There are two ways to spin the hiring of Dan Monson as the new men’s basketball coach at LBSU.
Positive spin: Monson was the head coach at Gonzaga when it jumped onto the national scene as a top-notch basketball program.
He then went to Minnesota, where he didn’t have the same success he had at Gonzaga. That said, he did honorably get the Gophers through five years of probation and laid the groundwork to make the Minnesota job enticing enough for Tubby Smith, who left Kentucky for the job in the Twin Cities.
Negative spin: Monson might have had the best assistant in the country (Mark Few) when he was at Gonzaga, so it wasn’t as though Monson built the Zags by himself.
Then in Minnesota, when five years of probation finally ended, Monson got Minnesota into the NCAA Tournament in 2005. That accomplishment was quickly forgotten when the Gophers finished 10th in the Big Ten the next year and started last year 2-5. That equaled the end of Monson’s time in Minnesota.
Eight years ago Monson was a can’t-miss future star in the college basketball coaching universe, and now he has taken the job at Long Beach State. That should make 49er fans ask themselves: Is he really that good of a coach?
The bottom line: Whatever you think of Monson’s coaching career, he alone has no chance of building a strong basketball program at LBSU. He needs help. That’s why the coming weeks and months are so critical as Monson builds his staff.
Between Santa Barbara to San Diego is where most of the student-athletes come from who play basketball inside The Walter Pyramid. Monson, who is from Washington, is no expert when it comes to the basketball landscape in Southern California, so he is going to need other people to cover for him until he gets up to speed.
He must hire assistant coaches who know everything there is to know about Southern California basketball. Not only that, but these coaches must be willing to put in 60-hour weeks (at least) and have such a strong passion for basketball that it severely hinders their social lives.
If he hires the right people, he could be able to do what he did at Gonzaga a decade ago. If Monson doesn’t, LBSU will be the last head coaching job he ever has.
