Daniel Lloyd Monson (born October 6, 1961) is an American

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

coach serving as the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

at Long Beach State since April 2007. Previously he was head coach at

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

for over seven seasons (1999–2006), reaching postseason play five times. Before coaching the Gophers, he was the head coach at Gonzaga for two seasons, leading the Zags on an improbable run to the Elite Eight during his last season.

Early years

Monson is the son of

coach

Don Monson Donald Lloyd Monson (born April 11, 1933) is a former college basketball head coach and the father of head coach Dan Monson. He was a high school head coach for 18 seasons and college head coach for 14 seasons: five at Idaho and nine at Oregon. ...

, and spent most of his early years in eastern

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, where his father was a successful high school head coach in Cheney and Pasco for 18 seasons. At age 14, the family moved from Pasco to

East Lansing East Lansing is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. Most of the city lies within Ingham County with a smaller portion extending north into Clinton County. At the 2020 Census the population was 47,741. Located directly east of the state capital ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

, where Don was an assistant coach for

Jud Heathcote George Melvin "Jud" Heathcote (May 27, 1927 – August 28, 2017) was an American basketball player and coach. He was a college basketball head coach for 24 seasons: five at the University of Montana and nineteen at Michigan State University H ...

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

for two seasons. They moved to Moscow, Idaho at the start of his junior year, when his father became the

of his alma mater, the

University of Idaho The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho. It is the state's land-grant and primary research university,, and the lead university in the Idaho Space Grant Consortium. The Universit ...

, in August 1978. He graduated from

Moscow High School Moscow High School (MHS) is a four-year public high school in Moscow, Idaho, United States. The flagship school of the Moscow School District, it serves grades 9–12 and its principal since 2013 is Erik Perryman with Brett Clevenger serving as v ...

in 1980 and played college football a few blocks away as a receiver for the

Idaho Vandals The Idaho Vandals are the intercollegiate athletic teams representing the University of Idaho, located in Moscow. The Vandals compete at the NCAA Division I level as a member of the Big Sky Conference. The football team was an independent for th ...

, then under head coach

Jerry Davitch Jerry J. Davitch (born June 9, 1941) is a former college football coach and secondary school administrator. Since 2004, he has served as the superintendent of schools in Richland Township, just northeast of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Davitch serve ...

. Monson suffered a knee injury that ended his playing career, and focused on coaching; he graduated from Idaho with a degree in secondary education ( mathematics) in 1985.

Coaching career

After graduation, Monson was a high school coach in

Oregon City, Oregon ) , image_skyline = McLoughlin House.jpg , imagesize = , image_caption = The McLoughlin House, est. 1845 , image_flag = , image_seal = Oregon City seal.png , image_map ...

for a season, then became a collegiate graduate assistant under

Gene Bartow Bobby Gene Bartow (August 18, 1930 January 3, 2012) was an American men's college basketball coach. The Browning, Missouri, native coached 36 years at six universities after coaching two high schools in Missouri for six years. In 1972 Bartow coac ...

at UAB in 1986, where he earned a master's degree in education.

Gonzaga

Monson began at GU as an assistant coach in

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

and was elevated to associate head coach under head coach

Dan Fitzgerald Daniel John Fitzgerald (March 3, 1942 – January 19, 2010) was an American college basketball coach and athletic director at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. Fitzgerald was the head coach at Gonzaga for 15 seasons between 1978 and 1997 ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

; in all, Monson spent eleven years helping build the Gonzaga program. As an assistant, Monson was a key figure in the Bulldogs turnaround during the 1990s. Gonzaga had a record of over ten seasons and he was responsible for recruiting many of the key players in Gonzaga's NCAA Sweet 16 appearances from

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

– 2001. From the time Monson was named associate head coach in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

, Gonzaga averaged 22 wins per season and reached postseason play every year but one. For all of this, Monson was promoted to head coach of the Zags in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

. His first year as head coach at Gonzaga ( 1997–98) resulted in a 24–10 mark, as the Bulldogs won the West Coast Conference championship and advanced to the second round of the NIT. On their way to setting a school-record with its 24 wins, Monson was named the WCC Coach of the Year and National Rookie Coach of the Year by Basketball Times. The 1999 team brought Gonzaga basketball to national prominence with an impressive run in the NCAA tournament. In the West regional, the tenth-seeded Zags defeated 7th-seed

and second-seed #7 Stanford in the

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

sub-regional, then sixth-seed

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

in the Sweet Sixteen round in

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

. Gonzaga advanced to the regional final (Elite Eight), taking the region's top seed, eventual national champion

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

, down to the last minute, losing by five points. While at the helm at Gonzaga, Monson had a record in his two seasons and won both regular season titles.

Minnesota

Monson became one of the more sought-after coaching candidates in college basketball in the spring of 1999. After Gonzaga's improbable run to the Elite Eight, he signed a new contract in mid-April, then was offered the head coaching position at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

in late July, which he accepted. University president

Mark Yudof Mark George Yudof (born October 30, 1944) is an American law professor and academic administrator. He is a former president of the University of California (2008-2013), former chancellor of the University of Texas System (2002–2008), and former ...

was hoping that Monson would be able to help the program move past the scandals of previous head coach

Clem Haskins Clem Smith Haskins (born August 11, 1943) is an American former college and professional basketball player and college basketball coach. In the fall of 1963, he and fellow star player Dwight Smith became the first black athletes to integrate the W ...

. In the previous season, Gonzaga had defeated Minnesota in the first round of the NCAA tournament after several Gopher players were forced to sit out due to an academic fraud investigation.

Mark Few Mark Norman Few (born December 27, 1962) is an American college basketball coach who has been the head coach at Gonzaga University since 1999. He has served on Gonzaga's coaching staff since 1989, and has been a constant on the sidelines through ...

, Monson's top assistant, succeeded him at Gonzaga. Monson also had ties to Minnesota already, as his father

Don Don, don or DON and variants may refer to: Places *County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON *Don (river), a river in European Russia *Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name *Don, Benin, a town in Benin *Don, Dang, a vill ...

was born in rural Menagha. In April 2002, Monson was courted by the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...

in Seattle to coach the

Huskies Husky is a general term for a dog used in the polar regions, primarily and specifically for work as sled dogs. It refers to a traditional northern type, notable for its cold-weather tolerance and overall hardiness. Modern racing huskies that mai ...

and return to his home state of Washington. Monson initially accepted the offer presented by Huskies AD Barbara Hedges to succeed Bob Bender. The Minnesota athletic department, under

Tom Moe Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''List of Beavis and Butt-Head characters#Local r ...

, convinced Monson to change his mind and stay on with Minnesota. In the end, Monson decided to return to Minnesota because he didn't feel he had given enough time to the rebuilding effort at Minnesota and hadn't yet attained enough success with the team. Washington ultimately hired

Lorenzo Romar Lorenzo Romar (born November 13, 1958) is an American basketball coach and former player. He is the head men's basketball coach at Pepperdine University, a position he held from 1996 to 1999 and resumed in 2018. Romar also served as the head me ...

. Dealing with the fallout from the academic scandals of the Haskins era, it was several years before Monson was able to recruit on equal footing with other

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

coaches. He led the Gophers to one NCAA Tournament and 4 NIT appearances in his 7 full seasons as Gophers coach. Nonetheless, he was widely praised for cleaning up the program's image. On November 30, 2006, Monson resigned as head coach of Minnesota after a 2–5 start and only achieving a single 20-win season in seven. Assistant coach

Jim Molinari James R. Molinari (born December 26, 1954) is an American basketball coach and lawyer. Molinari was most recently an assistant coach at Oklahoma from 2019 to 2021. He formerly served as an assistant coach at Nebraska and as former head coach o ...

was appointed interim head coach before

Tubby Smith Orlando Henry "Tubby" Smith (born June 30, 1951) is an American college basketball coach. He was the men's basketball coach at High Point University, his alma mater. Smith previously served in the same role at the University of Tulsa, the Univer ...

was named the new head coach after the season. Monson compiled a 118–106 () record with the Gophers, giving him an overall career record of 170–123 () as a head coach.

Long Beach State

On April 6, 2007, Monson was named the head coach at Long Beach State. The 49ers, now known as The Beach, improved in each of Monson's first several seasons, to the point that on February 24, 2011 Long Beach defeated Cal Poly 61–55 to clinch their first Big West regular season title since 2006–07 and the #1 seed in the Big West tournament. The following season, Long Beach State won the conference's regular season (15–1) and tournament titles, and advanced to the 2012 NCAA tournament. In all, Monson has led The Beach to postseason play four times, won the Big West Conference men's basketball championship three times, and been named Big West Conference Coach of Year award three times. Under Monson, The Beach routinely play one of the most difficult non-conference schedules in the nation. The team usually plays the likes of teams such as North Carolina, Duke, Louisville, and Texas. According to Coach Monson this is to prepare the team for Big West conference play and ultimately the NCAA tournament. Monson has also coached internationally; he was an assistant coach on the 1999 World University Games team and the 2004 USA U-20 team. In 2018, a poll of Big West assistant coaches named Long Beach State as the "Best Job in the Big West". The 2021–22 season opener on November 10, 2021 served as a homecoming for Monson, as The Beach traveled to Monson's alma mater of Idaho to play the

Vandals The Vandals were a Germanic people who first inhabited what is now southern Poland. They established Vandal kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula, Mediterranean islands, and North Africa in the fifth century. The Vandals migrated to the area betw ...

in the first regular-season game at Idaho's new home of

Idaho Central Credit Union Arena Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

. The Beach won 95–89 in overtime.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Long Beach State profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monson, Dan 1961 births Living people American men's basketball coaches Basketball coaches from Idaho Basketball coaches from Washington (state) College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball coaches High school basketball coaches in the United States Idaho Vandals football players Long Beach State Beach men's basketball coaches Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball coaches People from Moscow, Idaho People from Pasco, Washington Players of American football from Idaho Players of American football from Spokane, Washington UAB Blazers men's basketball coaches