Monson story by Andy Katz

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Gymrat said:
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 !
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I can back you up on the High School coaches thing. I was on a plane to Las Vegas with high school traveling team that Blake was on. I sat next to the coach. He said that Monson was a terrible recruiter, had a terrible relationship with the coaches and they didn't like him at all. Said he wouldn't even look him in the eye.
 

JohnnyGopher said:
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.
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Thank you JG for setting all these people with their historical revisions straight. Even if you believe only the last 20% of his time here was negative you must realize that that 20% was far more damaging than the "building" he did during the first 80%.
 

Thought the comparisons here on the Monson hire vs Brewster situation insightful...regarding recruiting, the AD did get it right re TB.
 

I'm not sure I agree with you on recruiting. The overall talent level on the FB team seems no better than under Mason. In fact, Brewster's best player by far, Decker, is a Mason recruit.
 

JohnnyGopher said:
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.
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What happened with Krabbenhoft?
 


jamiche said:
I'm not sure I agree with you on recruiting. The overall talent level on the FB team seems no better than under Mason. In fact, Brewster's best player by far, Decker, is a Mason recruit.
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I don't think having a freshman or sophomore be your best player would be a good thing unless he's a real special player. Of course the best player this year is going to be an upperclassmen.
 

The short version is when Joe called Monson to tell him he was committing to Wisconsin, Dan went off on him and said some very stupid things. Joe's father, Kelby, who was a HUGE Gopher fan and really torn about having a kid go to the rival, was furious. After calming down and realizing what he did, he called and apologized, but hard feelings still remain.
 

Let's put it this way -

If Clem has Jerry Holman on his team, Holman leads the Big 10 in rebounding. With Monson, Holman was the same player the day he walked out of Williams Arena as he was when he arrived two years earlier.

Monson never got the most out of his players, nor did he help them get better. Many of them, Michael Bauer most notably, regressed. his coaching style was atrocious. He yelled so much that players tuned him out. My mental picture of the Monson era is him screaming in the huddle until his face turned red and than looking at the players to see their reactions, and they're all staring off into the stands.
 

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