By snoadmin
During his tenure with men’s basketball head coach Dan Monson when Monson was head coach at the University of Minnesota, men’s basketball assistant coach Vic Couch helped oversee an uprising of a program riddled with recruiting scandals and probations.
Returning to the West Coast to coach alongside Monson once more, Couch is looking to improve the image of Long Beach State men’s basketball beyond the Big West Conference.
“We want to raise the visibility of the program here, compared to Gonzaga, Wichita State and Southern Illinois,” Couch said. “Kids would look at Gonzaga over [University of] Washington. If we can look like that, we can compete with UCLA and USC.”
The upcoming season will mark the eighth year Couch has worked with Monson. Couch served seven seasons at the University of Minnesota as an assistant to Monson and was also its director of basketball operations. He helped the program reach the post-season five of those years – one NCAA Tournament appearance and four NIT appearances.
Couch is quite familiar with basketball in the West, having coached three years at Santa Clara University as an assistant from 1997-2000. During his collegiate years, Couch played two years for the Santa Clara Broncos.
Couch also served as an assistant head coach for three years at Servite High School in Anaheim. He helped lead the school to a CIF Division III state championship in 1991 and a CIF Southern Section championship the following year.
Couch’s other stints included St. Anthony High School in Long Beach, where he spent a year as an assistant coach, and John F. Kennedy High School in Fremont, Calif., where he was the associate head coach from 1986-1988.
Upon hearing of an opportunity to coach again with Monson at LBSU, Couch said he was excited to coach in the West Coast again.
“Coach Monson is going to bring a different mindset here,” Couch said. “He has learned a great deal to build a program. We had a team that was on probation for six of seven years and still did a remarkable job.”
Despite an outstanding season that was highlighted with a NCAA Tournament appearance in Columbus, Ohio, the men’s basketball team is returning with a new coaching staff that will have to rebuild a little faster than expected now that all five starters from last season are gone.
But as the defending Big West Conference champions, Couch said next season will be an adjustment period.
“It will be hard for the kids to take where coach Monson wants to go with this,” Couch said. “[Monson] has a sense of familiarity with rebuilding. He does not have to worry.”
Couch said the team has the pressure of being a primary target in the Big West Conference because of Monson’s record and reputation as a head coach. He attributes this pressure as a way to upgrade the team’s notoriety throughout California.
“With pressure comes respect,” Couch said. “You want people to respect you. People are gunning for us because we want them to. Our goal is to make some adjustment to the team, but make [also] LBSU a prominent squad like Monson did with Gonzaga.”
