Last year, MicGuire Monson was standing at his bus stop in Minnesota waiting for the bus to take him to kindergarten when a second grader approached him. The older boy asked MicGuire if his daddy, Dan Monson, quit his job as head men’s basketball coach at the University of Minnesota or if his daddy had been fired.
MicGuire assured him that his father did not quit.
“My daddy got fired because Monsons never give up,” the then six-year-old quickly retorted.
After the Golden Gophers opened the 2006-2007 season 2-5, and went 16-15 the season before, Monson was fired. But like his oldest son said, Monsons never give up. Upon hearing that the contract of Long Beach State head coach Larry Reynolds’ would not be renewed last spring, Monson threw his hat into the ring in the search for the 49ers’ new head coach.
And as luck would have it, Monson’s hat was chosen.
“I’m happy to have a fresh start,” Monson said. “I’m happy that Long Beach State has given me the opportunity to have another program.”
Monson has his fresh start in Long Beach, and challenges as well. Taking over the LBSU men’s basketball program is no easy task. On paper it may have looked like a dream job – LBSU, a school with a successful mid-major athletic program had just cranked out a conference championship and earned a berth to the NCAA Tournament.
Except for the fact that nearly every player who had helped to win that Big West Conference title had graduated. LBSU was how entering the phase that every program hates to be in: rebuilding.
But Monson, a 10-year collegiate coaching veteran who has been in this position before, relished the challenge.
“We don’t have to rebuild here, we had a great year last year,” Monson said.”To try and build from that year and get some consistency to the program, I think that’s really exciting.”
Consistency is something LBSU basketball was lacking under Reynolds. In his five years, he led The Beach to three losing seasons and only two winning ones. However, Monson has brought consistency to two different programs in the past ten years.
After working with the Gonzaga basketball program for nine years and helping lay the framework for the ‘Zags’ now highly successful mid-major program, Monson served as an associate head coach before being promoted to head coach in 1998.
In his head-coaching debut, the Bulldogs set a school-record 24 wins and won the West Coast Conference title. Monson was named WCC Coach of the Year and National Rookie Coach of the Year by Basketball Times.
In his sophomore coaching season Monson led ‘Zags all the way to the Elite Eight and a 28-7 record.
Monson feels his success at Gonzaga and coaching in the WCC has prepared him to coach in the Big West Conference.
“I think being at Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference is a very similar conference to the Big West,” Monson said. “I think that helps, but certainly it is different than the Big Ten.”
The Big Ten, Monson said, was, for lack of a better term, a much different monster.
“[At the mid-major level] you’re all pointing to improving to your league tournament, because you’re league tournament is the only way you know for sure at this level you’re going to the NCAA Tournament,” Monson said. “At the Big Ten level, every game really matters because you could finish fifth or sixth in that league and still go to the tournament.
“Every game is a crucial game because its part of you’re résumé you’re building for that NCAA Tournament.”
Monson took over the NCAA sanction-ridden Minnesota program in 1999. NCAA violations in the mid-’90s prevented Monson and his staff from being able to recruit on the same level as every other school until 2005, as they had to work around strict scholarship limitations and recruiting sanctions. That year Monson managed to lead the Gophers to the second-best Big Ten turnaround in 20 years and a Sweet 16 appearance.
The following season, expectations were higher than ever for Monson and the Gophers and when he failed to meet them, Gopher fans retaliated with a “Fire Dan Monson” blog.
“I’m not sure there’s a Big Ten coach that doesn’t have one,” Monson said. “That is part of the job. Does it affect you? Absolutely. People that say it doesn’t aren’t being truthful.
“Where it really hurts, though, is when it affects your family.”
Monson said he was thankful three of his four kids were too young to hear what people were saying about their father, although he knew MicGuire was not immune to the criticism.
“When you’ve got a seven-year-old son that has to go to first grade, that’s very difficult to watch your job affect them so much,” Monson said. “But if you don’t like it you don’t have to do the job.”
Back on the West Coast, where he said he is most comfortable, Monson’s job of building a new basketball team is his main focus.
He has been in this situation before; LBSU is under investigation from the NCAA for alleged recruiting violations, he has a brand new, inexperienced team, and after the success of last year’s Big West Conference Championship team, Monson also has a lot to prove.
“This is my third program I’ve taken over with NCAA investigations,” Monson said. “All you can do is gain peoples’ trust back by doing things the right way. We have nothing to apologize for and nothing to hide.
“I don’t think I have to do anything different than I have ever done – put a product on the court where people come and say, ‘You know what, I like our basketball team.”
