-09.
At Richmond, Montague will work with the hitters, infielders and base-runners. Additionally, he will direct the Spiders' recruiting efforts, along with assistant coach Charlie Goens.
"We're thrilled to welcome Tag to our staff," said McQueen. "He brings tremendous knowledge of the game and is an outstanding teacher of baseball fundamentals. Tag is a tireless recruiter who will continue to attract the quality student-athletes we are looking for at the University of Richmond."
Montague's ties to the Spiders run deep, having previously served as an assistant, along with McQueen, on the staff in 1998-99 and having played high school baseball at Tucker in 1984 under former Spider Hall of Fame head coach Ron Atkins.
"Richmond has a tremendous baseball tradition and I'm excited for the opportunity to be a part of it once again," said Montague. "Coach McQueen and his staff have done a tremendous job here and it's an honor to help continue that legacy."
This past
season, ODU finished second in the CAA during the regular season and lost in
the conference championship game to James Madison. In his first stint with Monarchs from 1999-01, they were the
regular season CAA Champions and reached the NCAA Regional as a No. 2-seed in
2000.
Prior to Douglas Freeman, Montague was an assistant coach at Marist College
from 2005-07. Marist led the conference regular season in batting average, hits
and runs scored. He was an assistant coach at George Washington University from
2002-04 where the Colonials averaged 39 wins per year.
Montague has also served as an assistant coach at Virginia Wesleyan College from
2001-02, at Richmond from 1998-99 and at Randolph-Macon in 1997-98.
As a player at VCU, Montague hit .417 in 1991 against Sun Belt Conference
opponents and in a game against Radford, he played all nine positions and
recorded a save in a 3-0 victory. Montague played just one season at VCU
after transferring from Pfeiffer College, where he missed just one game in
three years as a starter and was named Most Valuable Player during his
sophomore season.
Montague played his first season of prep baseball under Atkins in 1984, and helped lead Tucker to back-to-back Virginia State titles in 1985 and 1986.
Tag is married to the former Sheila McGroder. Montague graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a physical education degree in 1998.
