Jonathan Metzger-Jones Position: Assistant Coach

Jonathan Metzger-Jones is in his second season as an assistant coach at The University of Montana.

In his first year at Montana Jono Metzger-Jones helped the Griz to a record- breaking season. The 2011-2012 Grizzlies set the standard for consecutive wins (14), overall conference record (15-1), road record in conference (7-1), and all-conference selections (four). It was also the third consecutive postseason appearance for the Griz -- a first for the program. The 25-7 overall record was the third best in the 107-year history of Griz basketball.

Jono's duties at Montana include all aspects of recruiting, scheduling, player skill development with an emphasis on perimeter players, preparation and implementation of opponent scouting reports, game strategy, film breakdown, player academics, facility coordination, summer camps, and equipment.

On the court, Jono works primarily with the Griz perimeter players. This past year he helped guards Will Cherry and Kareem Jamar earn first team All-Big Sky Conference honors. Both players saw their shooting percentages increase dramatically this past season, as Cherry upped his three-point shooting from 22% in the 2010-11 season to 38% this year, including a 41% clip in conference. Jamar increased his three-point percentage from 38% in 2010-11 to over 44% in 2011-12. Both players also saw increases in their overall field goal and free throw percentages.

Prior to arriving in Missoula, Jono spent four seasons on the staff of Bob Williams at UC Santa Barbara. In his time there he helped lead the Gauchos to two Big West regular-season championships and back-to-back Big West Conference Tournament titles and NCAA berths -- a first in UCSB basketball history.

In the 2007-2008 season UCSB broke the school record for wins in a season (23) on its way to capturing the Big West regular-season crown and a berth in the NIT. The 2009-2010 Gauchos broke another school record by becoming the first team in school history to win both the Big West regular-season and tournament titles in the same year. That team also won 20 games while advancing to the NCAA Tournament. The 2010-2011 Gauchos also captured the Big West tournament championship to earn a return trip to the NCAA Tournament.

Prior to UCSB Jono began his coaching career as the Director of Operations at Cal State Fullerton under the guidance of head coach Bob Burton. In his one season there he helped the Titans to a 20-win season.

In his six years as an assistant coach Jono has helped to develop two guards that were named their conference's player of the year (Alex Harris, 2008 and Orlando Johnson, 2010), as well as 16 players that have been honored as all-conference performers.

Jono played collegiately at the University of the Pacific where he was named co-captain of the team his senior year. He finished his career ranked in the program's top 10 all time in three-point shooting.

Prior to his time at UOP he played two seasons at West Valley Junior College under Burton, whom he later worked for at CS Fullerton. After his college days were over Jono spent time playing professionally in Europe. Over the course of three seasons he played in professional leagues in Italy, Switzerland, Finland, and Denmark.

A native of Oakland, California, he graduated from Bishop O'Dowd High School in 1997. He earned his B.S. in Business Administration from UOP in 2002.

Jono is married to the former Alison Keck, (B.A. Washington State '03, M.A. Gonzaga '07) who works as the Assistant Director of Development, School of Journalism, for the University of Montana Foundation.

Jono's Coaching Record

Season=School-Record-Postseason

2011-12=Montana-25-7-Big Sky Champions, NCAA Tournament

2010-11=UCSB-18-14-NCAA Tournament

2009-10=UCSB-20-10-Big West Champions, NCAA Tournament

2008-09=UCSB-16-15-NA

2007-08=UCSB-23-9-Big West Champions, NIT

2006-07=CS Fullerton-20-10-NA