When Long Beach State announced on March 11 that men’s basketball coach Dan Monson would not return next season, the team was not expected to make the NCAA tournament.
After all, the 49ers had just finished the regular season on a five-game losing streak to register an 18–14 overall record and a 10–10 mark in Big West Conference play. Fast forward to last weekend: Long Beach State won the Big West tournament with three consecutive wins to punch a ticket to March Madness.
Long Beach State athletic director Bobby Smitheran offered a surprising perspective on the move Thursday, claiming he hoped the transaction would inspire the 49ers.
“My belief and hope is that by doing what I did and the timing of it, they would play inspired, and that’s what they did,” Smitheran told the Associated Press before the 49ers first-round NCAA tournament game against Arizona. “I’m not trying to pat myself on the back, but it worked.”
Monson’s last games with the team will be during the NCAA tournament. He’s been at Long Beach State since 2007.
“My job is to position our coaches and student athletes to be successful,” Smitheran said. “This was maybe an atypical way to do so. But I believed in the roster we had, I believed in our coaching staff and our ability to do something special. Maybe this was the catalyst they needed to be inspired to play for one another.”
No. 15 seed Long Beach State is playing No. 2 Arizona on Thursday in the first round at Salt Lake City.