When No. 15 seed Long Beach State takes on Arizona on Thursday, the 49ers will have the chance to pull off one of the more shocking wins we’ve seen in years. Not just because a 15-2 upset is relatively rare, but they’re also playing for a coach who has already been fired.
A couple weeks ago, Long Beach State announced that head coach Dan Monson would no longer be men’s basketball head coach after this season. But given that Monson had led the program for 17 seasons, the school allowed him to finish out the year with the team. The expectation was that the 49ers would lose in the Big West tournament, and that would be the end of it.
Instead, Long Beach State won the conference tourney and locked up the Big West’s automatic bid for March Madness. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Monson knew to open his press conference by making fun of the odd situation he’s in.
Dan Monson, who lost his job at Long Beach State before the Big West tournament but got to finish out, then won that tournament, opens his NCAA remarks in Salt Lake City: “Okay, I don’t have to answer anything I don’t want to because I’m working for free today.”
— Chuck Culpepper (@ChuckCulpepper1) March 20, 2024
Long Beach State fired coach Dan Monson last week, but he won the Big West tournament and earned a ticket to the men's NCAA Tournament.
During his session with the media, he compared his life to a Seinfeld episode 😂 pic.twitter.com/XxK0zXM5iD
— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) March 20, 2024
Well played, coach.
While it doesn’t sound like Long Beach State is going to change its mind on Monson’s employment status, his team does have an opportunity to really stick it to the administration if it can make a run beyond Thursday. Monson lost his lone tourney appearance with Long Beach State in 2012 (he had an Elite Eight run with Gonzaga in 1999), so it would be especially hilarious if he can get that win on the way out.
At the very least, he’s showing a good attitude about the arrangement, and his team clearly bought in during the conference tournament. Who knows what else can happen now?
