Who is Dan Monson? Fired Long Beach State basketball coach led the Beach to March Madness

Long Beach State basketball is back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 12 years.

And the Beach are doing this with a coach who has already been fired. Wait, what?

MORE: Watch select NCAA Tournament games with Sling TV

You read that right. Long Beach State and coach Dan Monson "mutually agreed to separation" prior to the start of last week's Big West Tournament. But because Monson didn't want to "quit" on his team, both sides agreed he would remain coaching the Beach until they were eliminated from the postseason.

Perhaps this was not seen as a possibility — as Long Beach State, the 4 seed in the Big West, had lost five straight games heading into the Big West Tournament. But the Beach won three games in three days to win the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

And so, Monson continues to delay his departure with a trip back to the Big Dance.

"God's blessed me with a great career and these kids have been awesome to coach," Monson told ESPN's Myron Medcalf postgame following the Beach's win in the Big West Tournament title game. "When (former Michigan and now Los Angeles Chargers coach) Jim Harbaugh says who's got it better than him, somebody needs to tell him Dan Monson."

Monson was glib in his news conference ahead of Long Beach State's matchup with Arizona, saying he would not be answering questions he didn't want to since he was working pro bono.

"I don't have to answer anything I don't want to because I'm working for free today. ... Is it opening statement?" Monson told reporters. "Is that it? What else do we got going?"

Here's what you need to know on why this is Monson's last year at Long Beach State:

Why was Dan Monson fired at Long Beach State?

In short, both sides wanted to go in different directions.

Winning at a mid-major and earning a bid to the NCAA Tournament is a challenge in itself, with the latter being the more difficult one. The reason is, for a mid-major conference (e.g. the Big West), there is traditionally one bid to the NCAA Tournament each year and it goes to the champion of the conference's tournament.

Across his 17 years at the helm of the Beach, Monson finished with eight winning seasons and five seasons of 20 or more wins. He led Long Beach State to four Big West regular season titles, two conference tournament titles, and two NCAA Tournament appearances.

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However, the Beach has struggled throughout Munson's tenure, as displayed by their five-game losing skid to end the regular season this year. It remains unclear if the losing streak was the final nail in the coffin but it did lead to both Long Beach State and Monson agreeing to a "mutual separation" three days before the Big West Tournament.

"On behalf of the entire Long Beach State community, I would like to thank Coach Monson for his 17 seasons of service to Beach Athletics and his many contributions to our men's basketball program," Long Beach State athletic director Bobby Smitheran said in a statement. "As the all-time leader in career victories, he has positively impacted countless student-athletes to strive athletically and academically, and he leaves our program in great shape to continue our pursuit for championships."

Following the win over UC Davis in the Big West Tournament, Monson said that, though it is his last year at Long Beach State, he doesn't feel it's his last year coaching.

“I love coaching. I love teams. I need a new challenge. That’s life — it’s on to the next chapter," Monson said.

He added: "As Mark Few said in a text, 'Why don’t we have a run in the first year and a run in the last year?'”

That run Monson and Few are both referring to is none else than when Monson led Gonzaga in 1999 to an Elite Eight. But for now, Monson looks to continue prolonging his time in Long Beach, as the Beach takes on 2-seed Arizona on Thursday, March 21 at 11 a.m. PT in Salt Lake City at Delta Center.

Dan Monson coaching record

Monson has split his 27-year head coaching career at three schools. He got his start at Gonzaga, where he led the Bulldogs on that Cinderella run in 1999 to the Elite Eight. He then left for Minnesota and the Big Ten in 1999 and stayed there until 2007. Then for the last 17 years, he has been at the helm of the Long Beach State program.

He has taken four separate teams — Gonzaga in 1999, Minnesota in 2005 and Long Beach State in 2012 and 2024 — to the NCAA Tournament, where he is 3-3.

• Gonzaga: 1997-99

• Minnesota: 1999-2007

• Long Beach State: 2007-2024

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Dan Monson fired? How Long Beach State coach led team to NCAA Tournament