Fired Long Beach State Coach Allowed To Finish Season Is 1 Win From NCAA Tournament

Fired on Monday.

NCAA Tournament bid on Sunday.

That could be the scenario for Long Beach State men's basketball coach Dan Monson, who was fired Monday in the midst of an 18-14 season and 10-10 finish for a fifth place tie in the Big West regular season. But he was allowed to coach the rest of the season.

Monson, 62, has since led No. 4 seed Long Beach State to two wins in the Big West Tournament in Henderson, Nevada - 86-67 over No. 5 seed UC-Riverside on Thursday and an 83-79 upset of No. 1 seed UC Irvine (24-9, 17-3) on Friday.

If Long Beach State (20-14) wins Saturday night (9:30 p.m., ESPN2) against No. 2 seed UC Davis (20-12, 14-6), Monson is expected to continue coaching in the NCAA Tournament - unless Long Beach State suddenly hires a new coach.

The Beach, which has been the program's nickname since 2019 after being called the 49ers, has not hit the NCAA Tournament since 2012 under Monson when it was 25-8 and won the Big West at 15-1. That was only the second appearance this century and ninth in history. The 49ers fell, 75-68, to New Mexico in the first round in Portland, Oregon.

The baseball team, by the way, calls itself the Dirtbags.

Long Beach State Coach Dan Monson Wants To Dance

Monson, who is in his 17th season at Long Beach State, for sure wants to make the trip to the Big Dance.

"Surreal" is how he described his team's three straight wins after entering the Big West Tournament on a five-game losing streak.

"How they responded all week has been a testament to their character, what kind of people they are and what kind of family they are," he said after the win Friday. "UC Irvine is a championship program that didn't go down without a fight, but I have to give my guys credit. They fought. Our guys have worked to get where they are, and they deserve to be in a game."

The Beach beat UC Davis, 78-74, last month before losing to it, 88-78, in the regular season finale at home last Saturday in Long Beach - 24 miles south of Los Angeles.

"We made it a priority to start playing for each other," said junior guard Jadon Jones, a native of Long Beach who scored 15 points in the win over UC Irvine. "I'm not playing for my stats. I'm not playing for my glory. I'm playing to help everyone go where they want to go. And we know we have to win in order to do that."

Monson is day-to-day. He will be coaching Saturday night to be the coach on Sunday morning. The NCAA Tournament Selection Show tips off at 6 p.m. on CBS.

"We're happy. We feel like we deserve it, but we're not done," he said. "We didn't come here to get to the championship. We came here to go to the NCAA Tournament."

Regardless of what happens, should Monson indeed not return as coach, he will leave Long Beach State as its all-time winningest basketball coach with 274 wins and 272 losses - 166-112 in the Big West.

"On behalf of the entire Long Beach State community, I would like to thank Coach Monson for his 17 seasons of service to Beach Athletics," Long Beach State athletic director Bobby Smitheran said last Monday.

"It's time for a new voice," Monson said Monday.

As soon as the old one is done, that is.

"We're here because these guys played with great heart, Monson said after Friday's win. "They played for each other. And it was a dog fight, and I'm glad we came out on top. I've got great confidence in this group that we're going to leave it all out there."

Long Beach State reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament in 1971 and '72 under Jerry Tarkanian, but their wins were later vacated because of NCAA rules violations.

Dan Monson Started The Gonzaga Dynasty

Monson has been no fly-by-night coach, though he is now. He is credited with starting the rise of the Gonzaga program, which lost the national championship game in 2017 and '21 under coach Mark Few and reached six Elite Eights from 1999-2023 - the last five under Few.

As head coach, Monson took Gonzaga to its first Elite Eight in the 1998-99 season in his second year with a 28-7 finish and 12-2 West Coast Conference title before becoming Minnesota's head coach. Monson was an assistant at Gonzaga from 1988-97 under Dan Fitzgerald, who took Gonzaga to its first NCAA Tournament in 1995. Monson went to four NITs and the 2004 NCAA Tournament at Minnesota before being fired early in the 2006-07 season. He went to Long Beach State before the 2007-08 season.

If Long Beach State wins again, Monson will be in rare company should he reach the NCAA Tournament as a lame duck coach.

Auburn's Sonny Smith Was Leaving, Then Staying

Just before the 1985 SEC Tournament in Birmingham, Alabama, Auburn coach Sonny Smith announced that he would resign after the season as Auburn finished the regular season at 16-11 and 8-10 in the league for seventh. It was his sixth finish at seventh or worse in seven seasons at Auburn.  But Auburn won four games in four days to win the SEC Tournament, climaxing with a 53-49 win over Alabama in overtime. Auburn then reached the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16, and Smith decided to stay on for four more seasons. Those included three more NCAA Tournaments with an Elite Eight finish in 1987.

At the end of the 1994-95 regular season, Florida International coach Bob Weltlich announced he would resign as FIU was 8-18 and 4-12 in the Trans America Athletic Conference. Then Weltlich won the TAAC tournament title to reach the school's first NCAA Tournament, but Weltlich was not retained.

After a first round loss to eventual champion UCLA, Weltlich wore a shirt to the postgame press conference that said, "I need a job" and included his phone number and these words, "Please leave a message."

South Alabama hired Weltlich before the 1997-98 season, and he took the Jaguars to the 1998 NCAA Tournament and coached South Alabama through the 2001-02 season.