In his first season as an assistant for UNF, he helped head coach Jamie Davies develop five All-ASUN selections and eight weekly conference recognitions, including five ASUN Player of the Week honors. He helped the Ospreys clinch its first conference regular season and tournament titles since 2015, as well as the program’s second trip to the NCAA Championship Tournament.

During his time as an assistant at Bridgeport, Montanella helped the program to a 25-19-12 overall record and a 20-7-5 conference record. The team reached the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference finals in 2023, while also clinching the playoffs during all three seasons competed in the ECC and CACC.

While at Bridgeport, Montanella recruited and coached the nationally-ranked top scorer and points leader in the 2023 NCAA D-II season. He also coached multiple award-winning players, including a D2CAA First Team All-American, the CACC Player of the Year, the CACC Rookie of the Year and a pair of ECC/CACC Goalkeepers of the Year.

On top of that, Montanella also developed two USC All-East Region Second Team players, three D2CCA First Team East Region players, and a D2CCA Second Team East Region player. There were also 14 players that were All-Conference selections between the ECC and CACC, including 10 First Team selections.

During his time as an assistant, Montanella also served as the head coach in the MLS NEXT Academy for Beachside Soccer Club in Norwalk, Conn. The year before, he was the director of coaching for the Ole Soccer Academy in Fairfield, Conn.

Montanella graduated with his master’s degree in analytics from the University of Bridgeport in December 2020 and holds a USSF B Coaching License and a UEFA C Coaching Licence.

Prior to joining the coaching staff, Montanella started his UB soccer career as a player in 2018. He was part of the men soccer team which reached the ECC conference tournament championship game in 2019. During that season, he earned First Team All-ECC and Third Team All-East Region honors.

Prior to arriving in the Park City, he was a student-athlete at Young Harris College in Georgia where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. He was part of a program that captured the Peach Belt Conference tournament titles in 2016 and in 2017, and won the NCAA Southeast Regional in 2017. 

A native from Cannes, France, Montanella holds another bachelor degree in sports sciences from the University of Nice and played at the A.S. Cannes academy under Coach David Bettoni. Many famous professional soccer players came out of the A.S. Cannes academy, such as Zinedine Zidane and Patrick Vieira.

Montanella is the son of ex-professional soccer player and Zidane’s former teammate in Cannes, Georges Montanella, and grandson of international french soccer player, Jean Baeza.