Fired Coach Dan Monson Still Guiding Long Beach State To March Madness

In the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, Arizona defeated Long Beach State 85-65 after scoring 16 points in a row over a five-minute period on Thursday. This victory ended Dan Monson’s coaching career at Long Beach State.

Fired Coach Dan Monson Still Guiding Long Beach State To March Madness

It turns out that when you’re coaching against Arizona, job security doesn’t exist.

Dan Monson’s 17-year career at Long Beach State came to an abrupt end on Thursday night when his team lost to the Wildcats 85-65 in the NCAA Tournament.

ranked second Arizona turned a close game into a farce by scoring 16 points in a row over a five-minute period. Monson gave three kisses to his school’s tiny, weeping-filled fan section in the arena’s corner as he went slowly off the court for the last time.

Since 2007, Monson has served as the head coach of Long Beach State, sometimes referred to as “The Beach.” He has led the school to four NITs and one NCAA tournament during that period.

But after two disappointing seasons, a losing run of five games to end the year, and another (apparently) missing tournament, the school told Monson he was fired and that the Big West tournament would be his last games.

As the #4 seed, The Beach wasn’t expected to make it very far, was it? This is where the school had a major meltdown. It was believed that No. 5 UC Riverside would lose, but No. 1 and NCAA tournament favorite UC Irvine was not to be taken out.

Then an incredible victory against No. 2 UC Davis capped off the tournament with Long Beach State as champions, getting an automatic bid to the NCAA men’s tournament.

“It’s a range of emotions,” said the 62-year-old coach, who learned last week that this would be his final season with the Beach. “Mostly proud. Proud of my tenure. I’m proud of doing it the right way. Proud of the student-athletes that came in as young men, left as men.”

“You have to be almost perfect in a game like this,” Monson said. “The last five minutes of the first half, first five minutes of the second half, we just didn’t play good enough.”

The remarkable aspect of this is that Monson was aware that this was a crucial time for his guys. It would have been simple to become upset, turn around, and let an assistant play in March Madness (and probably lose), but he decided to approach the game like any other since this was his last chance to lead his team.

How old is Dan Monson?

Barely had the Mountain time zone gotten into Thursday afternoon when reality went ahead and tapped 62-year-old Dan Monson on the shoulder.

 

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