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

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

coach who is currently the head coach at Eastern Washington. He was previously the

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

at Long Beach State for 17 seasons. He was also the head coach at

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

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

Early years

Monson is the son of

coach Don Monson, and spent most of his early years in eastern Washington, 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, Michigan, Ingham County, although a small portion extends north into Clinton County, Michigan, Clinton County. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, where Don was an assistant coach for Jud Heathcote at Michigan State for two seasons. They moved to

Moscow, Idaho Moscow ( ) is a city and the county seat of Latah County, Idaho. Located in the North Central Idaho, North Central region of the state along the border with Washington (state), Washington, it had a population of 25,435 at the 2020 United States ...

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, United States. Established in 1889 and opened three years later, it was the state's sole university for 71 years, until 1963. The un ...

, in August 1978. He graduated from Moscow High School in 1980 and played college

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

a few blocks away as a receiver for the Idaho Vandals, then under head coach Jerry Davitch. 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 Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

) in 1985.

Coaching career

After graduation, Monson was a high school coach (and math teacher) in Oregon City for a season, then became a collegiate graduate assistant under Gene Bartow at UAB in 1986, where he earned a master's degree in education.

Gonzaga

Monson began at GU as an assistant coach in 1988 and was elevated to associate head coach under head coach Dan Fitzgerald in

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

; 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 Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

–

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

. From the time Monson was named associate head coach in

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

, 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 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

. 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 the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

sub-regional, then sixth-seed

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

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

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

, 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 Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

in late July, which he accepted. University president Mark Yudof was hoping that Monson would be able to help the program move past the scandals of previous head coach Clem Haskins. 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, Monson's top assistant, succeeded him at Gonzaga. Monson also had ties to Minnesota already, as his father Don was born in rural Menagha. In April 2002, Monson was courted by the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

in Seattle to coach the Huskies 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, 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. The Gophers had been docked several scholarships due to the academic scandals of the Haskins era. The reductions took their full effect under Monson's watch, and it was several years before he was able to recruit on equal footing with other Big Ten 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 was appointed interim head coach before Tubby Smith 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. Under Monson, The Beach routinely played one of the most difficult non-conference schedules in the nation, usually playing teams such as North Carolina, Duke, Louisville, and Texas as a method to prepare the team for Big West conference play and possibly 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 were first reported in the written records as inhabitants of what is now Poland, during the period of the Roman Empire. Much later, in the fifth century, a group of Vandals led by kings established Vand ...

in the first regular-season game at Idaho's new home of Idaho Central Credit Union Arena. The Beach won 95–89 in overtime. On March 11, 2024, the school announced that they would be parting ways with Monson at the end of the season. Six days after the announcement, Long Beach State won the 2024 Big West tournament earning the team an automatic berth to the 2024 NCAA Tournament. In all, Monson led The Beach to postseason play six times (with two appearances in the NCAA Tournament), won the Big West Conference tournament twice and the regular season title three times and was named Big West Conference Coach of Year award three times.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Eastern Washington 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 Sportspeople 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