Long Beach State clinched a bid to the NCAA Tournament on Saturday night, while prolonging the tenure of coach Dan Monson, who was fired on Monday.
The 49ers beat UC Davis 74-70 in the Big West championship game, less than a week after the school announced a “mutual separation” from Monson, who has led the program since 2007-08. Long Beach State had lost its final five regular season games before the split, but turned around to beat UC Riverside, No. 1 seed UC Irvine and No. 2 seed UC Davis to win the tournament and send Monson to March Madness for the first time since 2011.
“These kids have been awesome to coach,” Monson said in his postgame interview on ESPN. “When Jim Harbaugh says, who’s got it better than him, someone needs to tell him: Dan Monson.”
Monson was responsible for beginning Gonzaga’s path to becoming a national powerhouse, guiding them on a Cinderella run to the 1999 Elite Eight. He then left for Minnesota, and the Zags promoted Mark Few. Monson said Few texted him this week to say, “Why don’t we have a run in the first year and a run in the last year?”
But Monson said he’s not ready to call it quits.
“I don’t think it’s my last year,” he said. “I love coaching. I love teams. I need a new challenge. That’s life — it’s on to the next chapter.”
And for Long Beach State and its fired-but-still-working coach, it’s on to the NCAA Tournament.
(Photo: Ronda Churchill / AP)
