Long Beach State University Athletics
Monson Feels Right at Home
4/22/2007 12:00:00 AM | General
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Monson Feeling Right at Home Dan Monson is seated behind a desk in his new office in the Walter Pyramid, and he is reflecting on his brief stay in Long Beach. "I've enjoyed myself more in one week here than I did the past three years in Minnesota," says the new basketball coach at Long Beach State. "Maybe it was the constant scrutiny of being under a microscope in Minneapolis where the Gophers were treated like the professional franchises in town like the Vikings and Timberwolves and Twins and the Wild. "I just get a good feeling about Long Beach. There's a family atmosphere in the athletic department, and I like all the people I've met in the community, and what a great campus they have here. I feel like I have returned to my roots." Dan Monson has been on the job for two weeks, but already has made a positive impression on many 49er boosters, an impression, of course, that will be enhanced in future times if he can duplicate the magic here that he managed at Gonzaga where he went 52-17 in two seasons and made it to the Elite Eight. Indeed, he did something recently that his predecessor, Larry Reynolds, seldom did, attending an athletic fundraiser for another sport - this one was for the Dirtbags and was held at the Naples home of Susie Atwood and Dave Butler - and socializing with supporters who might now actually start paying serious attention to the 49ers' basketball program. Still, Monson will face a severe challenge in Long Beach, especially in his first season since the 49er team that just went 24-8 and won both the Big West Conference regular-season title and Big West Tournament had eight seniors on it and will have only six players returning next fall. "My goal is not just to build a good team, but to build a good program for a long time," he says. "No doubt it's going to take time. Obviously, we're in need now of some players. But you can't quick-fix everything. I remember as an assistant at Gonzaga when we one year signed five freshmen - and redshirted all of them. But by the time they were juniors, we won the league title for the first time." After his 1998-99 Gonzaga team pulled off upsets over Minnesota, Stanford and Florida in the NCAA Tournament and lost to the eventual champion, Connecticut, by a mere five points, Dan Monson became a warm coaching commodity. He wound up accepting a lucrative, multi-year contract to coach Minnesota, which was reeling from an academic scandal from the Clem Haskins regime. Despite being under a five-year NCAA probation that limited scholarships and restricted recruiting, Monson's Gophers made it to the NCAA Tournament once and the NIT tournament four times. He didn't do badly - his record was 118-106 with the Gophers - but the expectations were high despite finding himself at a school that didn't exactly have a glowing basketball legacy in a Big 10 Conference that was stocked with stern competition. At the end of last November, with his team off to a 2-5 start, Monson was given the foot, which he admits was deflating to his ego but which in retrospect he believes was a godsend. And not just from a financial standpoint, as Minnesota gave him a reported $1.3 million buyout, enough to salve the vanity of the most aggrieved person. He would use the time off to become closer to his three kids, taking his family to Cancun on a one-week vacation, as well as visiting coaching friends at Indiana, Iowa and Arizona State. "I needed a little time to catch my breath, and relax a little," he says. But after a few months, he yearned to return to coaching. "I started missing the game," he says. "I enjoy working with the players, helping them grow and mature. I also enjoy putting together a team. I just enjoy coaching, period. It's what I've done almost my entire adult life." When the Long Beach position opened up, Monson became interested. After he met with the athletic director, Vic Cegles, and the school president, Dr. F. King Alexander, he knew he wanted it. "There are some people you develop an immediate chemistry with, and I did with Vic Cegles and King Alexander," he says. "I like what I heard, and I guess they liked what they heard from me." He flew out here on April 6 with his wife, accepted the job the same day, and hasn't returned to Minnesota. "Certainly, I made mistakes at Minnesota, and hope not to repeat them out here," he says. "I know when I first got to Minnesota, I was just getting married and was all wrapped up in that instead of being wrapped up in reaching out to my players. I know a coaching change is difficult for everybody, especially the players. I'm definitely spending more time with my players here at the start than I did in Minnesota. "I also in Minnesota, because of the restrictions, often times let my assistants do a lot of the recruiting, but I plan to be much more involved in it here. "I also lived about 20 miles away from Minneapolis in a suburb called Eden Prairie - that's where the Vikings train - and here I plan to live in Long Beach so I can be in closer contract with the community and the players." The media reports out of Minnesota were that Dan Monson could be taciturn and even difficult with the media, but I've found him to be expansive and engaging. He has even displayed a self-deprecating sense of humor, as for example when he relates a story of an incident that occurred when he was a freshman at East Lansing High and participated in a pickup game at the old Michigan State arena called Jennison Fieldhouse. "My father (Don Monson) at the time was an assistant under Jud Heathcote at Michigan State, and I'd often get to play in four-on-four games in the old arena," says Monson. "Well, one time I'm playing in one, but Jud Heathcote stopped the game and replaced me with this tall guy with a huge Afro who later turned to be a senior at Everett High in Lansing. "As I stood disconsolately on the sidelines watching this guy play, Heathcote came over to me and said, 'This kid is the best high school player in the country. His name is Ervin (Magic) Johnson.' So I honestly can say that I hold the distinction of once being replaced in a game by Magic Johnson." Dan Monson doesn't plan to be replaced in the near future at Long Beach State, nor does he expect to depart if he has some big seasons and receives the inevitable seven-figure offers from a major university. "I'm where I belong," he says. "Believe me, I'm not one of these guys who will use this job to get a better one. I had the experience of coaching in the Big 10. I think Long Beach is definitely a better fit for me. I plan to make this my last coaching stop." |
