Long Beach State head basketball coach Dan Monson is actively fired. And yet, he is all set to coach his team in the NCAA Tournament later this week as a lame duck.
It is one of the wildest storylines to watch as we look ahead to March Madness!
Monson, who was hired by the university in 2007, met with first-year athletic director Bobby Smitheran last Monday. They “mutually agreed to part ways,” which simply is not the truth. Smitheran fired Monson after 17 years with the program during. He did so in just his sixth month in his new role, but agreed to let him stay on the sideline throughout the remainder of the postseason— however long that may last.
The Beach has since made him look very stupid!
A team that finished fifth in the Big West at 10-10 ran the table as a No. 4 seed in the conference tournament. LBSU defeated No. 2-seed UC Davis on Saturday night to secure an automatic qualifier bid to compete in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2012.
Monson, who is actively fired, will coach the Beach as a projected 15-seed in the First Round. His team is going dancing for just the second time during his tenure even though he will not be the coach as soon as it loses. Let that sink in for a second, because Smitheran is presumably trying to do the same.
Unless your team is projected to play Long Beach State later this week, college basketball fans should be rooting for an upset. The funniest (and craziest) scenario would require a Cinderella run.
Imagine how bad Smitheran would look if he fired the coach that leads the program to the Sweet 16… Monson would be a hero in Long Beach without a job!