Long Beach State University Athletics
Monson Names Staff
5/3/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Monson Announces Coaching Staff
Vic Couch, Rod Palmer and Eric Brown Named As Assistants
May 3, 2007
LONG BEACH, CA-- Long Beach State men's basketball coach Dan Monson announced the completion of his coaching staff for the upcoming year. Joining the 49ers will be Vic Couch, Eric Brown and Rod Palmer.
"I'm extremely excited about my staff," said Monson. "Everybody brings something different to the table. They really compliment each other as far as three assistants that all have ties in the Southern California area, and very diverse ties. Rod Palmer has extensive Southern California high school experience, Eric Brown has been at Cal State Northridge and USC and has recruited the Los Angeles area extensively and Vic Couch, doing a little bit of everything. Vic has been with me for eight years, coupled with his high school experience in the Southern California area. This is a well-rounded staff that compliments each other."
Vic Couch
Couch and Monson will be entering their eighth year of collaboration as Couch served on Monson's staff for seven years at the University of Minnesota. Couch has worked at the collegiate level for the past 10 years, as he was an assistant coach at Santa Clara University for three season before heading to Minneapolis. An outstanding recruiter and tactician, Couch helped lead Minnesota to five post-season appearances during his tenure (1 NCAA, 4 NIT).
For the past five years Couch served as an assistant coach for the Gophers after spending his first two campaigns serving as the Director of Basketball Operations. During his time at Minnesota he helped recruit numerous high-profile players including, Rick Rickert (McDonald's All-American), Jerry Holman (NJCAA All-American), Kris Humphries (McDonald's All-American) and Vincent Grier (NJCAA All-American, two-time All-Big Ten). In 2205 the Gophers went 21-11, 10-6 in the Big Ten, and received the school's first bid to the NCAA Tournament since 1999. In 2003 the squad went 19-14 and advanced to the Final Four of the NIT and in 2002 and 2006 Minnesota advanced to the second round of the NIT.
Couch came to Minnesota after spending three years as an assistant (1997-2000) at Santa Clara University. A former standout player for the Broncos (1985, English), Couch was the defensive coordinator and recruiter for the Broncos, as well as directing the Santa Clara basketball camps. Notable recruits during his time with the Broncos included Brian Jones, a USA Top 100 player and the 1996 Los Angeles City Player of the Year, and Jason Morrisette, the 1998 Los Angeles City Player of the Year.
Prior to SCU, Couch spent a successful six years coaching high school basketball in the state of California. From 1986-88 he was the Associate Head Coach at John. F. Kennedy High School in Fremont, where he helped lead the Titans to a quarterfinal appearance in the 1988 CIF Northern Section Playoffs. He then spent one year as an assistant coach at St. Anthony's High School in Long Beach before spending three years as the Associate Head Basketball Coach at Servite High School in Anaheim. While at Servite, he helped lead the squad to the 1991 CIF Division III State Championships, as well as the 1991 CIF Southern Section title. In 1992 the squad also captured the CIF Southern Section championship.
A native of Davenport, Iowa, Coach began his collegiate career at Clinton Community College in Clinton, Iowa. He was named all-region and honorable mention All-America is sophomore season. In addition, he was the recipient of the NJC Sportsmanship Award in 1983. From there he transferred to Santa Clara where he was a two-year starting forward (1983-85) for the Broncos.
Rod Palmer
Palmer comes to the 49ers from Centennial High School in Compton where he was the Head Varsity Basketball Coach for the past nine years (1998-07). Palmer led Centennial to the 2004 California Division III State Championship and his 2002 squad was a State Finalist, falling to San Francisco Riordan. Both the 2002 and 2004 squads were Division III Southern Regional Champions and in 2006 Centennial was the CIF Division IIIA champs. Prior to coaching at Centennial, Palmer was the Head Varsity Coach at Compton High School for four years (1993-97).
Over 13 years as a high school coach, Palmer has guided his teams to eight CIF Sectional title games (six consecutive), three Southern Regional Championship game, two Southern Regional Championships, two State Final games and one Division III State Championship. He has also sent over 25 players to NCAA Division I schools on basketball scholarships.
The 2004 state championship squad was led by Aaron Afflalo. The Apaches went 32-3 that year and defeated Oakland Bishop O'Dowd 60-36 in the title game in Sacramento. This past year the Apaches were 19-5 and won the Pioneer League title with a perfect 10-0 record, but lost in the first round of the CIF IAA playoffs to Jordan in overtime.
Palmer earned his Bachelor's degree from UC Irvine in 1990 in psychology and received a teaching credential-secondary in social science in 2004 from Cal State Dominguez Hills. Palmer prepped at Dominguez High School and was a two-time All-CIF guard and earned a scholarship to UCLA where he played from 1985-87. He then transferred to UC Irvine for his final two seasons.
Eric Brown
Brown has been an assistant coach at the Division I level for the past eight years as Cal State Northridge, USC and Iowa State. He served the 2005-06 season at Iowa State where he worked with the Cyclone perimeter players, including all-conference players Curtis Stinson and Will Blaylock. The Cyclones led the Big 12 in scoring that season at 76.6 points per game and Blaylock finished ninth in the nation in assists.
For four season Brown was an assistant coach at USC (2001-05) under Henry Bibby. His duties included offensive coordinator, recruiting, scouting and the development and workouts of USC's post players. In his first year with the team, USC's offense posted several marks that were among the school's all-time top 10. The Trojans scoring averaged in 2003 (76.5) and 2004 (75.4) were among the top 45 in the country. As a recruiter, Brown signed two players ranked in the top 100 nationally in 2003 and another in 2002. USC's forwards and centers earned numerous honors during his time with the Trojans. Jeff McMillan was named the 2004 Pac-10 Newcomer of the Year and forward Sam Clancy was the 2002 Pac-10 Player of the Year.
Prior to coming to USC, Brown spent three seasons at Cal State Northridge (1999-2001) under the tutelage of Bobby Braswell. He helped lead the Matadors to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in school history in 2001. In three years, he coached eight All-Big Sky players, including 2001 Big Sky Conference MVP Brian Heinle. Three players Brown signed at CSUN earned 2002 Big West All-Freshman honors, including Big West Freshman of the Year Ian Boylan.
A Los Angeles native, Brown lettered four years at Grant High School and played a year at Valley College in 1993. He was a walk-on at Arizona in 1994, before transferring to Northridge. He received his bachelor's degree from Northridge in sociology in 1998.
Brown began his coaching career at Grant High in Van Nuys (1995-97). While there, he coached a pair of All-City players, including former Arizona guard and current Washington Wizard star Gilbert Arenas. From there he served as an assistant coach at Los Angeles Valley College in 1998 where he helped the Monarchs to a 22-10 mark. Five players from the 1998 L.A. Valley team went on to Division I schools.
