How a fired coach is still leading his team into March Madness at Long Beach State

Coaches getting fired after the season is nothing new. Getting fired, then making it to the NCAA tournament, but still coaching when you don’t have a job — that’s different. It’s what Long Beach State’s Dan Monson is doing right now.

Monson had been coaching Long Beach State, affectionately known as “The Beach” since 2007. Over that time he’d taken the school to the NCAA tournament once, and the NIT four times. However, after two down seasons, a five-game losing streak to close the year, and another (seemingly) missed tournament, the school informed Monson after the regular season that he was being let go, and that his final games would be in the Big West tournament.

The Beach, a No. 4 seed, wasn’t going to go very far, right? Well, it’s here the school went on a massive tear. Beating No. 5 UC Riverside was to be expected, but certainly not taking out No. 1 and NCAA tournament favorite UC Irvine. Then a stunning win over No. 2 UC Davis capped off the tournament with Long Beach State as champions, getting an automatic bid to the NCAA men’s tournament.

All this with a coach who had been fired six days earlier. Monson, for his part, is taking it all in stride and having a ton of fun with the weirdness of it all. At his pre-game press conferenced Wednesday he told the media he didn’t need to answer any questions since he was working for free anyway.

Monson went on to explain that the tournament is about having fun, and while it’s all bittersweet knowing he won’t be with his players next season — there was room for jokes.

“I said, ‘Just look at this first defensive clip guys. We close out short here. The guy’s wide open. We don’t get a contest. These are the kind of plays that would get a coach fired.’”

The amazing thing about this is that Monson knew this was a major moment for his players. It would have been easy to be angry, walk away, leave it to an assistant to play in March Madness (and likely lose), but this became his last shot to coach his players — and he was going to treat it like any other game.

Long Beach State takes on No. 2 Arizona in the opening round. It’s a game nobody expects The Beach to win, or even to have a chance in — but that’s not really what’s important. Monson showed that the bond with his players is bigger than a victory, or even a job. Now he’ll look to end the season with them, one way or another.

What a great guy.