Monson story by Andy Katz

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I have no problem with this article. I thought Monson did as well as anyone could have the first 4-5 years but in the end was just in over his head. I have no hard-feelings towards him just as he seems to have none towards the U.
 

howeda7 said:
I have no problem with this article. I thought Monson did as well as anyone could have the first 4-5 years but in the end was just in over his head. I have no hard-feelings towards him just as he seems to have none towards the U.
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Same, I have no hard feelings against him, good to see he's doing well at LBSU.
 

Thanks for posting that, SS. I don't think it's any secret that I was a huge supporter of Monson throughout his tenure, and it's comments like this that make me remember what a good person he is:
"I left Minnesota feeling like I wish I would have won more, but I did what they wanted me to do, which was clean it up," Monson said. "I helped stabilize the program and run it the right way. We went to the NCAA tournament the first year off probation. We weren't a total disaster on the court. The academics and the recruiting were a solid base, but it needed a bump. Tubby has given that to them.

"I don't have a beef with the University of Minnesota at all. They gave me a lot of money, made me a better person for sure, and a lot better coach, since I had to deal with a lot of different situations there. I wouldn't trade any of what I learned about myself those eight years."
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I'm so happy he's found a better fit, and he and his family are happy out there. As I've said, I fully expect Long Beach to make a nice run in the tourney under him. We're very lucky as MN fans, Monson was a stand up and ethical guy that would have liked to produce more on the court. Now, in a sleazy world of many college bball coaches, we have another coach that does things the right way and is ethical and honest, Tubby...who will (and has) been able to produce on the court. It's a great time to be a Gopher hoops fan!

I feel like I have ants in my pants I'm so excited to be back at the Barn next Thursday!
 

Agree with the rest of you about no hard feelings. Cleaning up the program was not easy.

However, I think this just points even more towards him being a lazy recruiter. Now he's in a much easier place to recruit. He doesn't have to go far or work as hard to get good players.
 


Honestly, couldn't care less about him. He made a lot of money for doing a sub-par job. We were in a tough spot when he came here, no doubt about it. But honestly, he did a mediocre job for the most part. Had one really good year and a bunch of nothing other than that. Couldn't recruit, couldn't game-plan, couldn't develop players. Was more than happy to be rid of him.
 

MrJ.....What a bummer. Hope your day goes better from here on out. :(
 

Dr.Don said:
MrJ.....What a bummer. Hope your day goes better from here on out. :(
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Sorry. Not having a bad day at all. Just my assessment of Monson as a coach. I'm glad he was such a nice guy. I just happen to remember the complete apathy within Williams Arena down the stretch of his tenure (or perhaps, you forgot about it?). Maturi let him go for a reason and it wasn't because he was doing a bang-up job.

Having said all that, if he's doing well and is happy at Long Beach State, more power to him. I guess in the end what it really comes down to is that he isn't a high major level coach. Maybe he'll do well at Long Beach for the long run, maybe he won't. Either way, I'm much happier with who we have now.
 

Agreed there, MRJ. Monson did what he had to do to come in and clean up a mess left by Haskins, etal. I also agree the program then became stagnant, as witnessed by the lack of attendance at games. And while I, too, wish Coach Monson well at Long Beach, I am also much happier with the Coach we now have. GO GOPHERS!!!!!
 



Dr.Don said:
Agreed there, MRJ. Monson did what he had to do to come in and clean up a mess left by Haskins, etal. I also agree the program then became stagnant, as witnessed by the lack of attendance at games. And while I, too, wish Coach Monson well at Long Beach, I am also much happier with the Coach we now have. GO GOPHERS!!!!!
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Thanks. Not trying to belittle the man as a whole, just giving my feelings on his tenure here. I was actually quite happy with the job he did the first three or four years. I felt the team played hard and represented the program pretty darn well. Then after that, things sagged big-time. I don't envy the situation he come into and it was one heckuva difficult thing to deal with and for that, I give him a thumbs up. It was the performances following probation that frustrated me. I probably shouldn't have been so harsh, but by the end, things were spiraling a bit out of control.
 

GopherLady said:
Thanks for posting that, SS. I don't think it's any secret that I was a huge supporter of Monson throughout his tenure, and it's comments like this that make me remember what a good person he is:


I'm so happy he's found a better fit, and he and his family are happy out there. As I've said, I fully expect Long Beach to make a nice run in the tourney under him. We're very lucky as MN fans, Monson was a stand up and ethical guy that would have liked to produce more on the court. Now, in a sleazy world of many college bball coaches, we have another coach that does things the right way and is ethical and honest, Tubby...who will (and has) been able to produce on the court. It's a great time to be a Gopher hoops fan!

I feel like I have ants in my pants I'm so excited to be back at the Barn next Thursday!
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I thought his comments were very classy. I think set of circumstances worked out well for Monson, Tubby and the University of Minnesota. Win-win-win.
 

There wasn't much positive from the Monson era. Sure he had a couple teams that played hard and his team did ok off the court but you could find any DIII coach in to do that. His teams did jack squat on the court and he got walked all over by Kris Humphries. Monson was a nice guy and everything but as a basketball coach his tenure here was pretty much a failure. Somehow I doubt that the U brought him in solely to clean the program up.
 

I liked Dan Monson. I think he is probably a pretty good guy. I also think that he didn't work very hard at Minnesota.

I realize this is going to sound horibble, but I question as to how an NCAA head coach can have the time to coach and be a good father to four young kids. You get paid big money to work your @ss off- you can't do that and still be a good father to young kids. He had babies born in 2000, 2001, 2004 and 2005 according to the Long Beach website. People with 9-5 jobs lose massive amounts of productivity with that many small children- imagine an NCAA coach?

I am a pretty politically correct guy so it hurts me to write that. I firmly beleive that in their last few years, few other D-1 head coaches coasted as much as Monson/Mason.
 



I was a big Monson guy until the very end. He had Gonzaga on course and took a chance on this place and stayed despite opportunities at Washington, Notre Dame, and Michigan. I thought he had it figured out when he turned down Washington and had Rickert and company in 2002 and then again when he broke into the tourney in 2005. But it just fell apart so quickly.

Rickert didn't get better and bolted too soon, and that was the start of things falling apart. He let too many guys transfer-in after rejecting us and struggling elsewhere. But I think the real death nails were allowing the Humphries to ruin team moral and Hargrow to make a joke of the team by quitting and then taking him back. Then recruiting was next and the alleged Krabbenhoft meltdown and then a bunch of questionable recruiting choices. I remember hearing that Maturi went to fire him after the NIT in 2006 but couldn't do it. I was happy he got another shot, but he obviously had lost the team based on how 2006-07 started and his locker room tirade. It was time to go. But I wonder if anyone other than a Roy Williams would have been a sacrificial lamb after what Clem left.

I'm not as patient with Brewster because he didn't prove anything before coming here and he hasn't proven himself to be a grounded guy like Monson is
 

Just to clarify. He coached Gonzaga for two years and only made the NCAA tournament once. Most people here think he built Gonzaga but he was there for only a short time.
 

Monson was indeed a very nice fellow and likely is a very good father and husband.

All I can say beyond that is in his last few years as coach of Minnesota I never went into William's Arena (when we were playing against a powerful opponent) with the feeling that we could win. Prior to that, every home game we had at william's, I was full of anticipation, excitement and had the feeling that there was a real chance of victory no matter who we played.

Under Monson, William's was not exciting anymore. Upsets were very rare. After Vincent Greer graduated (I think he graduated) there was nothing.

That sense of loss is what I remember about Monson. As oleboy41 alluded, they paid him a lot of money to do what any decent upstanding and ethical D III coach could have done for significantly less salary. When he was hired away from Gonzaga he was here to clean up the program, yes, but he was expected to do significantly more. Instead he destroyed the atmosphere in Williams Arena. And that was very hard to do.
 

Winnipegopher said:
Just to clarify. He coached Gonzaga for two years and only made the NCAA tournament once. Most people here think he built Gonzaga but he was there for only a short time.
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His work led to the rise of the program and his last year was an Elite 8 run.
 

MRJ said:
Honestly, couldn't care less about him. He made a lot of money for doing a sub-par job. We were in a tough spot when he came here, no doubt about it. But honestly, he did a mediocre job for the most part. Had one really good year and a bunch of nothing other than that. Couldn't recruit, couldn't game-plan, couldn't develop players. Was more than happy to be rid of him.
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Completey agree, although I just view Monson as a good guy who was in way over his head. We didn't do our homework when hiring him and found out later that the guy who should be given the credit for most of Gonzaga's rise is the coach that is currently there.

My biggest recollection of Monson was his last game vs Clemson when he took a time out and had the players surrounding him at the top of the key. He took one of our players and simulated a correct rebounding technique like he was teaching 5th graders. It was classic. At the time we were being outrebounded 34-9.

Personally I met Munson a couple of times and he was a great guy. Straight forward no BS. I think our current football coach could take a page from that book. I'm glad to see Monson doing well.
 

The whole point is this.... A new coach comes in to clean up a mess. Monson did that. Unfortunately, he was unable to lead the U of M Men's BB team to the next level. I am thankful to and for Dan Monson, and now we have a new top notch coach to lead us to the next generation. Dan Monson helped us, and he became a better coach because of his experiences at the U of M. Good Luck to Coach Monson, and better luck to Coach Smith. Go Gophers!!!!
 

As usual, Mr. Katz did an excellent job.
Monson did everything he could to build up the program, it just didn't work out. Personally, I thought it was a good hire at the time. Losing to Winona State, albeit a GREAT Division II team, at home on an exhibition game was just too tough of a pill for the athletics department to swallow however. With that said, Monson appears to be steering the Long Beach State ship in the right direction.
 

Nice article. I'm happy things are working out well for Dan and his family'
 

Monson/Katz

Lets run down a few of the highlites of Dano's stint at Minnesota:
1. Mark Few was the guy at Gonzaga-not Dano-we got the wrong guy!
2.After being named coach at Minnesota-Dano no shows for a meet and greet with
Minnesota high school coaches, set up by Trent Tucker&Zeb Howell.
3. Had little or no postive interaction -M people or fans.
4.Takes child under 5 yrs. on road trips.
5.NO recruiting skills--do you think the Iverson or Sampson families would have taken a call
from Dan Monson? NO!
6. In first season does not play D. Johnson/L. Westbrook (they later become major
contributors with the right coach) starts Kevin Payton at point guard!! Kevin was a nice
kid--but could't play a lick.
7.Promises Chris Humphries the moon-lets Humphries dad dictate within the locker room-
very nearly has an internal revolt-- check with Michael Bauer.
8.The firing was not late-- should have been let go 1-2 years earlier !
I think writers like Katz should do a little research behore they write this type of clap trap !
 

I'm inclined to agree with gymrat. I wonder if we'd be looking at Monsons tenure a little differently if we brought in a coach that did not immediately vault us back into the spotlight. (silver lining?)

What I always enjoyed about Monson is watching his body language and social interactions. It was clear that between his lack of interviews, his body language/interactions (not true to who he was?) with players, and overall demeanor he was overmatched here and on the recruiting trail.

Things are different now.
 

I'm surprised a bit at the level of bitterness some still have for him. He came into one of the worst situations a major program has had in the last 20 years. I honestly don't think anyone else would have done any better those first 4-5 years. By March 2002, less then 3 years after the mess, he had us one melt-down against Illinois from the NCAA tournament. I mean, would we really have been better off if Terry Holland had accepted the job? I doubt it.

In one sense, they let him linger too long. But he did take us to the NCAA tournament less then two years before he was fired, so it's even hard to make that arguement. I was OK with the rumored firing after the 2006 season, but only if they could get a big name to help rejuvinate the fan base. In reality, at that time, I'm not sure such a person was available. On the other hand, by March 2007, not only was Tubby suprisingly available, but if he hadn't been, Rick Majerus, Flip Saunders and Bob Knight were all legitmate possiblities that may not have been possible just one year earlier. All that said, once the rumored firing leaked out in 2006, they really should have gone ahead with it. Monson was a dead man walking from that point on and they actually set the program back a year. Only because of who they ended up with does that now seem OK.
 

Monson was a horrible basketball coach. I can't believe all you guys are sugar coating his tenure. How soon you all forget the feeling of sitting in a 1/3 full Barn watching the Gophers run a continuous three man weave at the top of the arc for 25-30 seconds only to jack up a desperate contested 18-22 footer. Monson was a nice guy, but when my most vivid memory of a coach is him riping is sport coat off @Maryland, it says all I need to know about his coaching skills. If it wasn't for Vincent Grier Monson's coaching tenure would've been a disaster (one could argue it was anyways).
 

ChemEGopher said:
Monson was a horrible basketball coach. I can't believe all you guys are sugar coating his tenure. How soon you all forget the feeling of sitting in a 1/3 full Barn watching the Gophers run a continuous three man weave at the top of the arc for 25-30 seconds only to jack up a desperate contested 18-22 footer. Monson was a nice guy, but when my most vivid memory of a coach is him riping is sport coat off @Maryland, it says all I need to know about his coaching skills. If it wasn't for Vincent Grier Monson's coaching tenure would've been a disaster (one could argue it was anyways).
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I think that's letting his last 1.5 seasons color his entire tenure. There's no doubt in my mind that in his first 3 seasons he did an admirable job. Starting with the Humphries season, it went downhill for the most part, with 04-05 an obvious exception, but don't paint his entire tenure becuase of the last 20% of it.
 

With the talk about V. Grier- it was Trent Tucker that was responsible for convincing Grier to come to Minnesota-then Monson and staff told Grier that he would work with Tucker each day in practice-(untrue)-after Grier signed with Minnesota and found out he had been lied to-there was a big blowup and Grier almost left the program-that would tell you how desprate Dano was at that point-again Tucker recruited Grier not Monson.
 

Gymrat said:
With the talk about V. Grier- it was Trent Tucker that was responsible for convincing Grier to come to Minnesota-then Monson and staff told Grier that he would work with Tucker each day in practice-(untrue)-after Grier signed with Minnesota and found out he had been lied to-there was a big blowup and Grier almost left the program-that would tell you how desprate Dano was at that point-again Tucker recruited Grier not Monson.
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Interesting to see that a Monson thread was possibly your inspiration to join the message board and reveal details.....
 

I think everyone can agree that Dan was a nice guy but he was in way over his head and is where he belongs. Dan's two biggest weakness we're the assistant coaches he surrounded himself with who also we're in way over there heads outside of Molinari, and his horrible method of recruiting.(I can still remember Coach Walker telling me about how good Kevin Payton was and how he would be all big ten in two years). It was very, very frustrating to sit and watch how Dan and his staff recruited. They we're always way behind other schools in identifying top MN kids and he had no clue how to work a room or a gym. He would often sneak into a gym and sit in a top corner almost unnoticeable while other schools coaches would be sitting front row. I remember a gopher beat writer asking him about Isiah Dahlman during his junior year and he said he had never seen him play even though Izzo had been to Braham in person two times already. I remember an open gym in Orono where Cole, Anthony Tucker, and Leuer we're workign out for coaches and Self, Alford, McDermidt, Ryan, Crean, and other head coaches we're there and yet no Minnesota coach until the very end when Couch showed up. It was a joke and the kids and there parents definately notice those things and there was no excuse and these type of incidents we're common, who could forget the famous mis-spelling of Bryce Websters name on the banner welcoming him on his official visit and there is no "alleged" in the Krabbenhoft incident although to his credit he quickly called to apologize.. It is unbelievable how night and day the program is being run right now and it's not just Tubby vs. Monson, it's the way Jirsa and Taylor also know how to work in a big time program. I believe Dan did the best with what he had available to him those first couple years but once the limitations came off, he had no clue how to compete with the Big Boys.
 

I'm glad he's happy - you could tell he didn't like it here after the first couple of years.

I'll agree with pretty much what everybody else has said. The Barn lost it's magic at the end of his tenure which was very sad. I lived the 1997 time period and I am so thankful that Tubby has brought that feeling back.

Monson got us to the point where Tubby wanted to come here. I will always be thankful to him for that.
 

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