Some athletic programs have a quick trigger when it comes to firing their head coaches. Long Beach State was one of these teams heading to March Madness. They let Coach Dan Monson go after they endured a five-game span without a win. After getting fired, he then proceeded to lead the team atop the Big West Tournament after impressive wins over UC Irvine, UC Riverside, and UC Davis. The fourth-ranked in the conference is going to face off against Arizona in the NCAA Tournament and it prompted the head coach to make a choice.
Dan Monson will be coaching Long Beach State in March Madness without getting paid. While this raised the eyebrows of a lot of college basketball fans, he explained why this was a fairly easy decision to make, via The Dan LeBatard Show.
“Every coach in the world would work for free in the NCAA Tournament but I’m the only one that’s really going to do it, so I practice what I preach I guess. Because It’s all our dreams, this is the week where everybody would not just do it for free but we’d all pay to play in this tournament. I’m just living in the moment and that’s what we tell our players to do and that’s the key to a successful basketball team,” the Long Beach State head coach declared.
Arizona is a tough foe that has national title hopes this season. But, Dan Monson's squad has the talent to deliver a huge upset in the first round. They have an elite double-double machine in Lassina Traore. Long Beach State also has Aboubacar Traore in their arsenal who can dish out dimes, collect rebounds, and put his teammates into a winning position.
Monson's reasons to keep coaching Long Beach State
He also has another reason for coaching the NCAA Tournament, his son.
“To see that locker room and my son in that locker room was the hardest part. To watch my own son, who's on the team go through it with his teammates, but the love was unconditional there. And they showed it the way they played this week,” Coach Monson declared.
Maddox Monson is a sophomore in the Long Beach State basketball team. The six-foot-two guard was a walk-on and eventually earned an average of 2.2 minutes for the team. His experience in March Madness and the Big West tournament championship can springboard him to get bigger numbers in his junior season.
More than just the family ties Monson has in the squad. He hopes to do well in March Madness because of a chip in every one of his team's members. He even motivated the Long Beach State squad after he got sacked.
“You know as I told them as motivation, they didn't just give up on me, they gave up on you guys because they didn't wait to see what you could do, and didn't think that you could, you know, have success this week. And I think our players really felt that togetherness. That we had a cause to play for something besides ourselves,” he concluded.
A statement upset over Arizona will not guarantee Coach Monson a new contract at all. But, he is doing all of this for the love of the game and his squad. It is unfortunate that a 17-year tenure ended in this way but he has the opportunity to prove to the nation that Long Beach State is not an easy win in the NCAA Tournament.
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