BleedGopher
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per the great Dana O'Neil:
Monson has been crying a lot this week. Cried the first time he ran into his Mike Roth, his old Gonzaga athletic director. Cried in the University of Phoenix Stadium stands alongside his former Gonzaga assistants Bill Grier and Leon Rice as he watched the Bulldogs beat South Carolina to move on to Monday's national title game.
He even broke down in the middle of a Spokane radio interview.
These, though, are not tears of regret.
These are tears of gratitude.
"For Mark to tell you that you had something to do with all this, when you don't feel that way,'' Monson said, his voice cracking before he stops to collect himself. "It's been 18 years. To say that I've had even a small part of any of this. It's ... a lot. It's a lot.''
Eighteen years ago Monson launched the Bulldogs, taking a then unknown to the Elite Eight. Four months later, Monson did what he had to do, foregoing Gonzaga's best possible offer of a $105,000 annual salary for a seven-year deal worth $490,000 a year at Minnesota.
He has spent every year since trying to recapture what he did at Gonzaga. It didn't happen in eight years at Minnesota. It hasn't happened in 10 years at Long Beach State.
Yet to Gonzaga people inside and outside the program, Monson is neither the traitor coach nor the coach left behind.
He's the architect. Fans at the Westin, the Gonzaga team hotel, stopped to shake his hand and say hello, easily recognizing the otherwise anonymous man in a black workout shirt.
And when Roth sidled by, the athletic director stopped and firmly planted his hands on Monson's shoulders.
"This is the guy,'' Roth said. "This is the guy who started it all.''
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...d-all-gonzaga-including-mark-ever-forget-that
Go Gophers!!
Monson has been crying a lot this week. Cried the first time he ran into his Mike Roth, his old Gonzaga athletic director. Cried in the University of Phoenix Stadium stands alongside his former Gonzaga assistants Bill Grier and Leon Rice as he watched the Bulldogs beat South Carolina to move on to Monday's national title game.
He even broke down in the middle of a Spokane radio interview.
These, though, are not tears of regret.
These are tears of gratitude.
"For Mark to tell you that you had something to do with all this, when you don't feel that way,'' Monson said, his voice cracking before he stops to collect himself. "It's been 18 years. To say that I've had even a small part of any of this. It's ... a lot. It's a lot.''
Eighteen years ago Monson launched the Bulldogs, taking a then unknown to the Elite Eight. Four months later, Monson did what he had to do, foregoing Gonzaga's best possible offer of a $105,000 annual salary for a seven-year deal worth $490,000 a year at Minnesota.
He has spent every year since trying to recapture what he did at Gonzaga. It didn't happen in eight years at Minnesota. It hasn't happened in 10 years at Long Beach State.
Yet to Gonzaga people inside and outside the program, Monson is neither the traitor coach nor the coach left behind.
He's the architect. Fans at the Westin, the Gonzaga team hotel, stopped to shake his hand and say hello, easily recognizing the otherwise anonymous man in a black workout shirt.
And when Roth sidled by, the athletic director stopped and firmly planted his hands on Monson's shoulders.
"This is the guy,'' Roth said. "This is the guy who started it all.''
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...d-all-gonzaga-including-mark-ever-forget-that
Go Gophers!!
