Tim Montez enters his third season with the Dolphins' coaching staff after serving as assistant head coach at Fresno State from 2002-05. Regarded as one of the top pitching coaches and recruiters in the nation, Montez added the title of Associate Head Coach to his credits in 2007.

After leading the Dolphins to one of its best seasons in program history in his first season, Montez helped JU reach the NCAA Regionals in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1994-95.

In a less conventional fashion, the Dolphins entered the 2007 Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament as the No. 4 seed and dropped its opening game to No. 2 Belmont. Behind the strongest pitching performances of the year, the squad rattled off four consecutive wins to secure its third tournament title since joining the A-Sun in 1999.

Through the five games in the tournament, the staff allowed 23 runs (21 earned) for an ERA of 4.30 compared to 5.86 for its opponents. At one point, the staff allowed only one run in 22 innings of work while the starting rotation chewed up 32.2 innings out of a possible 44.

Several members of the Dolphins pitching staff enjoyed career seasons including juniors Matt Davis and Matt Gardner.

Davis, who was named to the A-Sun Tournament team, spent most of 2007 as the squad's closer to notch a career 13 saves and tie for second in the program record book with former All-America Casey Shumaker. His biggest save came in a 5-3 win over No. 1 Florida State on March 21.

At the end of the year, Davis was moved to the starting rotation where he flourished in only five starts. During that span, he finished 2-1 with a 3.82 ERA, 21 strikeouts and a .252 opponent batting average in 33 innings.

Among his starts, Davis notched his first career complete game at East Tennessee State and started the Dolphins' run in the postseason after allowing only one run in eight innings against host Stetson.

Gardner, who was recruited by Montez at Fresno State, earned second team all-conference accolades after ranking third in the conference with a 3.14 ERA, while also leading the Dolphins with six wins, 13 starts, 83.0 innings pitched and a .244 opponent batting average.

He notched his first career shutout with a 5-0 decision over Mercer on March 31 while also tallying two saves in two chances. Gardner also hurled 8.2 solid innings against No. 2 seed Belmont to put the Dolphins in the A-Sun Championship game.

Montez made quite an impression in his first season with the program as the Dolphins won the second most games in program history (43), captured the A-Sun regular-season title for the first time and reached the NCAA Regionals for the 11th time in program history.

Not only did his presence inspire the team as a whole, but his Midas Touch also extended towards the JU pitching staff. The biggest benefactor was sophomore starter Matt Dobbins, who earned All-America honors and was named A-Sun "Pitcher of the Year" after tying for the most wins in the nation (12). Dobbins, who served as a position player as a freshman, had never pitched more than 3.2 innings in his Dolphin career.

Senior reliever Aaron Parvey also posted career numbers after leading the bullpen with a 6-1 mark, 62.1 innings and a 3.32 ERA in 30 appearances. Parvey had only 17 career appearances with 15 innings pitched in his previous three seasons with the program. Montez was also instrumental in the development of junior Justin Young, who took the mound for the first time in his career and went on to finish with a 1.66 ERA, three saves, a .199 opponent batting average and 26 strikeouts in 38 innings.

As a whole, the Dolphins posted the lowest team ERA (4.19) since 1995, the most strikeouts (349) since 2001, the second most saves (18) in program history and featured their first All-America selection since 2001 (Casey Shumaker).

As the team's recruiting coordinator, Montez teamed with Chris Hayes to produce the 38th best recruiting class nationwide in 2006, according to Collegiate Baseball. In 16 seasons as an assistant coach at the Division I level, Montez has had 31 pitchers sign professional contracts and has coached, recruited or worked with 14 major league players including Russ Ortiz (San Francisco Giants), Barry Zito (San Francisco Giants), Mike Young (Texas Rangers), Cliff Lee (Cleveland Indians), Eric Hinske (Boston Red Sox), Justin Lehr (Milwaukee Brewers) and Matt Garza (Tampa Bay Devil Rays).

Montez also served as a pitching coach with Arkansas, Cal State Northridge, UC Santa Barbara and Pepperdine. Montez has helped lead seven teams to the NCAA postseason, (Pepperdine -1, UCSB - 1, Arkansas - 3, Jacksonville - 2), including an appearance in the Super Regional (Arkansas, 2002).

In three years as Mike Batesole's top assistant at Fresno State, Montez served as pitching coach and recruiting coordinator and was instrumental in assembling the staff's first ranked recruiting class (No. 16) by Collegiate Baseball. His 2005 class was ranked No. 17 by Collegiate Baseball and featured Freshman All-America honoree third baseman Beau Mills. Under his tutelage, Cody Smith (Texas Rangers, 2003) and David Griffin (Cincinnati Reds, 2004) inked professional contracts, while Richie Robnett (Oakland A's) and pitcher Matt Garza (Minnesota Twins) were selected in the first round of the 2005 MLB Draft. Pitchers Doug Fister (New York Yankees - 6th round), Rudy Quinonez (Atlanta Braves - 12th round) and Michael Cooper (St. Louis Cardinals - 16th round) were also taken in the first day of the 2005 draft. The 2006 class was ranked 19th in the country giving Fresno State three straight top 20 recruiting classes in a row during Montez's tenure.

Under Montez's direction, each of Arkansas' recruiting classes from 1998-01 were ranked among the top 30 in the nation by Collegiate Baseball.

Prior to joining Arkansas, he served for one season as the pitching coach at Cal State Northridge, before temporarily dropping their program. The Matadors compiled a 42-20 record in 1999, thanks in large part to a pair of 11-game winners in Benny Flores and Erasmo Ramirez.

Montez came to Fresno State after spending five seasons as an assistant at Arkansas under ABCA Hall of Fame head coach Norm DeBriyn. In his five years at Arkansas, Montez built a reputation for recruiting some of the top pitchers in the country. Arkansas' ERA nearly dropped a full run in his first season, going from a school record 6.20 to 5.28 in 1998. It dipped to 5.12 in 1999 as he guided the pitching staff to a school-record 22 conference victories en route to Razorbacks' first SEC overall and Western Division titles. The team's ERA continued its steady decline in 2002 as the staff recorded a 4.28 ERA, finishing one game short of advancing to the College World Series.

A native of Southern California who grew up in Whittier, Montez has always been one step ahead of the game in his coaching career. During a redshirt season at Pepperdine, he found time to coach Esperanza High School to the playoffs with a sparkling 1.86 ERA. Montez' coaching talents were recognized by then Pepperdine coach Andy Lopez, who added Montez to his staff.

Montez directed the Waves' pitching staff from 1989-90 and helped Pepperdine post a 78-42-1 record over that two-year period, including a conference title. His staff was two-time ERA leaders in the West Coast Conference while guiding the Waves to a NCAA West Regional appearance in 1989. Pepperdine boasted the conference pitcher of the year in both seasons along with two freshmen All-America honoreers.

Montez returned to the high school baseball circuit in 1991 as an assistant coach at Montclair Prep High School in Van Nuys, Calif., where he coached Texas Rangers designated hitter Brad Fullmer and San Francisco Giant right-hander Russ Ortiz. Montclair amassed a 59-12 record in the three seasons of Montez's tenure, including a state championship in 1991.

In 1994, Montez returned to the collegiate ranks as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at UC Santa Barbara. He helped lead the Gauchos to the NCAA West Regional in 1996 and signed one of the top recruiting classes (1995-96) that included 2004 American League All-Star Michael Young (Texas Rangers) and the following year 2002 AL Cy Young Award winner Barry Zito (Oakland Athletics).

A four-year letterwinner at Pepperdine, Montez posted a 19-11 record while collecting three saves and helped the Waves to a Southern California Baseball Association title his senior year. He earned all-conference recognition after tallying a 6-3 record and a career-best 2.80 ERA as a sophomore. Montez was a first-round draft pick of the Mexican League's Mexico City Reds. He played two seasons before returning to the United States to begin coaching.

Tim and his lovely wife Julia have three sons, David (20), Ryan (15), and Adam (6). His niece, Monica, plays softball at Florida State and was named ACC "Rookie of the Year" in 2007.